Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

No, no. The senator interjects with ‘July’. I am sorry to have a conversation without going through you, Mr President. That particular state and the territories have responded at different times. I understand that that is under active consideration. They responded at different times and it is under active consideration. I understand that those negotiations are of the most amicable nature and are being done in the expression of a partnership.

I do understand also that Queensland was not amongst those. We made an offer to them to identify unmet need in areas of respite and supported accommodation, the two most fundamental areas of disability—and of course there was no offer from Queensland; there was stark silence. That is why this government moved to have a partnership with those states and territories that were fair dinkum about this. I have to commend Western Australia, which has a long history of setting the pace in terms of disability, and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. I think they have done very well in that matter.

I mentioned that there were a number of issues that we had to deal with outside of the CSTDA. We have a requirement in the existing CSTDA that the states and territories provide us with an evidentiary process about unmet need. We are a government that does not just throw money around; we want to prioritise. We know there is unmet need in supported accommodation and respite. We said to the states and territories, ‘Can you provide us with that over time?’ It simply has not been provided. So, with the support of industry, we have said, ‘We’ll go out and do it ourselves.’ So we have provided $962 million to help carers and their children, and $562 million for supported accommodation. We are rolling that out at the moment. I announced it about three weeks ago in Townsville. It is in the first part of the consultation process, so the money goes where the need is most.

We are helping people with disabilities and their families, with an allocation of $744.8 million. The amount for child disability assistance is $721.2 million, and the amount for children’s services is $23.6 million. I could go on, but I note that this $1.8 billion is above and beyond the Commonwealth-state disability agreements. This government is a government which leads. We would not be able to make this investment if we did not have a fantastic economy. We would not be able to make this investment if we had weak leadership. We are not prepared to muck about. Labor is weak on leadership. The Howard government is strong on leadership, and we have made a decision to help all those people with a disability who are in need. (Time expired)