Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the Government's commitment to ensuring there is a strong, skilled and sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) workforce by launching the NDIS National Workforce Plan;

(2) acknowledges that the disability workforce will require an additional 83,000 workers over the next few years to strengthen the responsiveness, quality and capability of the NDIS workforce and complements other Government reforms to build a simpler, fairer, faster and more flexible NDIS; and

(3) recognises the Government's 2021-22 budget investment of $12.3 million in the Care and Support Workforce Package over the next two years to cut red tape and promote regulatory alignment across the aged care, disability and veterans' care sectors.

I'm pleased to move this motion and speak to the importance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the NDIS, and our government's ongoing commitments to the scheme. The NDIS is a world-first, history-making scheme. Recent data has shown that the program is growing at a record rate. The NDIS is now supporting over 466,000 Australians, which is an outstanding achievement. Almost a quarter of a million people are receiving support for the very first time, and one in three of those are children aged zero to six years. There's been a 14 per cent increase in the number of young adults reporting that the NDIS has helped them with their daily living activities and a 12 per cent increase in the number of participants reporting that the NDIS has helped improve their health and wellbeing. So far, the NDIS has been life-changing. These statistics reflect why it is so important that our government continues to ensure that the scheme is viable into the future. The Australian government is committed to delivering on the NDIS, and that includes ensuring that there is a strong and sustainable workforce to support it.

That's why I'm happy to recognise the launch of the NDIS National Workforce Plan. The plan is designed to attract workers with suitable skills, values and attributes while also improving existing workers' access to training and development opportunities. We know that 530,000 participants will be supported by the NDIS when the scheme reaches full maturity in the next few years. To meet this demand, an additional 83,000 workers will be needed to support these participants, to bring our total workforce to 353,000 people. This includes in-home and in-community support workers, allied health professionals and also managers and other professionals. Meeting this demand will be a significant challenge, especially in regional areas. Workforce remains a key challenge across several sectors in my electorate of Mallee, including health, agriculture, and manufacturing. Unfortunately, this story is much the same for the care and support sector in Mallee. That's why we need a solid plan in place to meet the needs of NDIS participants now and in the future.

Our plan will enable workforce growth in the NDIS and support complementary workforce measures in aged care and support services for veterans. This is an important measure, because we know that disability support, aged-care and veterans care programs are highly connected. Thirty per cent of aged-care providers also operate in the NDIS or veterans care programs, and 36 per cent of veterans care providers operate across all three sectors.

The plan will also support the sector to attract a wide range of workers, while improving existing workers' access to training and development opportunities. We are improving access to entry-level pathways and providing greater opportunities for training and development. Students, school leavers and jobseekers will have improved access to entry-level career pathways, including supported traineeships and placements. Currently, Boosting the Local Care Workforce coordinators are working with schools and employment services to connect prospective workers with educational institutions and professional bodies within the sector. Commonwealth, state and territory governments will work in partnership with workers, NDIS participants, industry, and education and employment providers to retain and grow the required skilled workforce.

The plan ensures that care and support workers will receive the best training available in order to satisfy the complex needs of a large and diverse group of participants. It will do this through updates to nationally recognised training programs and the development of microcredentials to allow workers to quickly upskill, while also providing pathways to recognised qualifications. Embedded in this training will be the standards for attitudes, behaviour, skills and knowledge as established by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission's NDIS Workforce Capability Framework. The development of a skills passport will also strengthen the recognition of training in the sector by recording and verifying qualifications, screening checks and references for individual workers.

This plan complements other Australian government reforms to build a simpler, fairer, faster and more flexible NDIS. Last week our government passed legislation to better protect NDIS participants from the risk of harm. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Improving Support for At Risk Participants) Bill 2021 implements key recommendations following an independent review into the adequacy of the regulation of the supports provided to 54-year-old Adelaide woman Ann-Marie Smith, who, sadly, died last year. The bill provides for a more streamlined information-sharing process between the National Disability Insurance Agency and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and recognises the need for a balance between the necessity of an efficient information-sharing mechanism and the importance of privacy protection.

