Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

Unfortunately we are not able to agree to Senator Siewert's amendments. The first question Senator Siewert asked is whether we considered this. Absolutely. This has been a considerable issue, but Senator Siewert will also note that the Productivity Commission made a very clear recommendation that the entry to the NDIS be prior to a person reaching age 65. There are, and the committee heard this as well, definitional issues that we have to deal with that go to non-age related matters. It is not a cut-and-dried question.

It is important to note also that in the launch phase of the scheme it is necessary to have a rule making power to limit the universality of the NDIS to reflect the agreement with some states and territories to provide the launch to age cohorts in the first phase. Given the time, in terms of the particular concerns around people who have had polio and post-polio effects, that amendment runs counter to the principle of the NDIS that we hold very dear, and that is that this is based on functionality and not diagnosis. I am quite aware that we do need to work very closely with people who have had polio. Their circumstances can be quite different, as can other degenerative diseases that I think we have addressed as well.

In terms of the monitoring of this, of course the government will continue to monitor the whole of the NDIS rollout, but instead of tasking the agency with a specific task it will be the responsibility of the government to continue to monitor the effectiveness—and of course we are doing the two-year review of the NDIS in its totality.