Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to follow my colleague the member for Shortland in this debate on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Improving Supports for At Risk Participants) Bill 2021. I know time is going to be short this evening, but I absolutely concur with the sentiments that the member for Shortland just articulated. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is indeed one of the greatest social reforms this nation has ever seen. For the very first time, the NDIS gave people the chance to access the support that suited their individual needs and it provided choice and control in doing so. That's how it transformed lives.

I do want to acknowledge at the outset the extraordinary work of the former member for Jagajaga, a very dear friend and colleague, the Hon. Jenny Macklin, for her leadership role and the terrific team that she had around her to really make the National Disability Insurance Scheme a reality for this nation. Newcastle, along with the Hunter region, was one of the pilot cities for the NDIS rollout, so we have had a long history and a lot of experience of the implementation of the NDIS. I've had the pleasure, really, of seeing firsthand how the NDIS can fundamentally change lives for the better. I think that we should never, ever lose sight of that incredible joy, but we can't let our appreciation of the NDIS and all of the great things that it does distract us from the appalling job that this government has done in its implementation.

After years of Liberal government mismanagement, the Prime Minister promised to fix the failures of the National Disability Insurance Scheme at the last election. But, true to form, the Prime Minister has failed to honour that promise, leaving the NDIS in a shambles for many of its participants. The NDIS has gone backwards and people with a disability and their families are paying the price for that broken promise. It's unconscionable that people with disabilities have to fight for the basic things that they need in order to live a decent life. We know this from multiple reviews which have revealed a litany of cases where people have been left behind and neglected. Perhaps one of the most devastating examples was the death of Adelaide NDIS participant Ann-Marie Smith, a story that continues to sadden all Australians to this day.

Ann-Marie Smith was one of many lives lost in a series of NDIS related tragedies caused by eight long years of Liberal government cuts and privatisation. Labor was relieved when the Morrison government heeded our calls for an independent investigation into the death of Ann-Marie Smith but, unfortunately, the government refused to extend that inquiry to include a review of the tragic death of David Harris. Just as Ms Smith's family deserves to know the truth and to seek assurances that others will not fall victim to a failing in the system, so too do the loved ones of Mr Harris and the countless other victims of abuse and neglect.

As is so often the case with this government, they remain tone deaf and oblivious to all of those warnings. Whenever there is an emergency, we know that this government is very slow to react. Sadly, so many Australians have paid a high price for that inertia. I have been contacted by many people who have experienced this government's incompetence firsthand. By the time people reach out to me for support to help navigate their way around the NDIS, I know that they're already at their wits' end. In most government departments there's usually a pathway for elected representatives to escalate critical cases and to get a response within a few hours, or a day at the most. However, with the NDIS Novocastrians are being forced to wait weeks or, indeed, months for an answer or a resolution.

Eighteen-year-old Shelby from Jesmond is just one of those people. Shelby has a complex neurological disorder and uses a wheelchair. She is currently living in medium-term accommodation, pending a review to transfer to specialist disability accommodation funded by the NDIS. While the review is underway, the NDIS have not granted Shelby an extension for her medium-term accommodation; despite her complex needs, they told her that she has to apply for public housing. With hundreds of people on public housing waitlists in Newcastle, I fear that Shelby is at greater risk of being rendered homeless every day.

And then there are stories like Rodney Fisher's. Rodney was contacted by the NDIS in August last year and was informed that they would be reassessing his eligibility.

Debate interrupted.

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