Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor supports the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Improving Supports for At Risk Participants) Bill 2021, which implements some of the recommendations of the Robertson review affecting the quality and safeguards around the NDIS. But it has taken 12 months for the government to respond to the report handed down by Judge Alan Robertson, and it comes 16 months after the death of Ms Ann-Marie Smith, whose tragic death was the reason we have looked into this—where this bill had its beginnings.

Labor also notes the lack of consultation and the continuing failure of the Morrison government to consult people with disability on changes that impact them directly. We believe that everything possible should be done to protect people with disability from neglect and abuse. But this bill doesn't go far enough, and it is just another reflection of the Morrison government's approach to the NDIS—too little, too late; not enough consultation and, frankly, not enough priority put on this incredibly important scheme for people with disability; not enough trust put in those people to know what's right for them; and not enough priority to deliver those services, those supports, as they should be delivered and as was promised when the NDIS was created.

Ann-Marie Smith was a 54-year-old woman living in Adelaide with cerebral palsy. She died last year in absolutely tragic, unthinkable and unforgiveable circumstances of neglect. She was failed by a system that she trusted to care for her, failed by a system that her loved ones trusted would keep her safe and healthy. She has lost her life because of a lack of care, because of a system that hasn't provided the necessary protections to ensure that the care she was given was appropriate and sufficient. Many questions remain about this. That is why Labor called, at the time, for an independent inquiry into that situation. We're pleased that an inquiry happened, but, again, it didn't go far enough into that situation, and the response has not been strong enough.

This bill seeks to make a range of changes to the NDIS Act in response to recommendations 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Independent review of the adequacy of the regulation of the supports and services provided to Ms Ann-Marie Smith. The independent review of the adequacy of the regulation of the supports and services, the Robertson review, was handed to the government on 31 August 2020. It made a number of recommendations for legislative change to improve the protections for participants at risk of harm. These recommendations included facilitating better exchange of information between the agency and the commission and the disclosure of information to relevant state and territory bodies. They also included clarification around the scope of reportable incidents and the strengthening of banning orders, which was addressed in a legislative change in November 2020. The bill amends provisions in the NDIS Act to support the implementation of changes in response to these recommendations and improves supports and protections provided to NDIS participants. It also includes amendments to clarify the commissioner's powers to support the effective operations of the commission based on the early implementation experience of the commission.

This followed pressure from Labor's shadow minister, Bill Shorten. I want to acknowledge his great work on the NDIS and his drawing attention to these issues. If he had not, would this government have done anything to even investigate what happened in this absolutely tragic and unacceptable situation? Labor's calls were for an independent inquiry into NDIS safeguarding, but the NDIS commission tasked former Federal Court Justice Alan Robertson specifically with reviewing the adequacy of the regulation of the supports and services provided to Ms Ann-Marie Smith.

It's important to point out that Ms Smith's tragic death is not the only death that we have seen of an NDIS participant that raises serious questions about the scheme and about safeguarding. Tim Rubenach from Tasmania, who had severe epilepsy, died while waiting for a wheelchair from the NDIS. David Harris from New South Wales was dead in his Parramatta unit for two months before his body was discovered by police. And Liam Danher, who was only 23 years old, died in his sleep waiting for a seizure mat that would have alerted his parents to his seizure in his sleep. These tragic events need a deep and thorough investigation and a strong response to prevent this ever happening again to anyone who is an NDIS participant. Unfortunately, this response does not go far enough to ensure that at all, and it's indicative of this government's approach to the NDIS more broadly.

The Morrison government have so far presided over $4.6 billion being ripped out of the NDIS, and 1,200 Australians with disability died while waiting to be funded by the scheme. We've also just seen the complete shambles as the government tried to ram through their plan for independent assessments, and their complete lack of consultation, or it was sham consultation, leading up to that. I'm really pleased that, because of the disability community's strong and tireless advocacy yet again to get this scheme right, eventually that was overturned. That is a win, but people are incredibly nervous. There is incredible lack of trust from the disability community that has been created by this government about what it might try to do next. You certainly don't get the impression that this government is doing the work that should be done to get the NDIS right and actually ensure that people live lives of choice and control that are better than the lives that they had before the NDIS was introduced.