Our government is listening to participants, families, service providers and the community at large in relation to future reforms aimed at improving the NDIS participant's experience. We are building a new participant service guarantee through amendments to the NDIS Act. These changes build on recommendations from the 2019 Tune review into the NDIS Act. The Tune review was underpinned by an extensive consultation process in 2019, and there has been broad support for implementing these measures. We have completed further public consultation on our draft legislation for the participant service guarantee and other measures bill. The participant service guarantee sets out clear time frames for NDIS processes, giving participants, families and carers greater certainty about how long NDIS processes will take. The guarantee will set new standards for the time it takes for key steps in the NDIS process and applies service standards to the National Disability Insurance Agency.

These positive changes will support over 210 NDIS service providers in my electorate of Mallee, including Sunraysia Residential Services. SRS has been in operation for 43 years and provides residential and wraparound support to people who live with a disability. SRS focuses on person centred support and is embedded with creative ideas that assist people with disabilities to reach their desired goals. They also have a commercial enterprise, Benetook Farm, which produces eggs to sell to local businesses around the district. At the end of the last year I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of their new general store at the farm. The farm and general store have provided a place for SRS participants to learn new skills and socialise with friends, as well as a place to connect with the wider community and those who need support.

We are also investing in our regional capacity through the Building Better Regions Fund. Last month, I was pleased to announce $4.9 million for Mallee Family Care for the construction of new office space and community space. This investment will help MFC to improve and expand their vital services in the region. They offer families financial and legal services and they are also an NDIS provider. They service a very large catchment, from Birchip to Swan Hill and Mildura and over the border to Dareton and Wentworth. Our government's investment is going to make a difference to the lives of thousands of people. I was very proud to announce this funding with the CEO of Mallee Family Care, Teresa Jayet.

I know that NDIS participants and providers are eager to see that the scheme is improved. We are taking action for the benefit of regional Australians. I understand that the NDIS has been transformative for many people living with a disability in my electorate, and I am thankful that I am able to support measures that will ensure the sustainability of the program for years to come.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to enter today's debate to place on record the appalling nature of this government handling of the NDIS and its workforce. I know the member for Mallee was put up to this by the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Government Services, who is trying to get a pat on the back for the government. But the government seem to live in this Orwellian world where they say black is white and night is day. Are you kidding me? The member previous to me said that we know that the system needs some improvement. If that's not the biggest understatement in the history of the world then I'm not here. This is the member for Mallee who belled the cat about the better regions program, which she spoke about. You've got to get on the green spreadsheet, not the pink spreadsheet. No-one else got that memo. I'm not sure about anyone else in the chamber. Did anyone on this side get that memo about how to get on the approval list? I didn't. I didn't even know about it. Get real, members of the government.

I want to talk about workforce participation when it comes to vaccinations and the NDIS. We know that the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of people with Disability released the draft commissioners' report into the vaccine rollout. How did the government track workforce participation and people in the NDIS when it came to so-called improvements? It highlighted the clear failures of the government to vaccinate Australians living with a disability. In their scathing report, the royal commission found that the federal Department of Health's approach to vaccinating people with disabilities had been seriously deficient. People with disability living in shared accommodation or group homes were originally included in phase 1a of the vaccine rollout, but they were quietly bumped down the queue.

Who can forget the Minister for Health talking over and over again about 17 per cent of 64 per cent of four per cent of nine per cent? You didn't meet any of your targets when it came to the NDIS—it is appalling—so let's not have any lectures about how we need to tweak it here and tweak it there. It is a system of this government that is under complete collapse. They are praising themselves that they're running good workforce participation with the NDIS. Are you kidding me? I bet you that anyone who comes into the office of the member for Moncrieff or the office of the member for Bennelong doesn't line up and say, 'We love the NDIS. There's nothing else to do.' No, they would have the same line-ups that we do. They would have the same frustrations of parents and carers, over and over again: they can't navigate the system; they can't get the system; they don't have the workers to look after their loved ones.

