Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

The Morrison government is absolutely committed to delivering the essential services Australians rely on. Our very strong fiscal position has ensured we're able to reinforce the safety net and continue to ensure Australians have access to services. This has never been more important than now as we make it through the unprecedented times of the crisis. This budget makes the investments needed to strengthen the delivery of core government services for future generations. Building on the work done to date through the establishment of Services Australia, we are investing in modern technology across the full gamut of service delivery. As the House knows, this government is absolutely committed to improving the NDIS and ensuring it's fully funded, demand driven and available for generations to come.

In terms of Services Australia, the government continues to focus on streamlining and modernising the Australian welfare service delivery system to ensure Services Australia has the agility to support the needs of all Australians. We've made significant improvements to how Services Australia interacts with Australians. Australians can now obtain a customer reference number and apply for JobSeeker all online through myGov, as well as many other transactions, meaning core wait times have drastically reduced to just, as I said in the House yesterday, 67 seconds on the social services and welfare phone line. Compare that to the final year of Labor, at 90 minutes—90 minutes compared to 67 seconds. Australians can now more than ever access services on their terms at a time that suits them.

In the 2021 budget, the Morrison government allocated $539.6 million to complete the fourth stage of the seven-year build of the Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation program. Each business day our welfare system delivers over $500 million in welfare payments, and has almost 2.7 million interactions with customers. The fourth phase will see the build of modern payment and decision-making platforms, including a new entitlement calculation engine, which will enable faster claims processing for the community, ensuring far greater accuracy of payments and, when combined with Single Touch Payroll, will reduce the reporting burden for individuals and businesses dealing with government.

In terms of the NDIS, we've always made the point that it's demand driven and fully funded. To reflect a demand for the NDIS into the future, the government has announced a further $3.9 billion to the NDIS. We're investing $798.8 million in the National Disability Insurance Agency and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission over the forward estimates to support the continued implementation of a mature and effective NDIS. The extra funding will ensure that all Australians eligible for the NDIS will have access to the supports they need today, tomorrow and into the future. The government's also investing in the disability support, aged-care and veterans care sectors to support the growing demand for services and, indeed, provide sustainable jobs for Australians. As part of the 2020 budget, the government's investing $32.3 million in the care and support workforce to improve the sector by encouraging flexibility and introducing new ways to attract, train and retain workers. These measures will also support economic recovery, competition and create much-needed jobs, especially for workers that may find themselves displaced.

We have substantially delivered on the NDIS plan, driving significant changes to performance so that participants receive the supports they need. The latest NDIS quarterly report, for the end of September 2020, was released today. It shows extraordinary improvements in performance. There are now 412,000 participants in the world-leading NDIS, and a staggering 193,000 are receiving supports for the very first time. This is a great thing for our country and something I think we'd all applaud. One hundred per cent of access decisions are made within the 21-day time frame, compared to 74 per cent a year ago, with average wait times to make an access decision just 11 days and seven days for zero to six. Ninety-two per cent of first plans are approved for participants aged seven and over within the time frame, compared to 73 per cent a year ago. Ninety-eight per cent of first plans are approved for participants aged zero to six, compared to 71 per cent a year ago. Overall, the wait time for a plan was 52 days in September on average, compared to 133 days when I took over last year. The average wait time for a plan for a child is just 34 days.

Let me conclude with some points on our data and digital work. There is $256.6 million as part of our digital business package to develop the digital equivalent of a 100-point ID check through digital identity. Over 1.7 million Australians and 1.2 million businesses are already using digital identity to access 70 government services. The government is delivering strongly on its promises. (Time expired)

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