Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The motion that we are discussing today is a very important one, and, indeed, it contains a kernel that I am willing to agree with, which is the acknowledgement in the motion that the disability workforce will require an additional 83,000 workers over the next few years to strengthen its responsiveness, quality and capability. But what I can't agree with is the implication and, indeed, the statement in this motion that the government is doing anywhere near enough to deal with this workforce crisis.

I'm going to make a couple of major points today. The first is that this is a workforce crisis that has been evolving over a long period of time and that is not receiving sufficient attention or funding. Let's look at the workforce crisis that the NDIS is currently facing. This, of course, is a slowly evolving challenge in the workforce; it's not something that has arisen overnight and it's not something we're going to be able to solve by turning on a tap. The government has been in power for more than eight years. So there's something almost brazen about a motion of this nature, where it says that we face a shortfall of 83,000 workers in just a few years, as if this has come out of the blue or as if this is something that the government has just read in some report that has landed on its desk, when in fact this is a workforce crisis that has been evolving for year after year under its watch. This makes it all the more an indictment on the way in which they have managed and funded this scheme.

Let's look at this workforce challenge within the broader context of skills within our workforce. As the shadow minister for skills has pointed out, there are 150,000 fewer apprentices today than when this government came to office. We've seen billions ripped out of the TAFE system. We see a number of employers today saying it's hard to find skilled staff. In the context of the NDIS in particular, we see that working conditions in many areas have deteriorated. There are currently 3,175 unfilled job vacancies. So, yes, it is true that, by 2024, an additional 83,000 workers will be required. But, again, this has evolved over many years under this government, and for this motion to be put forward as some kind of challenge which a $12.3 million investment in some kind of workforce package is going to deal with is, frankly, utterly ridiculous.

The second point I want to make is that the implication of this motion is that these extra workers are going to somehow complement other policies that this government has in place to improve the effectiveness of the NDIS when, in fact, what we have seen over recent years from this government is, I believe, a fundamental weakening of many key aspects of the NDIS. Let's look at the independent assessment pile, something that is paused but is certainly not, in my opinion, totally off the agenda. At best, the move towards independent assessments was wasteful and potentially contained unintended consequences. At worst, it was cruel and confusing. It was not surprisingly greeted with great dismay by the sector. The minister at the time said that there was too much natural empathy on the part of some public servants and that this was leading to gargantuan cost blowouts. Indeed, the government almost leaped massive projections of cost blowouts well into the future.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17:55 to 18:05

Understandably, independent assessments were greeted with great dismay and confusion by the sector. Indeed, independent assessments were accompanied by a somewhat secretive Sustainability Action Taskforce. This somewhat secretive cost-cutting was like some kind of Orwellian exercise or something out of Utopia. You can imagine people in the sector hearing about the Sustainability Action Taskforce and thinking to themselves, 'Why don't you just tell us you're going to cut the level of our benefits?'

Let's look at a number of experts who have examined what's actually going on. There was a recent examination of remuneration in the sector by the University of Melbourne, which found that 20 per cent of disability support workers could not pay their bills, their mortgage or their rent. There have been government claims that overspending is rife. In reality, costs have increased by 18 per cent in the 12 months to 21 July, whereas the number of NDIS participants grew by 20.5 per cent, so there has been a reduction in per capita expenditure.

The fundamental point is that we are experiencing a workforce challenge but it's one that has been evolving for many years, one that was foreseeable and avoidable. It's an indictment of this government, which has been in power for eight long years.

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