Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In continuing my remarks on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012, I especially mention and commend principal Cam Wright and his team at the Modbury Special School, a reception to year 12 school, for the wonderful work that they are doing in supporting children and their families that have a disability. I similarly acknowledge principals Mike Potter and Paul Wilson from Tyndale Christian School and Golden Grove High School, respectively, and their teams in both of those schools for the work that they are doing with secondary school students who have a disability. They have made a special effort to ensure that those students are given every chance in life. I certainly commend and applaud them for the work that they are doing.

About 20 per cent of Australians are living with a disability. For each of them, there is also a direct impact on other family members. Very few families would not be directly impacted by disability, and very few people would not be struck by disability at some stage in their lives. Living an entire life with a disability, however, is a hardship only those personally affected will ever fully understand. The hardship and struggle would test the will of even the most determined people. As an affluent society, we can invest in medical research and hopefully, in time, some disabilities will be overcome. It is a strategy that I would commend to the government.

On that note I acknowledge the work of the Neil Sachse Foundation in South Australia. Neil Sachse was a South Australian footballer who moved to Victoria and, whilst playing for Footscray in 1975, sustained an injury that left him a quadriplegic. As a result of the injury, Neil embarked on a crusade to raise funds for medical spinal research and he has established the Neil Sachse Foundation. The foundation raises funds and is doing work in trying to find medical cures for people that suffer similar types of injuries. If we are able to do that, then that is even better than providing support systems for people once they are injured for the rest of their lives. So, I would certainly stress the point that, as a nation, we can and should do more in investing in medical research. But, until we can cure injuries as a compassionate society, we should ease the burden on people with a disability and their families by providing them with the best assistance possible.

Labor has a history of delivering on social justice reform. It was a Labor government that in 1907 introduced the minimum wage. It was a Labor government that in 1909 brought in the old age pension. It was a Labor government that in 1984 created Medicare. And it was a Labor government that in 1992 introduced compulsory superannuation. And more recently it was a Labor government that in 2010 brought in paid parental leave. I stand here proud to be a member of the Gillard Labor government that is now looking to bring in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I commend this legislation to the House.

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to speak on this important legislation, the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012, and, in doing so, follow so many of my colleagues who have already spoken in this debate on behalf of their electorates. We just heard the member for Makin talk about some of the people making great contributions in his electorate. As the member for Makin pointed out, as much as we see the great work by the volunteers, as much as we see the great work by some of the not-for-profit organisations and see the struggle of the carers and those with a disability, we cannot know all of the struggles and all of the difficulties unless we are in that situation.

There has been an acknowledgement in this parliament and in the last parliament that the current system of disability funding is broken. Previous governments of both political persuasions have acted to improve things. It is a system that has suffered from the difficulties of being split between state and federal governments, but we know that the current system is broken and we know that it is unfair. We know that the way you acquire a disability can unfairly determine the level of support that you get. We know that, in other circumstances, so much of that support is capped and, therefore, leads to rationing. That is why on this side of the House we have shown our strong support every step of the way for the creation of a National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is a scheme that will give support based on need and where the individual will be at the centre and in charge. We have supported the initial work by the Productivity Commission, the $1 billion in the last budget, the five launch sites, the agreement between the Commonwealth and New South Wales for a full state-wide rollout after the Hunter launch and, of course, we support this legislation. As the leader of the coalition, Tony Abbott, said recently, 'The NDIS is an idea whose time has come.'

I want at the outset to pay tribute to all of those in the disability sector that brought the argument to where it is today. There have been some great leaders and great visionaries, and I know Senator Fifield from our side of the House has worked very closely with them.

We know of those in our electorates who have worked so hard for so long to promote the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the work of the Productivity Commission was particularly groundbreaking in giving the new path forward.

Can I say though, that for us to deliver everything that those wanting the NDIS would like it to deliver, for us to meet the hopes and expectations, the implementation will be absolutely critical. The reason there has been so much difficulty is the patchwork between Commonwealth and state funding over such a long period. For us to do well as a parliament and to deliver the very best that the NDIS can offer means that the implementation will have to be managed every day and every week to the best of everyone's ability. I think, as Senator Fifield has said, it is important and wonderful that the NDIS is supported by every government and every opposition at every level right across Australia. But the implementation will take place over a number of parliaments. It will involve all of the state and territory governments over a long period, and that is why we should be determined to make sure that the implementation is governed as best as possible.

Any failure of implementation will be felt by the disability sector, and that is why the coalition has called for the establishment of a joint parliamentary committee to be chaired by both sides of politics to oversee the establishment and the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We have a role to legislate here, but we also have a responsibility to oversee the implementation of what will be a very complex and groundbreaking reform. That is why there should be a specific joint parliamentary committee chaired by both sides of politics. In this House, Mr Christensen has had a motion to establish this committee for some time. I would like to see that motion come on for a vote. Senator Fifield, our shadow spokesman for disabilities, carers and the voluntary sector, has had a similar motion in the Senate, and unfortunately that motion was voted down. I would urge those opposite, as they reflect through their contributions in this important debate, to accept this bipartisan and responsible suggestion to establish a joint committee with a chair from each side of politics to make sure that parliament is there to oversee this very important implementation.

