Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

I'm always amused to listen to the member for Bradfield talk about taxpayer value after he spent $30 million purchasing the Leppington Triangle from Liberal Party donors. I notice he has run out of the room. The $30 million purchase of the Leppington Triangle was analysed by the Auditor-General, and it was concluded to be $26.7 million over the odds. I do say this though: I accept that the member for Bradfield can help the taxpayer. I understand that Snowy Hydro is having trouble with a giant boring machine—we could lend them the member for Bradfield!

I return to the more serious part of my submission tonight. We speak on this debate on the Appropriation Bill with real confidence in the budget measures in the portfolio responsibilities for government services and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We believe Australians deserve to be supported at every stage of their lives to ensure their ability to participate socially and economically in our community. Investment in both Services Australia and the NDIS is an investment in the wellbeing of Australians and our vision of a more inclusive, fairer society. Of course, we come into government having seen the previous government wreak robodebt, where they illegally raised debts against nearly half a million of our fellow Australians with no authority at all to do so. Over four years, despite the warnings—the succession of failed and disgraced government services—ministers of the coalition did nothing. The royal commission has exposed the hollowness at the top end of the previous government in the delivery of services.

On a more positive note, in this budget, we were able to announce an investment of $2.8 billion extra into Services Australia. This funding is going to increase service delivery capability, improve safety for staff and customers and operate and enhance myGov. Building services delivery capability in Services Australia is essential if it's to meet community expectations, so we've invested an extra $1.8 billion over three years to 2025-26 to maintain a customer service workforce to deliver timely services, to reduce call waiting times and processing times and to sustain our emergency response in natural disasters and other aspects of the agency's operations that impact its ability to serve the Australian people. There will be an additional 4,000 staff in financial year 2024-25 and 3,530 staff in financial year 2025-26. This additional staff includes continuing current emergency response capability of an extra 850 staff.

We have been improving the safety of the workforce and the customers at our 318 service centres. We will be investing $314 million across the next two financial years to improve safety. Services Australia intends to improve our security and systems and practices, increased use of security guards, upgraded and enhanced security features at all service centres, enhanced service centre design, improved technical data and capability. We will also be legislating additional penalties for addressing acts of aggression or violence towards Commonwealth frontline staff.

We also have measures to invest to improve, operate and maintain myGov and deliver targeted improvements. It is accessed by over 870,000 people every day and over two million people a day in peak periods, allowing Australians to access 16 government agencies and services in one location. Over the next four years, the agency will receive an additional $629 million to fund the ongoing operation and maintenance of myGov to keep it available, secure, safe and contemporary.

With the NDIS, we continue our commitment to get it back on track and make the investments needed to ensure the scheme is delivering outcomes for the people for whom the scheme was designed. This is important for all Australians, not just Australians with disability. It is one of the most significant social initiatives this century. Like Medicare, the NDIS is an essential safety net and it is important that people know they can receive fair, equitable and consistent treatment in accessing the scheme. The NDIS has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians for the better. The Albanese government is designing our reforms in consultation with the Australian disability community to make sure we can continue to improve the scheme.

In this budget the NDIS will benefit from a further $468 million in funding, an investment that comes on top of the $732 million that we provided in the last budget. We want to fight fraud, we want to discourage the criminal element and we want to make sure that Australians on the scheme have the necessary choice and control, and that they receive supports that are reasonable and necessary. The government remains committed to making sure that the overdue investments in the NDIS mean it can deliver and keep delivering sustainably in the future.

In conclusion, our budget commitments for both Services Australia and the NDIS are emblematic of our commitment to Australians as customers of services and programs and as taxpayers. We feel keenly the responsibility to do the right thing by the people and we do this every day.

See this speech in context