Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How we treat the most vulnerable in our community is the mark of a compassionate and caring society. This, of course, is the underlying rationale for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, to provide appropriate and adequate services to our fellow citizens who have a disability through illness, disease or some other cause. For a number of people, this requires specialist housing to meet their needs and to enable the provision of services to those with extreme functional impairment or those with very high support needs. It's estimated that some 28,000 Australians will require housing services under the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and this includes people living in all our electorates, including my electorate of Menzies.

I note this because I was delighted to participate in a turning-of-the-soil event for a new specialist disability accommodation home in Doncaster recently. The 'Hanke on Tram' development, referring to the two streets, will provide eight individual apartments in a three-level, modern apartment block and will be fitted with assistive technology to help occupants with their everyday tasks. I was delighted to be there not just as the member for Menzies but also as the chair of the parliament's oversight committee on the NDIS, and was delighted to acknowledge this local development. I hope to see more of them not only in my electorate but also elsewhere for the needs of those 28,000 Australians.