I want to touch on something that the government doesn't talk about with the NDIS, and that's special schools. I want to paint a picture of the pattern of neglect by this government. It undermines the NDIS, making it harder and harder for people to access the system, so they eventually get off it. There is no support for the workforce from this government. I recently met with Goodna Special School in my electorate. They wrote to me outlining their concerns about the NDIS workforce and the impact on their students. Goodna Special School has approximately 190 students, each of them with a severe intellectual disability, many with comorbid conditions and physical disability. Many of their students come from a background of socioeconomic disadvantage, and the school has rightly identified that its students and families could benefit greatly from access to the NDIS and from having more support staff from the NDIS.

The school identified many barriers faced by families. The first of these is awareness. Of the families that the school identified would benefit from the scheme, many were not aware of how to access it or had tried to access the scheme and found the process complicated, confusing and distressing. This has led to many families abandoning the application process and giving up. That's exactly what this government wants—to undermine the system and push people out of the system. Those opposite have never supported the NDIS. It was a Labor initiative, and they've only gone along with it reluctantly. They were held over the barrel by the shadow minister when it came to reviewing the plans. They had to back away from that.

The second barrier is utilisation. Families of children who have been approved have not been able to properly utilise their plans, resulting in the plan being cut. They get approved for accessible services but can't find people to provide them, so the government then cuts those services, saying, 'We're not going to roll those services over, because you didn't use them.' Once again, the families have one hand tied behind their back.

I believe this government is making it as difficult as possible to access the NDIS. Families who already face social disadvantage, compounded by the challenges of raising a child with disability, are presented with a confusing and convoluted system and are expected to navigate it almost completely without assistance. This government needs to pick up its game, make our NDIS system more accessible and ensure that Australians with disability have the opportunities to get vaccinated, keep themselves and our communities safe and have better support from the workforce itself.

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our government stands behind the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and we stand behind those who need help and support to live with a disability. We are committed to ensuring that there is a strong, skilled and sustainable workforce, having launched the NDIS National Workforce Plan in June this year. A total of 530,000 participants will be supported by the NDIS when it reaches full maturity in the next few years, and the current workforce of 270,000, including in-home and in-community support workers, allied health professionals, managers and other professionals, will require an additional 83,000 workers to join them by the end of June 2024. That's a lot.

This growing sector and workforce will also support veterans and aged care. Disability support, aged-care and veterans' care programs are highly connected, if you consider that 30 per cent of aged-care providers also operate in the NDIS or veterans' care programs and 36 per cent of veterans' care providers operate across all three areas. So it makes sense that the workforce plan applies across these three sectors. Given our skill shortage at present, our clear plan is to attract workers with suitable skills, values and attributes and to improve existing workers' access to training and development opportunities. There are many opportunities for employment within the NDIS workforce, including personalised supports of varying complexity and intensity, social and community participation support, transportation and cleaning.

Of course, the attributes of personal carers in the way they approach their responsibility of care is very important to those who receive that care, and recipients in Moncrieff tell me that it's more important to them than a qualification. Consequently, embedded in training will be the standard for attitudes, behaviours, skills and knowledge, as established by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission's Workforce Capability Framework. Through updates to nationally recognised training programs, the plan will support skills needs and career pathways in the NDIS as well as the broader care and support sector. This will include the development of microcredentials to allow workers to quickly upskill, while also providing pathways towards recognised qualifications, where appropriate for their role. The development of a skills passport will also strengthen the recognition of training in the sector by recording and verifying qualifications, screening checks and references for individual workers. This will protect participants receiving care and minimise harm to the most vulnerable.

The aged-care legislation has indeed been changed, to recognise NDIS worker screening clearances. This makes it easier for aged-care providers and workers—staff and volunteers—who support NDIS participants and other in-care situations. I spoke to that legislation in the House just recently, and we heard about tighter controls on screening for carers that will benefit those who are vulnerable to abuse.