I think if we could establish this, it would be a great step forward and would give confidence that the implementation will stay on the rails, and that those who have argued so hard for this reform will equally have that avenue open to them to help oversee the implementation. I call on those opposite to reconsider what has been opposition to the establishment of this bipartisan committee, to recognise it can play a critical role, to recognise the complexity and the time frame of the rollout and perhaps before the debate is out to indicate that this important committee will be established to do the work over three terms of parliaments and with the nine different state and territory governments that it will be working with to make the scheme work.

Can I pay tribute to just some of those doing great work in my electorate. I have over many weeks and months had the opportunity to meet with, consult with and hear the views of those working directly in the disability sector about the need for the NDIS, about their key constraints today and about their hopes for a better future. I am going to mention three groups I have had a bit to do with. I will not be in a position to mention every single group. As you would appreciate from your electorate, Madam Deputy Speaker O'Neill, every person with a disability or their carer who we come across wants to see a better system. But I pay tribute to just some of the groups who represent so many across the electorate and do so much good work. The Melba Support Services group in Mount Evelyn was started by a group of parents a few decades ago because there was not a tangible support service in the area.

I have had quite a bit to do with Wesley Fire and Clay. They do a great job in Lilydale. The Yarra View Nursery is a supported employment program run by Knoxbrooke. I pay tribute to them. I very strongly support, along with my colleagues, the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I again urge the government to reconsider, in this bipartisan debate, their to-date opposition to the establishment of a bipartisan joint parliamentary committee. I urge them to indicate, perhaps before this debate is out, that they have had second thoughts and agree that the establishment of that would be a very important ingredient in making sure that the implementation is the best that it can be.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Particularly with this 43rd Parliament, a parliament in which no party holds an absolute majority, I am sure that there are days when those outside look in and just shake their heads at some of the behaviour, some of the partisanship and some of what passes for debate here in this place. But I am sure that this is not one of those days, a day on which we collectively together passed a bill to finally put in place a referendum to acknowledge the Indigenous people of this land and a day on which we are well on our way to passing a very important bill that gives hope, I feel, to the very many Australians who care for those with disabilities and the very many Australians who carry the challenges of disability.

It is a great pleasure to rise on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012. This bill will fundamentally change the way we deliver care and support for people with a disability. I am pleased to note the opposition's support for the bill, something which, as I said, is not always the case in this place. The bill establishes the framework for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Transition Agency. This will enable to the scheme to be launched in five sites across Australia from July 2013. I am pleased to note that one of these sites is in the Hunter region and includes Maitland, which is in my electorate. This is great news for people in my local region, particularly those with a disability and their families and carers. I know that it is very encouraging to the many people in my electorate who devote their lives professionally to assisting people with a disability.

This vital stage of the NDIS will mean that approximately 10,000 people in the Hunter region and 20,000 nationwide with a significant and permanent disability will be covered under the NDIS. For the first time, these people will be assessed to receive individual care and support packages as well as be able to make decisions about their own care and choose their service provider. They will have the assistance of local coordinators, who will help manage and deliver their support while providing them with a link to mainstream services. This is all about making sure that people with a disability will have more control over their lives, more certainty about the level of care that they will receive and more opportunities to get involved in work, school and community life.

I am lucky that in my electorate there are many excellent organisations that assist people with disabilities. One of these is Integrated Living Australia in Muswellbrook. I was pleased to announce last year, along with the minister, that they would be receiving $190,000 to help us get ready for the introduction of the NDIS. An essential part of getting this change right is developing practical, real-world ways to make sure that an NDIS can work in the way that it is supposed to for people with a disability. The team at Integrated Living will be developing a new how-to guide for small and medium organisations to help them adjust to an NDIS environment. This is a historic reform and we need to make sure that the disability sector is supported to make the change so that Australians with a disability, their families and their carers can start benefitting from the NDIS as quickly as is possible.

The government has been very proactive in its approach by providing grants to organisations like the Kurri Kurri Community Centre, in my electorate, through the NDIS readiness fund. The government has also worked closely with state and territory governments on the design, governance and funding of the scheme. I was very pleased when New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell agreed to sign up to the trial in the Hunter. That was a very important milestone. The COAG process can be a tough one, but I am very pleased that everyone was able to put politics aside and do the right thing by people who need our support.

This bill has two main purposes. The first is to establish the framework of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I have already stated that the scheme gives people with a disability more control over the care and support that they receive. Importantly, it also allows this care and support to be considered as part of a whole-of-life approach. It will respond to each individual's goals and aspirations for life and take into account their individual circumstances. It will also look at the support that carers need to sustain their caring role and assist by strengthening other informal and community supports that are important for people with a disability.

