Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] There are many things this government has done that they have handled appallingly, but none worse than what they have done to people with disability. We see this at the moment, whether we look at Indue cards or anything the government has done. Through the NDIS, they have fundamentally made life a lot harder for people with disability. Recently, I met with Citizen Advocacy Sunbury & Districts. This is a federally funded not-for-profit organisation that supports advocacy for independent relationships for people with intellectual disability. Some of these people are the most vulnerable in our community, yet these wonderful people go out there day in day out to help them get through the basics of dealing with telecommunications, power companies, rent et cetera. And they work on the smell of an oily rag.

Under the cover of COVID, this government has decided to make a decision that's going to impact these people badly, by saying to them that unspent funds you've had while the state has been in lockdown will be returned to the government. The government says that it doesn't play the politics of envy, but it will allow boards, big businesses and multimillionaires to keep JobKeeper, while it is going to rip money out of the hands of the people who are out there supporting the most vulnerable people in our community, including people with intellectual disability. It's an absolute disgrace, but you should not be surprised when you check it out and find out that it's Minister Robert once again doing over people with disability. It's an outrage and a disgrace.