In terms of attracting workers, we're creating sources of information and tools for people to understand the benefits and opportunities of working in the care and support sector. We're developing a simple and accessible online tool for jobseekers to self-assess suitability for new roles in the sector. We're working on a range of approaches, including a website and a campaign where people can find out more about the care and support sector and what is involved. We will improve the effectiveness of job boards to match jobseekers to vacancies in the sector. We're also working with other agencies to ensure that the care and support sector is included as a priority in current workforce and training initiatives. In addition to the NDIS workforce plan, measures that are already in place are the Economic Recovery Plan for Australia, the JobMaker plan and the JobTrainer fund that will assist in building workforce for the sector. Further to those measures is the 2021-22 budget investment of $12.3 million in the care and support workforce package over the next two years to cut red tape and to promote regulatory alignment across the aged-care, disability and veterans care sector.

A Life Changing Life is the campaign that I mentioned. It's an NDIS worker campaign. It's about healthcare workers who are changing the lives of Australians who need that extra care. This plan complements the other Australian government reforms that I've outlined to build a simpler, fairer, faster and more flexible NDIS. Most importantly, NDIS participants will have access to higher-quality supports, improved service continuity and a workforce that reflects the diversity of the NDIS participants.

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Mallee for tabling this motion to recognise the important and valuable work of our disability support carers. Care work is extremely important to our society and to the economy, but it is often undervalued and looked over. Paid care is worth around $112.4 billion to the Australian economy. It makes up almost nine per cent of our GDP. Unpaid care is estimated to be worth over $650 billion. Yet the average pay for a disability support worker, who is more than likely to be a woman, is around $30 an hour before tax. That is not good enough for the physically and emotionally intensive work that our carers do. That is why an Albanese Labor government will strengthen the ability and capacity of the Fair Work Commission to order pay increases for workers in low-paid female-dominated industries like disability care, aged care and child care.

For the past eight years, NDIS participants in my electorate of Lilley have felt ignored and passed over by the coalition government, who operate the disability service that they are supposed to be the beneficiaries of. They feel scared that the support network that they rely on to get everyday services will be subject to budget cuts and outsourcing—and with good reason. In 2019 the Morrison government ripped $4.6 billion away from the NDIS. Earlier this year the Morrison government's secretive and disingenuous consultation on independent assessment led to significant mistrust of any proposed changes to the NDIS Act. While the plan to bring in independent assessments was scrapped after a successful campaign led by Labor and disability advocates together, NDIS participants know that they cannot trust the Morrison government to protect and uphold the NDIS if they are re-elected for a fourth term.

I believe that as members of parliament it is our duty to be the voice for those who find it hardest to get here and people who feel downtrodden by our political system. Today I will use my remaining time in this place to give voice to Eva, a brave Lilley local who wrote to me and asked me to share her story with our parliament. 'It is well past midnight, and I am using my old mobile phone to write to you through my very blurry vision and with my right hand tremors. I used to be a university academic for 12 years with an illustrious international career. In December 2020, I was diagnosed with MECFS. At the same time, I was diagnosed with dysautonomia and POTS. I also suffer from severe chronic fibromyalgia. The MECFS is so debilitating that some days I barely have the energy to breathe, or utter words out loud, or chew food, or brush my hair or wash myself. I have inflammation of the brain and spinal fluid affecting my cognition, and my sensory overload is so severe that I become almost hysterical when exposed to bright lights, any sounds or any smells. I am also the sole carer of my 27-year-old son, who has the same condition plus several others. There's not an able-bodied person in our household, and we cannot readily leave home due to having to navigate 48 stairs down and 48 stairs back up even to go to medical appointments. I use disability aids to move around my apartment when I'm not bedridden, which I am about 80 per cent of the time.

'What the government is doing with NDIS now is creating enormous stress to already very weak and fragile sufferers of both visible and invisible illnesses. I have contacted twice my local community services for help. But at 50 years of age I am too young to be assisted, they tell me. I fall through the cracks of a broken system. NDIS is, or perhaps now was, my only hope, but I'm terrified of not being believed, not being supported and not being assessed by highly qualified and compassionate assessors. I sincerely hope that my story is read out in parliament and destroys some prevailing stereotypes of what disability is, who the disabled are, and highlights the daily suffering and lack of support for the 250,000 Australians who suffer MECFS and are missing from life, and deserve to be treated with utmost dignity and empathetic support, rather than being put through the proverbial wringer until we can breathe no more.'