The scheme moves away from the crisis model under which families only receive support if they are unable to continue in their caring role and there are no other options. Instead, it will work with families before they reach crisis point to make sure that the valuable care that they provide can be sustained. There is also a strong focus on early intervention, especially in situations in which there is good evidence that this care and support will sustainably improve a person's functioning or slow or prevent the progression of their disability over their lifetime.

The other main purpose of the bill is to establish the National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Transition Agency, to operate the first stage of the scheme. Very importantly, the agency will be a body independent of government. In addition to delivering the scheme, it will perform a range of functions, including managing the financial sustainability of the scheme, building community awareness about disability and undertaking research about disability and the social contributors to disability. Importantly, the agency will be established as a body under the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997, which is in line with the Productivity Commission's recommendation.

This takes the care and support out of the cycle of budgets and elections. This is not something that should be subject to the whims of budget debate.

Before I finish today, I would like to make mention of a few other disability support organisations in my electorate. Places like Endeavour Industries, Mai Wel, Koora Industries and Whitmore Enterprises all do fantastic work on the job with people with a disability by providing them with support and employment. Endeavour Industries in Cessnock was also successful last year in receiving nearly $3 million to help build six co-living units which will be dispersed through medium density housing and will include landscaped grounds and a hydrotherapy pool. This is a great addition to the Cessnock community. I am always pleased as member of parliament to be able to support organisations and projects like these. They play a vital role in our community and in the lives of people with a disability and, of course, their families.

Every member in this place would have had an experience with people with a disability whether it be in someone's household, in an operation like Mai Wel in Maitland, where so many people with disabilities are being gainfully employed, or at a special school which caters for handicapped children. I say this in the most positive way, I am sure that most, if not all, people in this place would have found that experience somewhat confronting. I certainly do, and I look on in awe not only at the way individuals seek to overcome the challenge of their disability but also at those people who give their lives to those who are struggling, whether they do that in a family sense because they are related in some way, whether they happen to be a neighbour or whether it is in the professional sense.

I was so delighted that some of those people were rewarded last year when we provided $7 million out of the BER to build a brand new Hunter River Community School on the eastern side of Maitland. This school is full of wonderful children, in some cases severely challenged. Again, I am just so in awe of the teachers and other assistants that work with those kids on a daily basis. What a wonderful thing it is that we can now take them out of their temporary demountable buildings and give them a brand new school In my 17 years here, no grant has made me happier than that one. The New South Wales Department of Education wanted to move the school out of my electorate to a new location just outside of my electorate—indeed, into the electorate of the member for Paterson. They called to ask me whether I had any objection to that, and I said, 'I don't care where you build the school as long as it remains accessible to those who use it on a daily basis.' I was very happy to agree to that. The same applies to all of those people who work within those organisations I referred to earlier. They do wonderful work. I think they do work that I must admit I would struggle with if I had to engage with it on a daily basis. On the flip-side, when I go to places like Whitmore, Endeavour and Mai Wel which employ people with challenges, I find nothing but joy and happiness, and it is good to have a little bit of banter with the workers there. They are always very pleased to see me—not exclusively me of course, just any visitor. They are always proud of what they are doing and they are really doing productive work. I think collectively as members of parliament we can be proud and satisfied that we have schemes in place that allow these people to engage in the workforce in a very normal way and to work in a happy environment as these people I encounter do. I have to say that it should almost be self-mandating for us to visit them at least three or four times a year, because it is an uplifting experience. We think we have challenges in life, and I suppose we certainly do in this environment of the 43rd parliament, but these—I am tempted to call them kids, but of course they are not—workers in these industries are always just so happy. They always seem so satisfied with what they are doing, and from that we take comfort that their families are also happy that they have found meaningful work in life. There are also others out there who can reach the higher echelons of the business world or politics. We should be doing all we can to help them do so and to ensure that they are able to overcome the sometimes serious challenges that have been put in their path. It should be a very high priority for us.

I was so disappointed when I first came to this place. I had a local experience with a 21-year-old guy who had had a car accident, had suffered brain damage and was living in a dementia ward in a nursing home in my electorate. That shocked me, and I was even more shocked when I pursued the issue on my arrival in this place and found out that he was certainly not alone. He was one of tens of thousands—I think it is tens of thousands; I hope I have not overstated that, but it is certainly a very large number—of Australians still at a young age who find themselves in nursing homes with very elderly patients, sometimes in dementia wards. That is unacceptable. I know it is improving, but I do believe we need to do more to ensure that is not the ongoing case. I congratulate the minister, I congratulate the government, I congratulate the opposition for its largely bipartisan approach to what is a very serious issue for our country and I commend the bill to the House.

Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In rising to speak on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012, I am by no means the first, and I certainly won't be the last, to stand in this chamber and say that the current system of support for people with a disability is definitely broken. We have a system where, if you have a disability, the level of support you get is dependent on a whole range of factors, many of them entirely out of your control—from the state you live in to whether the disability is inherited or acquired. If it was acquired, when did it happen? Where? How? Are you covered by workplace compensation or motor vehicle accident insurance? Or will you be subjected to long waiting lists and queues? This lack of support when it is really needed is resulting every day in heartbreaking situations where people with a disability are not living, just existing—and the situation for their families and caregivers is often not much better.

We need a new system of support, a system that puts the individual and their needs at the centre—in charge and able to pick the supports, aids, equipment and service providers of their choice. This is the vision of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The technical nitty-gritty is that this bill establishes the framework for the NDIS and the NDIS Launch Transition Agency. This will enable the scheme to be launched and the agency to operate the launch in five sites across Australia from July 2013. But the detail does not communicate just what the real impact of this bill will be, if it is done right. Here, today, I would like to put some human faces to this debate. People in my electorate have not been shy in coming forward to tell me how this bill will make a real and lasting difference, and I want to share these stories.

The first is Mrs Colleen Dolan, who is 77 years old and has just been awarded an Order of Australia Medal. She has spent 40 years working on behalf of Far North Queensland's disabled community. It all started when Mrs Dolan tried to enrol her daughter Lynette at a local kindergarten but they would not accept her because she had Down syndrome. The principal said the staff were not qualified and she 'had to think of the prestige of the kindergarten'. 'That was the attitude in those days', says Mrs Dolan: 'unfortunately, there was very little available for people with disabilities and they were herded, segregated and not involved in the community at all.'

Mrs Dolan did not take that lying down: she started her own kindergarten and eventually closed the other one down. She kept fighting too, helping establish two key disability groups: the Cairns Regional Family Network and the Leisure Connections Association. Her daughter Lynette has benefited hugely from this targeted support—she lives in her own unit, does her own housework, can decide what she wants for lunch and gets support for budgeting and shopping. Mrs Dolan believes the NDIS has wonderful potential but wants to make sure that the funding does not get tied up in bureaucracy, that it gets to the people it needs to on the ground. She is also worried about how people will be assessed—will they get the support they need to be able to live an ordinary life, as in Lynette's situation, or will they only get what they need to exist? Mrs Dolan says it does take time—many years—but the government should look at the money they spend in disability as an investment. Individualised funding may cost more in the short term but people can achieve a level of independence and quality of life. The alternative is that they spend 50 to 60 years in a totally dependent state. There is no argument which is better, socially and financially, for society.

Another example is Kylie Allen, a young mum aged 33 from Cairns, who wrote to me late last year. She wrote:

I have 3 children (4 yrs, 2 yrs & 9 months), two with Special Needs. My daughter has an extremely rare chromosome condition known as 6p Deletion. There are only 30 documented people worldwide and because it is so rare, it is not recognised by the Government and we have to pay for her therapy, Doctors and specialists.

My eldest son has Autism and whilst he has the Helping Children with Autism Funding, there are three panel providers in Cairns and so we still are forced to pay for therapy ourselves.

The NDIS means that the financial strain will be lifted on our family and—more importantly—that my children can receive the health care and support they need, and to lead a happy quality life—just like their non-affected peers.

Vernon Lewis is a 62-year-old from Earlville, a real character. He wrote:

I was diagnosed with MS in 1989 and the complaint is advancing slowly all the time. I seek to continue to make a difference in my community in spite of, or perhaps because of that.

My involvement with the Lions Club at Trinity Beach, the Cairns Choral Society, the Centenary Lakes church as well as the Trinity Beach Lions and MS (TBLAMS) Support Group all mean I am a valuable member of this community.

It would be great if this could continue for many years to come. I am concerned that my condition will deteriorate so I am unable to make the valued contributions I have been able to make so far.

I need the NDIS to provide the assurance that the support I need will be available when I need it most. Please make this something other than a political football … my hope is that there can be a bi-partisan approach to getting this done and NOW!!

The previous speaker, my friend and colleague the member for Hunter, pushed and stressed the need for a bipartisan approach. I think that has been very much accepted through the course of this debate, and I am confident that we will be able to continue like that.

Another face to this debate is Cindy Eagle. She lives in Edge Hill and has a particularly tragic story. Her nephew was born 12 years ago and as a newborn suffered blood clots in his brain. He is severely disabled, cannot walk or talk and still has to wear nappies. He has cerebral palsy, a blood-clotting disease and epilepsy, and in his first year he had dozens of fits every day. Cindy does not know how her sister and her husband do it. The whole family scrimps and saves for equipment; everything for the disabled is so expensive and, at this point in time, government help is next to nothing.

