Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Disability Services and Inclusion Bill 2023, along with the Disability Services and Inclusion (Consequential Amendments and Transitional) Bill, will help deliver on the Albanese government's commitment to enable people with disability to fully participate in our community life and exercise agency over their lives. It's very important for people with disability to have the same kinds of choices all of us have—in fact, it's absolutely crucial. If we do this in relation to people living long lives so they live better in their senior years, we should do it for people living with disability. This is really a fundamental principle underlining the NDIS, which aims to give people living with disability greater choice and control over their lives. It also reflects the principle of equity—which is a fundamental principle in our democracy and is also in the DNA of Australians—that we should target assistance to those most in need.

Some groups in our society may need additional support and resources to build their capacity so they can participate fully in society and reach their potential as equal members. At the same time, the new act will ensure more responsive Commonwealth funded services for the 4.4 million Australians with disability, outside the NDIS, to improve their independence and participation in community and in the workforce more generally. This is because supporting Australians with disability is more than just the NDIS. This act will help enable that by bringing legislation for all people living with disability into the 21st century.

Disability supports and services have changed very significantly since the 1980s. The current legislation is now more than three decades old. It is outdated and too restrictive in its understanding to accommodate the changing landscape of disability policy. This includes a shift towards creating a more inclusive society as well as the nature of services that are required to complement the NDIS. What's more, the act predates many of the important milestones in the evolution of arrangements that support people with disability in Australia. These include the introduction of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020, which was followed by the development and implementation of Australia's Disability Strategy 2021-2031, providing a national framework and commitment from leadership towards greater inclusion of people with disability across all areas of public policy.

The establishment of the NDIS occurred under the last Labor government in 2013 through the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013. The NDIS currently supports over 610,000 people living with disability. It's imperative that outdated and restrictive disability legislation is repealed and replaced so it's more aligned with the kind of services that are necessary to enable us to fully participate. The act assists the government's intention by implementing reforms linked to the policy priorities that the disability community set through the Australian Disability Strategy, which will enable us to provide a broad range of tailored services and supports to people with disability into the future. These developments have also seen the Australian government move from solely providing direct block funding services provision to embracing other models, including person-centric market models of service delivery and support, both within and outside the NDIS.

Getting rid of block funding, whilst beneficial, has seen some organisations go to the wall in this space. In my community, Community Access and Transition Service, known as CATS, was one of the great organisations in our area which went to the wall with the absence of block funding. That was very sad because I thought they were a great organisation which did a lot of work, working very well with young people in Ipswich and working closely with the special schools, including Ipswich West State Special School and Claremont Special School in Ipswich. But that's the nature of what happened.

One of the concerns I have, personally, as a federal MP and a local MP, is the absence of the states and territories in this space, leaving this issue solely to the federal government. I think the states and territories really need to think about getting back into the space in a better way.

In response to the changing landscape, and taking into consideration pretty comprehensive feedback from people with disability, the bill and the consequential amendments and transitional bill have been drafted to support the government's programs. Because of this, protection, safeguarding and inclusion should apply outside, and not just within, the NDIS.

As I've just indicated, the bill was developed with the input of people living with disability through extensive community and sectoral consultation since November last year. Across multiple rounds of consultation, the government has heard from people, their families and carers—and their carers can't be ignored. That's why I was so pleased to see the carers legislation being examined by the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee that deals with these issues. The member for Dunkley is doing a great job in relation to that particular carer recognition act as it's being looked at by that committee. Carers can't be left out, so it's important we get families and their carers of people living with disability to give feedback as well as disability representative organisations, and there are many of them in every electorate across the country. This consultation process highlighted the importance of inclusive, accessible, safe supports and services to people with disability and their families and carers in the broader disability sector.

On that front, I want to acknowledge the excellent work done by disability service providers in my electorate, which covers most of Ipswich, the Karana Downs area and the Somerset region in South-East Queensland. One local organisation is Focal Community Services, headquartered in Ipswich. Focal has made great efforts to continually innovate and to ensure people with disability and their carers can feel engaged, supported and needed.

Focal was established in 1974 for people with disability leaving the Challinor Centre in Ipswich. Their families and friends wanted to ensure they were well cared for and had opportunities in life. Since then, Focal has provided services and support for people with disability, including accommodation, respite, advocacy and services.

Focal's community hubs in North Ipswich and Booval are bright, welcoming spaces—and I've been to them on many occasions—where people with disability can hang out, perform, train, liaise with service providers and receive friendship and support in a nurturing community. They provide safe and comfortable environments. Well done, Focal. I really want to commend Focal for what they do.

ALARA Queensland is another excellent not-for-profit, community-based organisation which provides services in Ipswich, the Somerset region and the Lockyer Valley. ALARA provides a broad range of innovative services for people with disabilities and their families. ALARA rose from respite care services, which was established in Ipswich in 1991. Today, ALARA provides services for more than 900 people with disability who live in the Ipswich, Somerset and Lockyer regions. It has a committed a team of over 250 staff and volunteers.

ALARA has community hubs in Ipswich, Lockyer, Esk and Kilcoy. I was instrumental in helping them to go into Kilcoy and take over the reins near the community centre up there. I thought that the local community in Kilcoy absolutely did the right thing in engaging ALARA to come into that community. It had the runs on the board at Ipswich and in other parts of the Somerset region. Each of these hubs provides access to a diverse range of opportunities designed around the interests and preferences of the participants. I've seen personally how the local participants, people living with disability, have such great input into what ALARA is doing, tailoring the needs of the individuals and of the community. I've seen the local community in places like Kilcoy actually participate and decide themselves what they want to do. These include general life skill development, computer training, gardening, craft, visual and performing arts, meal planning and cooking, volunteering, physical fitness, and recreational and leisure outings.

This bill, which we're dealing with today, provides support for the inclusion of people with disability by broadening those supports. It's an enabling piece of legislation, providing a single-source statutory framework and a clear basis for the Commonwealth government to fund certain disability supports and services that are not covered in the NDIS. It contributes to reducing significant administrative delays in implementing important programs, delays which are a result of disaggregated legislative frameworks for disability services and support. There's a clear authority under the bill to continue funding existing programs and, at the same time, provide a flexible basis on which to fund non-NDIS supports in future.

The bill provides quality and safeguard arrangements by introducing a mandatory code which will mirror the NDIS Code of Conduct. This code will set minimum standards for all service providers and workers and show people with disability, their families and carers what they should expect from providers under the legislation: to provide support for the provision of consistent high-quality supports and services and ensure people with disability are safe in accessing them.

The bill and other consequential and transitional arrangements will enable the government's timely response to the findings and recommendations from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability and non-NDIS initiatives arising from the NDIS review. The disability royal commission has highlighted the importance of inclusive access and accessible, safe supports and services for families over the last four and a half years. The government has followed closely the hearings and the reporting from the royal commission. The broad and flexible nature of this bill is intended to ensure the government has appropriate power to respond effectively and efficiently, and the government has accepted these. Of course there will be further amendments to the bill at a later date if required.

Make no mistake: the government's committed to ensuring people with disability are safe from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. This is a significant legislative reform and demonstrates our commitment to breaking down the barriers for people with disability and enabling participation by providing a broad and flexible legislative basis for government to fund services and supports. Consistent national standards are critical. A code of conduct is critical. Support services are critical. We will need to make sure that every Australian, regardless of their level of disability, gets those supports.

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