Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise in Carers Week to speak on the importance of the NDIS to this country. The NDIS is the biggest reform in this country since Medicare, and for the people whose lives it affects it is just as transformative. At its heart is the simple proposition that every Australian, whether or not they suffer a disability, deserves fairness and access. The NDIS is a Labor creation and we are so proud of it.

I woke this morning to read with great displeasure that the NDIA board was being sacked and Bruce Bonyhady, the father of the NDIA, was being made the scapegoat for this government's failure to properly resource the NDIS. The NDIS started with great bipartisanship. We had great hopes that we would walk together in the same direction. But what started out as the government's crab walk away from a commitment to the NDIS has become a jog. Pretty soon it will be a sprint away from the principles of the NDIS and equality for people suffering a disability.

This carries on with the minister's war on social security. All week we have heard talk about the 'welfare mentality' and the 'welfare addiction' in this country. We have seen the headlines in the tabloid papers. This government is gearing up for a war on the poor, a war on social security and a war on people who rely on social security for their basic needs. Who do we have to thank for that? A minister who is a third-generation Liberal blue blood. (Time expired)