She tells me that her sister has had to sell their house, that they have lost their super funds and that they have moved rental homes 14 times in the last 10 years trying to get somewhere suitable—which appears to be impossible. In 12 years they have not had a holiday or even gone to the movies together. There always has to be one of them by their son's side due to his complicated medical requirements, and he certainly cannot travel. He needs so much therapy to get a piece of a decent life, but this is beyond their means: they live every day just to get by. They love their son to death, but they have lost their lives and are under immense stress, pressure and physical exhaustion. This could be you or one of your loved ones at any time. Life as you know it could disappear and you could exist in hopelessness and misery. She thanks us, as members of this place, for our commitment to this cause, in the hope that she will be able to see the establishment of this NDIS.

Katherine Kramer from Kewarra Beach is a full-time carer for her brother, who was injured in an accident many years ago. She says that:

We are fortunate in that he was covered by insurance. This has enabled us to look after him in his own home. Many others are in similar circumstances but can't afford to care for their loved ones due to financial pressures and lack of resources. The NDIS can do this for them.

Jacqueline Black, from Freshwater, is an occupational therapist. These are people who are right at the coalface, who are providing the service and the care at the moment, and who certainly have a very strong interest in and a very comprehensive understanding of the challenges and the issues that are faced by individuals and families in dealing with these problems. Jacqueline has said:

I have worked with many people with disabilities and their families. Every one of them, as individuals and as family units, would have benefited from improved access to therapy, equipment, appropriate housing and carer support. Their participation in the community, at school and in the workplace could always have been better facilitated. The NDIS is necessary to begin dealing with the compromised and inequitable provision of services that currently exists.

We hear the same from Maree Cotton from Cairns, who also works for a disability employment service. She says:

I see so many people receive different levels of support depending on how and where their disability was acquired. We need to provide people with disability and their families and carers with regular care, support and the equipment they need.

Shane Yule—who is another amazing individual—is from Manoora. He is youth worker for disabled children:

The hardest part of my job is dealing with the system. The kids are an absolute pleasure to work with but it's sad to see how many kids go without and don't get the funding they deserve. Why should disabled people be disadvantaged? Please support this cause.

The challenges that these families face every day are the justification for establishing the NDIS—no-one in this place would dispute that.

However, at the end of the day, this is an insurance policy and it certainly needs to be properly funded. It may well be that we need to incrementally introduce it to make it affordable. That is why the coalition has proposed a bipartisan parliamentary committee—so that support for the scheme does not waiver across three terms of parliament and along with the nine different governments that are going to be needed to make this system work.

Unfortunately, I have got to say that there have been claims that the NDIS is owned by one side of parliament or another. I would argue that that is not the case. I think that everybody in this place and everybody right across the whole political spectrum has shown very, very strong support for this. But we really need—and this is something that the government needs to do at the moment—to be told how this NDIS is going to be funded. We have supported the government's commitment of $1 billion to the NDIS in the federal budget, but we know that it is going to cost a lot more than that. The Productivity Commission has stated that $3.9 billion will be necessary over the forward estimates for the first phase of the NDIS.

I look forward to hearing how the government will account for this and make appropriate provisions in the coming budget, because we cannot raise expectations for these desperate people unless we are absolutely able to deliver these services. Every day that we do not do this, there are families in my area and many other areas that are going to be let down. My side of politics and I certainly want the NDIS to be a success. We have enthusiastically supported each milestone on the road to the NDIS. We want the launch sites to run very, very smoothly. We believe that the NDIS can be delivered within the time frame recommended by a government that can manage its finances well. We stand ready to work with the government in all jurisdictions to make the NDIS a reality.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012. This is a bill that is a once-in-a-generation landmark reform that has the potential to deliver better quality-of-life outcomes for Australians with disabilities, as well as their carers, friends and everyone else who is entrusted with the care of people with disability in this country. I last spoke on the NDIS in August when the Prime Minister—following the release of the Productivity Commission inquiry report entitled Disability care and support, which identified that disability care in Australia was underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient—announced that major reform was needed. Since then, all state and territory governments have also agreed on the need for major reform through the NDIS.

I am very pleased to be able to stand here today and say that the government is well on its way to delivering on this very much needed reform. I am also very pleased to speak on the NDIS now that it is pretty much on the threshold of becoming a reality. Once passed, the NDIS rollout is expected to begin in mid-2013.

I do want to acknowledge that the opposition is supporting the NDIS and that many members on the other side have made some very heartfelt speeches. There is no doubt that many of my own colleagues on this side have made many heartfelt speeches in support of the NDIS.

As I have said, the National Disability Insurance Scheme is very much a centrepiece of this government's agenda. The NDIS has come to fruition through the bill we are debating today as a result of the solid work undertaken by government ministers embarking on a series of wide-reaching consultations with state and territory governments and with people with disabilities, their families and carers. It is also very much a result of the hard work and continued advocacy of organisations that represent those Australians living with a form of disability that effectively renders them dependent on carers, care workers and service deliverers.