I should say as well that many people say that the NDIS has been a success story for them. It has improved people's lives. That is why Labor introduced this scheme. That is what it's supposed to do. But for so many people it has not delivered that. It is absolutely infuriating and heartbreaking to hear the stories again and again as a local member and as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS, hearing about the battles that people have to get access to the seemingly most obvious and basic of supports that they need and seeing the absolutely dehumanising treatment of these people just seeking the supports that they need.

When the NDIS was introduced, it was supposed to be about thinking of a better future for people with disability, allowing them to think about the goals that they want to achieve and the lives that they want to live and enabling them to do that. It was supposed to be centred on the choice and control of each individual participant in that way. That was supposed to generate lots of innovative approaches in the market for provision of supports that would enable that. But too often we're seeing that failing to happen.

I have a constituent who has battled for years and years simply to live in accessible accommodation with their partner and child. This is not the only example of that that I've heard. It is just, as I say, completely dehumanising that that question is even raised. That's just one example, and I won't go into more of them, but the lack of importance that this government is putting on getting this right is just astounding. The fact that we have people dying in the most shocking—absolutely shocking—and disturbing situations of neglect and all that came out of them is a review that didn't look into the broader system but only into that particular case, having now waited 16 months since Ann-Marie Smith's tragic death and a year since the report was handed down to see any response from this government, is simply not good enough. It's simply not good enough at all.

Shortly after his appointment in 2018, the inaugural CEO of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, Graeme Head, gave a speech in which he said:

We're able to take a range of actions including deregistration, banning orders or seeking the application of civil penalties so we really do have a comprehensive tool kit.

We have comprehensive regulatory powers and functions, and real regulatory teeth.

Incidents that must be reported to the commission include the death of a participant, serious injury, abuse or neglect and importantly also the unauthorised use of a restrictive practice in relation to a participant.

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It does represent a significant step change in how we approach the delivery of quality services to people with disability and how we protect and prevent neglect and abuse of people with disability.

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It represents a significant raising of the bar, in terms of how we think about quality and safeguards, in this sector.

While that sounds really good, these comments have not aged well. If this commission has real teeth, why then did Ann-Marie Smith's service provider only receive a fine of $12,600 after allowing her carer to neglect her so severely that she lost her life? She not only lost her life but suffered; she suffered dreadfully in the lead-up to that. If this commission has real regulatory powers, why wasn't it overseeing the care that she was supposed to be receiving? The government really needs to provide answers to these questions and, better than that, a plan to prevent this abuse and neglect happening in future.

The NDIS is a vital national service, but after eight years of this government it has been mismanaged and allowed to be really struggling to provide the most basic things to people. I also have constituents who have simply given up on trying to access the NDIS after the battles that they've had with it. This is a fundamental issue. We are talking about the safety of some of the most vulnerable people who are in the care of a government scheme and, in some of the most tragic of cases, have lost their lives, with little recourse or just a fine to providers who let it happen. You wonder what the response would be like if that had happened in some of our other sectors. We see the absolute neglect for people in aged care, and the government also fails to address this properly. We saw an announcement from them that failed to address in full the royal commission's recommendations on that sector or to provide the necessary funding linked to staffing and ratios, and things like that.

This is a government that simply does not care enough about Australians. We're not seeing the care, the seriousness, the urgency. Why is it that people with disability haven't been vaccinated as the absolute priority that they should have been? We are now seeing in my community here in Canberra an outbreak centred around people with disability and their support workers. It's simply not good enough, and I call on this government to get their act together and show respect, seriousness and care for people with disability and the management of the NDIS.

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