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Mallee for bringing forward this important motion. The NDIS has been a critical pillar of our social security ever since it was created. But, in the last two years as the pandemic has ravaged our communities, the workers at the NDIS have held a special place in our communities. In this time they have had to juggle the huge responsibilities of caring for some of the most vulnerable in the community while knowing that they themselves were the main conduit to the outside world for many of these people. This emotional strain must have been huge, but these workers have stepped up and, through a combination of vaccinations, rigorous health standards and their ongoing commitment, they have kept our vulnerable people safe under incredibly difficult conditions. We have a large number of NDIS workers based in Bennelong, and all do incredible work. I've had the pleasure of working with some through groups like RASAID and my ongoing involvement with Achieve Australia, who are based in Bennelong. I was delighted to work hard with Achieve and Royal Rehab, our incredible rehabilitation hospital in Putney, to ensure that their clients, residents and workers were all vaccinated quickly after initial delays. All these workers deserve our praise and support for their efforts over this pandemic and into the future.

While the coming months will see a return to normal for most of us, carers and NDIS workers will still be working in one of the more demanding jobs, which is why it's so pleasing to see the Australian government is committed to delivering on the NDIS, and that includes ensuring there is a strong and sustainable workforce to support it. Back in June we launched the NDIS National Workforce Plan. It's designed to attract workers with suitable skills, values and attributes, while also improving existing workers' access to training and development opportunities. We believe that 530,000 participants will be supported by the NDIS when it reaches full maturity in the next few years, with an additional 83,000 workers needed to support them. These 83,000 people are the very same that this motion points out will be needed to strengthen the capabilities of the NDIS workforce. It is clear that the government has taken note of the NDIS data and has planned accordingly to meet the growing need. These new roles will be needed across all sectors that the NDIS operates in and will include in-home and in-community support workers, allied health professionals and also managers and other professionals.

The initiatives in this workforce plan will support quality and growth not only in the disability sector but also in aged care and support for our veterans. The care and support sector is one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors in Australia. By 2024, the disability and aged-care sectors are predicted to grow by 31 and 20 per cent respectively.

This plan complements other Australian governments' reforms to build a simpler, fairer, faster and more flexible NDIS. Workers will benefit from improved training, aligned registration requirements and greater access to professional development opportunities. Providers will benefit from better regulation across the sector and more market demand information to drive innovation and enable a flexible workforce to meet the needs of our participants. Importantly, NDIS participants will have access to higher quality supports, improved service continuity and a workforce that reflects the diversity of NDIS participants. We must always remember that participants are at the centre of the NDIS and every reform is designed to improve their experience. I am glad that the government has strengthened its commitment to the workers of the NDIS, because, through supporting them, we are supporting all NDIS participants and ensuring that many of the most vulnerable people in our community have the support they need to live and thrive.

Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion that we are discussing today is a very important one, and, indeed, it contains a kernel that I am willing to agree with, which is the acknowledgement in the motion that the disability workforce will require an additional 83,000 workers over the next few years to strengthen its responsiveness, quality and capability. But what I can't agree with is the implication and, indeed, the statement in this motion that the government is doing anywhere near enough to deal with this workforce crisis.

I'm going to make a couple of major points today. The first is that this is a workforce crisis that has been evolving over a long period of time and that is not receiving sufficient attention or funding. Let's look at the workforce crisis that the NDIS is currently facing. This, of course, is a slowly evolving challenge in the workforce; it's not something that has arisen overnight and it's not something we're going to be able to solve by turning on a tap. The government has been in power for more than eight years. So there's something almost brazen about a motion of this nature, where it says that we face a shortfall of 83,000 workers in just a few years, as if this has come out of the blue or as if this is something that the government has just read in some report that has landed on its desk, when in fact this is a workforce crisis that has been evolving for year after year under its watch. This makes it all the more an indictment on the way in which they have managed and funded this scheme.