Through the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme 2012, the government has resolved to act in order to support people with disabilities and, more importantly, to help them lead a more active and productive life and to enhance the quality of their life. The NDIS will ensure that people with disability will be able to achieve, to the best of their ability, their full potential, which obviously will benefit not only them but society as a whole. In particular, it will benefit those people charged with caring for them.

The legislation sets out a framework for a national scheme, one that should take an insurance approach and that shares the cost of disability services and supports across the community. It is a framework that will initially operate in five locations. The first stage of the NDIS rollout will begin in South Australia and Tasmania and will include regional areas. Regional areas will also be covered in other launch sites. In my home state of Victoria, the Barwon local government areas of the City of Greater Geelong, the Colac Otway Shire, the Burrough of Queenscliffe and the Surf Coast Shire will be locations of that first rollout.

Over the years, as the member for Calwell I have had many, many conversations and many representations from my constituents regarding issues associated with caring for people with disabilities. The single greatest anxiety of the parents I have met who have children with disabilities is what will happen to their children once they are no longer around to look after them. Nothing is more traumatic, more poignant, than having a conversation with a parent who has a child they are responsible for even into their adult years and who has to ponder the inevitable: what will happen to my child when I am not here and am unable to look after them? In the NDIS we have a scheme that responds to the real human face of those anxieties and concerns.

The person who comes to mind for me first and foremost is one of my local community activists, Mrs Betty Moore, who has been on this case for as long as I have been the member for Calwell and probably well before that. Betty is a full-time carer for her son Jonathan, who has Down syndrome. I first met Betty years ago when she came into my office and asked me in a very frank and direct way—because that is how Betty does things—if I realised just how much money she and other carers save governments. They save governments money because they do the heavy lifting in areas we are responsible for taking care of and funding. That was her question. It left a lasting impression on me. Her greatest concern, like so many other parents in similar positions, is of course what will happen to Jonathan when she becomes too old and frail to care for him. Betty has become a full-time activist for the rights of people with a disability. For many years she has served on the management committee of Brite Services, which is a supported employment provider in my electorate. She is very much a tireless advocate, lobbying governments, advocating for ways in which the lives of carers can be made easier and finding ways in which people with disabilities can live more productive lives, particularly through employment opportunities. Her son Jonathan has enjoyed many years of employment at Brite.

The NDIS framework will benefit parents such as Betty by providing long-term certainty to the resourcing of disability care and support. It is, after all, surety and security for loved ones that Betty and everybody else wants, because for them it has always been about the kids. But the NDIS is also about the carers. It will offer them support to help them sustain their caring role and strengthen the broader community support as well.

I know that the NDIS will be very much welcomed by my electorate. There are thousands of people in Calwell who are currently on disability support pensions and thousands of carers who have had to take significant reductions in their incomes in order to care for family and loved ones. Importantly, and this goes to the heart of human dignity, compassion and sacrifice, the NDIS will recognise the overwhelming care and devotion that millions of Australians give to their loved ones who are living with disability. It also recognises the impact on quality of life that past inaction and inefficiencies have caused and have brought to bear on those Australians and their families. The NDIS has a needs-based approach, changing the concept from the charity approach of the past to one centred on individuals choosing the services they want, thus giving them power to make decisions and control their lives. The positive effect of individuals having the power to control their lives and make decisions should never be underestimated. It goes to the core of human dignity.

I have seen this firsthand through the extraordinary work of Brite Services, which is the major employment services provider for people with disabilities in my electorate. Brite has a demonstrated, long-term commitment to improving social inclusion and economic participation for people with a range of disabilities and vocationally disadvantaged backgrounds. I have had many dealings with Brite over the years and I have always admired its accomplishments. I have also always admired the commitment of the people at Brite to the people that they are looking after and to the people that they effectively employ. Brite's current CEO is Ms Julie McKay—and I need to mention Julie because she is doing a wonderful job steering this incredible organisation into new and exciting directions. Brite's social and disability enterprise models are both practical and innovative solutions to enable employment and training opportunities for people who can so easily fall through the cracks of the current employment services system. In her own words, Julie feels 'there is so much more potential that can be unleashed in the social and disability enterprise sector'. I believe that we here today are unleashing some of that potential with the passage of this bill.

However, Brite's accomplishments as an employment services provider have not just happened overnight; it has taken years of hard work by locals, parents, community groups and businesses. Brite's journey began in 1968 when a group of parents in the northern suburbs of Melbourne were looking to establish a facility and services for their children with a disability. Brite Services was officially founded in 1976. Today it is a $3.2 million enterprise and one of the largest employers of people with disabilities in Hume. It always takes the community to make a beginning, to fight the good fight and to establish institutions that later go on to serve the community so admirably. Brite is one of those institutions. It operates as a highly reputable training provider, and is employer to over 200 people with a disability and people from disadvantaged backgrounds annually—my electorate is rated as having one of the highest areas of social and economic disadvantage in Australia. Since 2007, Brite has championed alternative and innovative employment models, such as its social enterprise intermediate labour market model, to improve access to training and employment and it has done so with tremendous success. This model is designed to meet the needs of local job seekers by providing local jobs. Like Brite's vision, the NDIS aims to provide individuals with equity and access to training and employment for a better life.

