Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Seselja for his question, as always. I know that you and all colleagues will be very pleased to know that last week an important milestone was passed with the inclusion of the 10,000th participant in the NDIS. I was in the area of Geelong in the Barwon trial site with Sarah Henderson, the member for Corangamite, NDIS staff and NDIS participants when we marked this important occasion. On an occasion such as that, I did acknowledge the cross-party support there is for the NDIS, as I think is appropriate.

We heard some great stories about the experiences of NDIS participants. There was a board, as you walked into the Barwon trial site office, that had cut-out figures, and on those cut-out figures were written down some of the experiences of participants. One of them was of a 57-year-old woman who was able to move out of home for the first time and live alone so that her mother could be more of a mother and less of a care-giver and a supporter; a 7-year-old child who was able to tie his shoelaces; and a pair of twins who, because of the supports that they had received, were now able to ride bikes together. These are the sorts of changes, the sorts of positive improvements, in the quality of life that we are seeing as a result of the NDIS. As impressive as the facilities of the NDIS are, the great work of the staff and what we do collectively as a parliament, none of it has meaning; it only has meaning insofar as it improves the quality of life of individual Australians.