Let's look at this workforce challenge within the broader context of skills within our workforce. As the shadow minister for skills has pointed out, there are 150,000 fewer apprentices today than when this government came to office. We've seen billions ripped out of the TAFE system. We see a number of employers today saying it's hard to find skilled staff. In the context of the NDIS in particular, we see that working conditions in many areas have deteriorated. There are currently 3,175 unfilled job vacancies. So, yes, it is true that, by 2024, an additional 83,000 workers will be required. But, again, this has evolved over many years under this government, and for this motion to be put forward as some kind of challenge which a $12.3 million investment in some kind of workforce package is going to deal with is, frankly, utterly ridiculous.

The second point I want to make is that the implication of this motion is that these extra workers are going to somehow complement other policies that this government has in place to improve the effectiveness of the NDIS when, in fact, what we have seen over recent years from this government is, I believe, a fundamental weakening of many key aspects of the NDIS. Let's look at the independent assessment pile, something that is paused but is certainly not, in my opinion, totally off the agenda. At best, the move towards independent assessments was wasteful and potentially contained unintended consequences. At worst, it was cruel and confusing. It was not surprisingly greeted with great dismay by the sector. The minister at the time said that there was too much natural empathy on the part of some public servants and that this was leading to gargantuan cost blowouts. Indeed, the government almost leaped massive projections of cost blowouts well into the future.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17:55 to 18:05

Understandably, independent assessments were greeted with great dismay and confusion by the sector. Indeed, independent assessments were accompanied by a somewhat secretive Sustainability Action Taskforce. This somewhat secretive cost-cutting was like some kind of Orwellian exercise or something out of Utopia. You can imagine people in the sector hearing about the Sustainability Action Taskforce and thinking to themselves, 'Why don't you just tell us you're going to cut the level of our benefits?'

Let's look at a number of experts who have examined what's actually going on. There was a recent examination of remuneration in the sector by the University of Melbourne, which found that 20 per cent of disability support workers could not pay their bills, their mortgage or their rent. There have been government claims that overspending is rife. In reality, costs have increased by 18 per cent in the 12 months to 21 July, whereas the number of NDIS participants grew by 20.5 per cent, so there has been a reduction in per capita expenditure.

The fundamental point is that we are experiencing a workforce challenge but it's one that has been evolving for many years, one that was foreseeable and avoidable. It's an indictment of this government, which has been in power for eight long years.

Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opportunity to talk about the NDIS is always a great opportunity for those in the coalition, as members of the government responsibility for bring it to fruition—an incredible responsibility. This is a life-changing program for many, many families and many, many Australians with disabilities, enabling them to have greater fulfilment in their endeavours and a greater chance of reaching their full potential. This is a program that really has had a life-changing impact on thousands and thousands of Australians. Yes, it has had many issues. We've had people given very poor plans. I believe that in the early stages of this program the planning quality wasn't up to speed; therefore families had to go back and appeal that they hadn't received an adequate plan compared with the program they'd been on under the old state model. But as the scheme has evolved we have continued to hone the individual cases within the NDIS, and we now have a program that over 530,000 participants are taking advantage of.

The other component to the NDIS is the impact it has had on the workforce in aged care. This new industry, the caring industry, has jumped up in Australia with such prominence that we now have a situation where the NDIS, in quite a few cases, is competing against aged care for workforce. We therefore have to look at that.

One thing the coalition can be very proud of is that we have funded the NDIS. I know the Labor Party like to say it was already funded, but it wasn't. We had to find many additional billions of dollars to get the NDIS funded. It is now funded, albeit there is always an incredible need to put more and more money into the NDIS. Between now and 2024, the aged-care sector and the disability sector will grow by 31 per cent and 20 per cent. That is going to be an incredible impost on the finances of this nation. But the coalition government are confident, having funded this scheme to date, that we are going to fund it into the future.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme should make every Australian incredibly proud. When I was a young kid, families that had children with disabilities were, effectively, given the role of raising that child, whether the child had profound or mild disabilities. That responsibility tended to fall nearly solely to the household. The state has now, effectively, taken full responsibility for the care, the upkeep and the support of children who are born with disabilities.