From the feedback in my local community to the feedback across the length and breadth of this country, I can report to the House that the NDIS is strongly supported because it responds to and aims to redress the key fault lines identified for people living with disability and for those who care for them. The government is aware that the current disability system encourages crisis, meting out support only when it is desperately needed and, of course, with meagre and inadequate resources. The government has listened and has understood how people with disability often feel shut out and frustrated at not being able to join the workforce and contribute to society in a way which is meaningful to them.

By taking a lifelong approach through the NDIS, the bill will focus on intensive early intervention, particularly where there is good evidence that it will improve a person's functioning or slow or prevent the progression of their disability over their lifetime. The bill also considers other crucial elements of the NDIS, including interactions with compensation schemes, registration of service providers, appointment of nominees in certain circumstances and merit reviews.

In conclusion, through this bill the government aims to help people with disabilities to achieve rather than focus on what they cannot achieve. Many people have waited many years for government action in this area, and finally this government has delivered a response. The NDIS means dignity, freedom and choice for people not just in my electorate but Australia wide, so it is with great pleasure that I am able to support this bill before the House. I commend all members who have spoken in support of this bill, and I also want to acknowledge and commend the opposition members who speak in support of this bill.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my privilege to rise and support the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012, which is before this House, because the NDIS is truly a historic reform for our country and for our parliament. It could not have come any sooner for the more than 400,000 Australians who have a significant disability and for their families and their carers.

It is particularly important today to acknowledge that the NDIS has bipartisan support. I would like to take this opportunity to praise government ministers, in particular the member for Maribyrnong, who championed this cause when he was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, and also a former state MP, John Della Bosca, who has done a lot of work with the Every Australian Counts campaign. On our side of the House I would also like to pay particular tribute to Senator Mitch Fifield, who is our shadow minister for disabilities, but also to our leader, Tony Abbott, who has personally championed this cause and in fact, in last year's Pollie Pedal, which he undertakes annually, raised more than $500,000 for carers. It is through a combination of the government and the opposition that we will together see that the NDIS becomes a reality. We have supported the NDIS in a bipartisan way ever since it was first referred in 2009 to the Productivity Commission. We supported it when a billion dollars was allocated over the forward estimates for these launch sites, and we support it in this bill before the House and its subsequent implementation of the NDIS.

Big ideas and big reforms start as a kernel of an idea, but if they are going to be legislated into reality they need champions in this place. I am proud to say that there are those on both sides of the divide. I also want to give particular credit to one of my constituents and friends whose name is Bruce Bonyhady. He is Chairman of Yooralla and also President of the Philanthropy Australia Council. He has promoted and pursued the concept of the NDIS with every fibre of his body. To the people who have participated in the Every Australian Counts campaign, and so many others, I say thank you.

In my electorate, there are so many organisations and community groups that work in this important area of disability support. There is St Paul's College at Villa Maria; Belmore special school, in Balwyn; and the Association for Children with a Disability, in Hawthorn. There is Q ArtStudio, which allows people with a disability to pursue their untapped talents for the arts, and e.motion21 is a wonderful group that allows young people with a disability to pursue dance as a way of enjoying their life and pursuing a recreation.

Vatmi Industries, which provides employment opportunities and EDAR, which is in Surrey Hills, Balwyn and Balwyn North in my community. And there are many, many other organisations and outstanding individuals like Ariane Garner-Williams, who I have worked with, who has been an ambassador for people with a disability. During this time these community groups and these individuals have championed the idea of an NDIS. They have kept the pressure on people in this place to see that this reform becomes a reality.

The bill before us today establishes a framework for the NDIS and establishes the NDIS Launch Transition Agency, which will operate the scheme initially in five locations starting in mid-2013—South Australia, the ACT, Tasmania, the Hunter in New South Wales and Barwon in my home state of Victoria. This new agency will fund individual support packages and block-fund some entities. Eligibility to become a participant requires that a person's impairment to have resulted in 'substantially reduced functional capacity' which affects their mobility, learning, social interaction, communication, self-care or self-management. Once a person is eligible support can be granted to alleviate, prevent or mitigate deterioration in a person's functional capacity. Importantly, people over 65 years of age will not be eligible to request NDIS support. However, if a person is already receiving NDIS support and does turn 65 they can continue with that support.

Each eligible person will have a plan prepared for them detailing the support they receive under the scheme, the management of those funds and the date for review. At a later date there will be further NDIS rules which will outline the process for becoming a plan manager as well as rights and processes pertaining to reviews under the scheme.

