Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In light of media reports today of cross-parliament support for a national disability insurance scheme, will you outline how you intend to progress this important reform as a matter of urgency within government?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyne for his question. I hope that he, in his appearance, is setting a trend for those who work in Parliament House, including some members of the press gallery—Phil Hudson and Dennis Shanahan, amongst others—so congratulations to him. He asked me about a very important Productivity Commission inquiry which is underway—an inquiry into how this nation could better assist Australians with disabilities. The interim report of the Productivity Commission was made available yesterday and I am pleased that the interim report has got some general acceptance across the parliament as a very good piece of work.

As the member would know, this is the interim report. There is now a further comment period for people who are interested. So many people around the country have a disability or are a carer or a family member or a friend of an Australian with a disability and will want to have their voices heard in this inquiry process. So there will be a further period in which people can provide their comments and then the final report will be made available in July. After the final report is made available, the government will respond to it. As the member is probably aware, the Productivity Commission does genuinely take on board feedback between the interim report and the final report and we may well find that some parts of it are changed from what has been made available now.

I do endorse what the member has said. This is an incredibly important area of work. It is somewhere where the government has made a start, but there is more to do. We have doubled federal funding, providing more than $6 billion over five years to deliver more and better specialist disability services. We have improved access to specialist employment services because many Australians living with a disability do want to work, but they may need that extra bit of assistance to get into the workforce. Of course, we have delivered a historic pension increase to assist people with a disability and their carers, something that made a very big difference to them. These are Australians that live under a great deal of pressure.

The government is also funding the Better Start for Children with Disability program. This is all about early intervention for children diagnosed with sight and hearing impairments, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, fragile X syndrome, and it follows in the wake of the earlier successful program to assist children with autism.

But, despite these investments, I acknowledge and the government acknowledges that there is more the nation needs to do to support Australians with disability. I think, with the interim report yesterday, we are off to a good start on working out major new policy improvements. I am glad to see that that has received bipartisan support at this point. I do genuinely hope that that bipartisanship lasts as we go through the next stage of the process, which will be the final Productivity Commission report in the middle of the year.