Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Kirsty Carpenter from South Windsor is 31 and an NDIS participant. She is an osseo-integration amputee, having had her leg amputated above the knee. She has a titanium implant inserted into the bone of her leg, and this is what her artificial limb attaches to, or should attach to. In October last year, Kirsty was approved for a new prosthesis. In December, my office raised with the NDIA the delay in the approval of funding for her new leg. There was no resolution as they squabbled over cost. So while they were pinching pennies, Kirsty has been wheelchair bound, waiting for a leg.

Last week—Kirsty has been remarkably resilient—she phoned me and advised that due to work, health and safety concerns solely because of the delay in receiving her new leg and not being mobile, her employer had terminated her employment. Despite an approval five months ago, she learned only late yesterday that the funding has finally been approved, so she will soon have a new leg but she will not have a job. This is yet another example of the serious impact the delay in plan implementation by the National Disability Insurance Agency is having on people's lives, and it needs to change.