Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Disability Services and Inclusion Bill 2023. I support this bill. The bill's stated intention is to establish a new legislative framework for the funding and regulation of programs targeted for the benefit of people with disability, their families and carers. It shows how, since one of the first pieces of legislation was introduced in 1974, we in this place have evolved with legislation in terms of how we assist people with disabilities. The bill also aims to update the language of the legislation. It focuses on the human rights of people with disabilities and gives effect to some of our international obligations, particularly the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The bill essentially repeals the current Disability Services Act 1986, which was regarded as groundbreaking in the care for people with disabilities back in 1986. That act had, in turn, repealed and replaced a 1974 act known as the Handicapped Persons Assistance Act 1974. We can see how just in those periods language has changed around people with disabilities, and that is certainly appropriate.

This is enabling legislation. The bill allows the relevant minister to provide funding for eligible persons for regulated activities. Statutory funding conditions will apply to relevant payments. These conditions are tied to the quality and safeguarding arrangements as set out in the bill. The bill provides legislative authority for new and existing spending on disability related programs. This is outside of any funding under the NDIS. This bill does not directly allocate funding for specific supports or services; it is the enabling legislative framework. In that regard, it facilitates funding for supports and services to assist all people with disabilities, regardless of whether or not they are a participant in the NDIS.

In our country at the moment, we have about 4.4 million people with disabilities. This is a significant number in our community. There are about 610,000 participants under the NDIS. This framework will cover all 4.4 million people, regardless of whether or not they fall under NDIS. It will neither affect NDIS nor have any impact on the disability support pension, which is, as we know, paid under social security law.

The bill also aligns different regulatory schemes and provides for a code of conduct similar to that which is contained within the NDIS Act. Finally, it establishes a criminal offence for the unauthorised use or disclosure of personal information.

At present, it is the Disability Services Act of 1986 that provides the framework for the funding and provision of disability services across Australia. In 37 years, there have been significant changes and it is appropriate now that this regime be updated after almost four decades. Essentially, it will enable the relevant minister to make grants of financial assistance to states and territories or to eligible organisations for, amongst other things, capital works, research activities, disability services and rehabilitation programs. The stated objects include furthering the integration of people with disabilities into the community, assisting people with disabilities to achieve positive outcomes, enabling increased independence, supporting better employment opportunities and providing a positive image of people with disabilities.

There have, in the 37 years since the Disability Services Act was established, been numerous developments in the disability sector, predominantly around the way that we now consider that the most important thing to assist people with disabilities is empowering them to make their own decisions about their own care. Also, there is now increasing awareness of the abuse, neglect and violence which has been directed towards people with disabilities and the lack of safety, quality and value in some disability services.

In terms of international developments, in 2008 Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The underlying principle of that convention is that people with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as the rest of the community, and that is part of the underlying principles of this new proposed act. That required Australia to establish a framework for promoting, protecting and monitoring the implementation of the convention. This has been done under successive governments through the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and also under the former coalition government when they brought it in in 2021.

It is worthwhile to note in passing the difference between this and the NDIS and how they interrelate. Another major development since the passage of the Disability Services Act has been the NDIS. The main component of the NDIS is individualised packages of support to eligible people with disability. The NDIS is intended to be tailored to each participant's needs and goals, and the NDIS aims to help participants use their individual plans to choose and purchase services and supports from a consumer driven and competitive marketplace. There are currently 610,000 Australians receiving support from the NDIS.

The NDIS has had a significant impact on the provision of disability services; however, there are many Australians with disabilities who are not eligible for the NDIS. There has also been recent discussion about the scale of fraud by some disability services providers in the NDIS—and I say that it's about the providers, not about the recipients—with some commentators suggesting that over a billion dollars could be lost to fraudulent or unethical practices. In addition to undermining the integrity and financial sustainability of the NDIS, fraud and noncompliance harms and exploits people with disabilities. This has led to an increased awareness of the need for disability services to be appropriately regulated. This, again, is one of the underlying principles of this bill.

The importance of effective regulation of disability services was also highlighted by the findings of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, which I will simply call 'the royal commission'. This was established in 2019 under the former coalition government. The royal commission, sadly, uncovered numerous examples of abuse and neglect by disability service providers. It took a human rights focused approach in understanding the forces that shape the lives of people with disabilities and made recommendations for lasting change. One of the key recommendations said:

Human rights play an important role beyond just imposing legal obligations on government. They reflect a set of values, such as the dignity, autonomy, freedom and equality of all people. The CRPD—

the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities—

articulates values and standards by which people with disability should be treated and informs community values and standards.

That is one of the intentions of this bill. The bill has been drafted to, in fact, reflect those values and standards.

Under this bill, supports and services may be provided to any person with a disability. That includes those with physical, psychosocial, cognitive, intellectual or sensory impairments. They may be either long-term or episodic. The current legislation only allows for funding through grants, while, under this bill, other forms of financial arrangements, such as procurements and contracts, are permitted. So this will make the provision of disability services available to a wider community than that which is receiving support under the NDIS. But it will not, at that time, increase access to disability payments that are currently dealt with under social security legislation. In conclusion, I commend this bill to the House. It reflects work that commenced under the former coalition government. It also reflects many of the recommendations that came out of the royal commission. It does also reflect Australia's international obligations under the United Nations convention. For all of those reasons, I commend this bill to the House.

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