There will be an agency board with a chair and eight board members who will have a range of skills and experiences across the financial, insurance and disability sectors. The Commonwealth will appoint the chair and will require a majority of jurisdictions to support the board appointments. Importantly, there will be an independent advisory council with at least four people with a disability on it, at least two carers and someone who has skills in the supply of equipment to help people with a disability. There will be an independent review of the act that will take place after two years. These are important logistics that can actually turn this reform into a reality.

It is no secret that we on this side of the House have called on the government to establish a joint parliamentary committee which would be chaired by representatives of both sides of the political divide to oversee the implementation of the NDIS. Because issues of design, eligibility and delivery will still need to be worked through over the coming years, and this should be done in a bipartisan manner because no one single party or no one single person owns the NDIS; it belongs to the community as a whole, and the notion of a bipartisan committee to oversight its implementation is a step in a positive direction. It is quite different to having a parliamentary committee inquire into this bill or into the NDIS. This would be setting up a permanent committee to deal with the transition and implementation. It is unfortunate that the Leader of the Opposition has had to write five times to the Prime Minister about this and my colleague the member for Dawson, George Christensen, has introduced a private member's bill.

Despite these efforts on our side, the government has refused to countenance, to this point, this idea of a bipartisan committee to oversee the implementation. Nevertheless, we will continue to promote this amendment. We do not want to see a repeat of the wrangling we saw between Liberal premiers and the government before the last COAG meeting, because we need to be above the partisanship, particularly when it comes to this reform. At the end of the day, this reform is too important for us to fail. The NDIS needs to be properly funded by this government and they are going to have to explain where they are going to find the additional billions of dollars that the Productivity Commission has said would be necessary over the forward estimates, because the target deadline for getting a full scheme up and running is 2018-2019. We have criticised the fact that only $1 billion has been set aside for the forward estimates to reach these five trial sites, which will reach up to 20,000 people with a significant disability. This is a start, but it is not enough.

We are here today debating the NDIS and pushing it through as a parliament, as a significant reform, because the system has been broken. The system of funding and supporting people with disabilities has failed the Australian people. It is just not right that depending on where and how you got that particular disability—for example, whether it was in a car accident or by birth, or whether you live in South Australia or Victoria—you are funded differently for the same disability. It is not right. With another Australian becoming significantly disabled every 30 minutes, this is a serious issue. I want to remind the chamber what the Productivity Commission said back in July 2011 when they reported to government:

The current disability support system is underfunded, unfair, fragmented, and inefficient. It gives people with a disability little choice, no certainty of access to appropriate supports and little scope to participate in the community.

Those are damning words and they resonate not just in this House but also across the Australian community in every small town and in every big city. If we are going to find that additional $6.5 billion annually that was identified by the Productivity Commission, we will see funding for disabilities increase by up to 90 per cent. Currently the states and the territories provide $4.7 billion and the Commonwealth $2.3 billion annually for people with a disability. But we need to find that additional $6.5 billion. If we do find it in a bipartisan manner then we will see funding for people with a disability reach about the same level as the disability support pension. It will be more than we allocate to the PBS, but it will be less than the $18 billion a year that we allocate to Medicare.

Questions about the funding are absolutely critical—it requires the bipartisan support of this House and it requires a decision by the political leadership of this country to prioritise the funding of people with disabilities, because at the end of the day we do not have an endless pie of money that we can just pull from for every particular need. We have to prioritise and, as far as I am concerned, we need to prioritise supporting people with a disability.

My eyes were opened when I was at university teaching tennis on a voluntary basis with a group called the Kids Tennis Foundation. We would go out to some public courts every week—I and a man called Bob Crump—and teach kids with Down syndrome how to hit a tennis ball. You would think kids with Down syndrome could not hit a tennis ball, and you would be right.

But the point is that they got out on the court every week, threw a racket around, missed nine out of 10 balls, but the smiles on their faces would bring a tear to anyone's eye. I know that my colleagues on the other side of the House and my colleagues on the side of the House have had similar experiences as they have attended the morning teas in their electorate under the banner of Every Australian Counts, as they have visited Uralla, as they have visited the art studios and the dance studios that give opportunities for young people with a disability, as they have spoken to the carers who give so much of their time and are underpaid to support people with disabilities, and as they have sat down with the family of a child or an adult with a disability they have heard those personal stories.

I think the NDIS speaks to our humanity as a nation. It speaks to our personal compassion. It is actually why we are all here. We may disagree on the avenue and the route to finding the same place, but that same place is all about creating a stronger, fairer, more prosperous society. If we grasp this opportunity to take the NDIS beyond this bill before the House and beyond these five trial sites that have been set down, we will have achieved something that previous parliaments have never done. The people of Australia are watching us. They are hoping that we can deliver on that promise, and we should not let them down.

Debate adjourned.