Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline the importance of COAG to driving a strong and fair national reform agenda for Australia’s future? How will this deliver for Australians with disabilities and their carers?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government was elected on a platform of building a stronger Australia, a fairer Australia and an Australia capable of investing in this country’s future challenges in order to secure a future for the nation. That is why, as we embark upon the period ahead, we have a big agenda of reform ahead of us. We have a program of economic reform and we have already referred in question time today to the large amount of work which will be done through the Henry commission. We have long-term tax reform. Remember the call out of the 2020 Summit that it is time, after a quarter of a century, to look at a root and branch review of the tax system, and the other call from the 2020 Summit, which is how we go about establishing a seamless national economy and a seamless national market. Work is now underway by the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, together with his state and territory colleagues, on doing something about the huge regulatory burden faced by businesses across this country operating in different jurisdictions.

Another part of our economic growth agenda is this: with an eye to the future, identifying those future sectors of our economy which can be the growth platforms of the 21st century, I draw honourable members’ attention in particular to the remarks made by the Assistant Treasurer in question time today, because the financial services sector is a huge growth platform for the future. Our funds management industry—courtesy of Keating government superannuation reforms, which have resulted in a trillion dollars currently under management in the Australian funds management industry—I am advised, is the fourth largest by quantum in the world. The challenge we face for the future is how to platform that into a new export business for Australia. We on this side of the House, in six months, have engineered a set of tax reform proposals, the likes of which were never dreamed of, let alone advanced, by those opposite after 12 years in office—on the withholding tax, a reduction from 30 per cent down to 15 per cent and down to 7½ per cent. These proposals are designed to enable our funds managers to become new export businesses for Australia, taking advantage of the time zone advantage we have with the huge economies of East Asia and the retirement pension funds which are going to emerge from those economies.

We also have a big reform agenda on emissions trading, one which the government is determined to prosecute and which those opposite are simply determined to oppose. Then we have a further reform agenda, a third big reform agenda in COAG: the reform of the federation itself. This is where many of my ministerial colleagues have been active with their state and territory counterparts in recent weeks and months to bring about reforms of direct relevance to working households, pensioners and carers across the country. For example, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs recently, on 30 May, concluded an agreement on a $1.9 billion funding boost to disability support services. This is a major initiative. This new partnership with the states and territories will deliver more than 24,500 additional disability places, including 2,300 in-home support services, 2,300 supported accommodation places, 9,900 individual support packages and 10,000 much needed respite places in the range of forms which currently exist across the country. These are big reforms engineered through the architecture of a cooperative federalism as part of our federalism reform agenda.

These are very important changes for so many Australians who depend on us making the Federation work, rather than simply turning it into a platform for further exercising of the blame game which characterised the political modus operandi of the previous government. In the spirit of cooperation with the states and territories, we have also sought to complement what states and territories are currently doing in relation to provision of autism services. I draw attention today to an important announcement made by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, the member for Maribyrnong, of a new program, a $190 million package of services, to support children with autism.

Under the four-year Helping Children with Autism package, to be rolled out from next month, an estimated 9,000 children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder will be eligible to receive up to $12,000 over two years before—and this is the critical bit—they go to primary school. Parents will now be able to choose the early intervention measures that best suit their kids, from a range of authorised service providers. Through this package we will be providing some 40 new autism advisers across Australia to ensure that this advice is provided in those early, critical stages of a child’s development when autism has first been diagnosed. Furthermore, for those who have direct concern for rural and remote Australia, families in these areas will be eligible for an additional $2,000 to help their children benefit from early intervention services. This is a very good package of reforms. It is designed to help those mums and dads struggling with the challenges of kids with autism and the particular needs that they have. The new package of support for families with children with an autism spectrum disorder is designed to complement the existing activities of states and territories for kids with these disabilities in the school system, by providing these services before those kids get to school.

I thank the minister and the member for Maribyrnong for the work that they have done on this initiative—in particular, the member for Maribyrnong, who has done a lot of consultation work with the autism community across the country. This has taken a lot of time to develop; it has involved detailed negotiations. I thank him and the minister for the work they have done with the sector on this. The reason I raise this in the House today is simply to underline one point: you can either prosecute a robust agenda of reforming the Federation—one of the big reform agendas which this government will prosecute in order to deliver practical benefits to those who need disability services in Australia, and in particular those who need autism services—or you can simply perpetuate the politics of the blame game. We are proud of the policy agenda, the reform agenda, we have embarked upon for the period ahead. It is robust on economic reform, robust on the emissions-trading scheme and robust on reforming the Federation, delivering for families and those with disabilities on the way through.

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, could I congratulate the Prime Minister for adopting the Howard government’s autism package.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: that is about the fifth occasion on which members of the opposition front bench have quite clearly sought the call in order to breach standing orders.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It does not help when people approach to get the call for matters that are not within the standing orders.