Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. Will the minister please update the House on the economic benefits expected from the National Disability Insurance Scheme? How will the government ensure that these economic benefits are achieved by fully funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme? And are there any alternative approaches?

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for his question. As the member knows so well, the NDIS will provide a very large boost to jobs and growth, and helping people with a disability into the workforce is estimated to increase GDP by an additional $8 billion. The demand for disability services is growing rapidly as we roll out the NDIS. An estimated 60,000 more full-time workers will be required by 2020. The disability workforce is expected to more than double, from around 73,000 to 162,000 full-time jobs.

I am asked whether there are any alternatives. The Labor Party now opposes the policy they used to support, to fully fund the NDIS by a 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy. And, as I have noted this week, we have found many voices, past and present, supporting our policy of funding the NDIS. Admittedly the next one was a little hard to find, but boy was it worth waiting for. After a diligent search, there it was—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister knows the rules about props.

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am just about to read from it. After diligent search, there it was, nestled gently among the Phil Collins CDs in the bargain bin at the second-hand shop. There it appeared: a copy of the literary classic The Good Fight. Comrades—the good fight! What it says at chapter 20 is this:

More savings were required to fund the NDIS. By May we had effectively ruled out every option except an addition to the Medicare levy. We needed to ensure the long-term sustainable funding for the scheme and there was simply no other workable option. There was broad community acceptance that the NDIS was a worthwhile investment—less than a dollar a day for someone on average wages.

The title of the chapter that has this amazing exposition of coalition policy, chapter 20, is 'Hanging tough'. Hanging Tough is not merely the second studio album by the American boy band New Kids on the Block—'hanging tough' is the language of the street, that perfectly distils the unshakeable commitment of the member for Lilley to fund the NDIS through the Medicare levy.

How is it hanging in 2016? Sadly, it is not hanging tough anymore. So we say to the member for Lilley—get tough! Toughen up! Join the good fight! Support the NDIS!

Mr Pasin interjecting—

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Barker is warned. The Minister for the Environment and Energy is warned as well.