We will see this program give our participants even higher quality support, in terms of the different ways that we can assist and help. It's going to see an improved level of service. We believe it's going to give us a workforce that reflects the diversity of the NDIS participants—something that will be needed on an ongoing basis. Because the needs of participants within the NDIS are so wide and varied, the skills of the workforce will have to be able to match those needs. That's why we're also improving the entry-level pathway and providing greater opportunity for training and development. This offers a fantastic option for students who are studying as well as those working within the NDIS system. It gives them an 'in' to discover: what is a career in this care sector really like? Many students are then taking the opportunity to put further qualifications around their skill set so that they can make this their career.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion put forward by my friend and colleague the member for Mallee. She and I have worked on a number of health issues since she's been in parliament. In particular, we are the co-chairs of the parliamentary friends of organ donation and she has earned my respect for the very excellent work she's done in her advocacy on this issue. She's also been a strong supporter of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, of course, and I thank her for bringing this important matter before the House.

The NDIS will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest legacies of the Gillard Labor government, and there is no question that Julia Gillard deserves enormous credit for her fight for, and the ultimate delivery of, the NDIS. It's a scheme that we must defend, preserve and strengthen at all costs. It has made a remarkable difference to the people that I've looked after in the last 40 years. However, under the last eight years of the coalition government, the NDIS has, unfortunately, not received the steadfast support that many in the coalition promised. That may be through mismanagement, it may be through a lack of understanding or, importantly, it may be because of a lack of empathy. The effectiveness of the NDIS has at times been diluted by the Morrison government and its ministers.

Let me talk about the independent assessors. The Morrison government said that the independent assessors were a result of intensive and extensive community consultation. That's a load of absolute hogwash. No-one in the disability sector believed that independent assessors were the way to go to provide better NDIS support for the people they care for. This was thought up by the previous minister, Minister Robert, to try and delay the implementation of the scheme, I believe, for many people. It was a terrible, terrible idea. It had no community support, and, begrudgingly, it has been abandoned by the new minister. Thank God for that. Support for the NDIS ought to be bipartisan, and I know there are many on the government side who do support it and support it well, the member for Mallee being one of them. But, as we've already heard from the previous speaker, there have been lots of problems that have not been adequately addressed even now, and the workforce issues are certainly part of that. The battles need to be fought: that's true. But these battles ought not to be had in the first place in many instances.

So profound was the impact of the NDIS that many of my patients and their families saw it as being life changing. For the very first time, we had a national government that was saying to Australians living with a disability and their loved ones that they were not in this alone; that it was a responsibility of all of us, as a society, to make sure that people with a disability had the quality of life of any other Australian and the ability to progress in life as well as any other Australian; and that support would be available to all who needed it.

Every Australian is entitled to a high quality of living and the right to live independent and fulfilling lives. I've certainly seen many examples of this. Recently, I visited a group home in my electorate, in Macarthur, run by DPN Casa Capace. It's absolutely magnificent. It allows people, adults with disability, to fulfil the lives they want to live, independently. It does require worker support, and those workers need to be highly trained because of the amount of technology and the amount of support these residents require, but they will get that thanks to the NDIS.

There have been issues in the rollout, I don't deny it, and the workforce issues have to be ironed out. We must have, on the government side, people who are prepared, without question, to defend the NDIS. The NDIS has always been funded, and we must make sure we keep that funding, to the best of our ability, to provide for people who have severe disabilities. We must strengthen our capacity, we must strengthen our workforce and we must, above all, make sure that everyone in our society is valued and everyone in our society can live their lives as independently as they can. They're not easy things to do. I have seen many people with severe disability, and I admire the work of many of the specialist schools. Mary Brooksbank specialist school, Passfield Park, Beverley Park, Mater Dei—all the specialist schools and specialist support agencies, I admire them enormously.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.