Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In response to the second reading amendment: the Commonwealth government is committed to ensuring safe and quality care for people with disability. Violence, abuse or neglect of vulnerable people, particularly those with disability, is abhorrent and completely unacceptable. The Turnbull government considers that engaging in real and immediate reform is a better response than yet another inquiry into the old system now being reformed. The recent budget included $209 million to establish a new independent body, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, from early 2018 to implement the NDIS quality and safeguards framework.

The establishment of the commission forms the basis of the government's response to the Senate committee inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings. The government has agreed to or noted 29 of the 30 recommendations of the committee's report. The government is working with states and territories to ensure that the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework is in place when the NDIS reaches full scheme in July 2020. The present system is that states and territories are responsible for quality and safeguarding arrangements for people with disability while the NDIS is being rolled out to full scheme. This means the states and territories are presently responsible for complaints, regulations, quality assurance and law enforcement, but this present system will be the subject of significant reform when this new safeguards framework and the independent NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission are established. While preventing abuse of people with disability is obviously broader than the NDIS, and the commission and the framework will not replace reporting to the police or other authorities where this is appropriate, they represent a significant reform designed to strengthen standards to address abuse and neglect. Rather than proceeding with another inquiry through a royal commission, the government is focused on the establishment of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and implementing the framework, which will address many of the issues raised by the committee. I thank senators for their contribution and for their support.

The bill establishes a national independent body, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, to protect and prevent people with disability from experiencing harm. The NDIS is, of course, one of the largest social and economic policy reforms in Australia's history. At full scheme, it is estimated that the NDIS will be supporting around 460,000 Australians with a disability. At that time, the NDIS will be injecting $21 billion per year, each year, into the Australian economy. The NDIS operates in a rapidly expanding market, driven by participant choice. Already, participants are starting to exercise choice and control, and new, innovative delivery models are constantly emerging. One of the key features of the bill is balancing the need for safeguards with the object of enabling people with disability to take reasonable risks so they can reach their own goals. The NDIS is a transformational social policy which has been delivered by this government. This will require a new, nationally consistent approach to quality and safeguards, and this is critical to ensure that the new market based system delivers quality services and supports to people with disability in a way that promotes choice, control and dignity and upholds basic human rights.

In February 2017, the Council of Australian Governments Disability Reform Council released the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework. The framework was developed in consultation with a range of key stakeholders, including people with disability, their families, carers and providers, as well as peak bodies. This bill is a very important step towards implementing the framework and giving effect to the Commonwealth government's regulatory responsibilities. The government is taking strong, decisive action by establishing the commission. A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate, and this bill supports a proportionate approach that is designed to maximise flexibility in regulation, to protect and prevent people with disability from experiencing harm from poor-quality and unsafe supports.

The commissioner will be responsible for overseeing quality and safeguards for full implementation of the NDIS, including in relation to information, linkages and capacity-building elements of the scheme. The commissioner will also oversee quality and safeguards in other closely related programs, including Commonwealth funded advocacy services and older people with disability who are receiving supports under the Commonwealth Continuity of Support Program specialist disability services for older people. The bill establishes compliance, complaints and risk management arrangements for the registration and regulation of NDIS providers, including practice standards, a code of conduct and mechanisms for complaints and reportable incidents. The commissioner will also be responsible for national oversight and policy settings in relation to worker screening, behaviour support and monitoring of the use of restrictive practices within the NDIS, with the aim of reducing and eliminating such practices.

This bill will further the objects and principles of the act and empower people with disability to exercise choice and control in the planning and delivery of supports and services under the NDIS. The proposed amendments mean that people with disability and their families and carers will have one single body to which they can raise concerns about the quality of supports or services. For providers, the new national approach will enable a single registration and regulatory system across participating jurisdictions, which will reduce duplication and provide national consistency.

The bill is intended to balance the need to provide appropriate protections that meet the Commonwealth's obligations in relation to the regulation of NDIS funded supports and services with the need to enable participants to take reasonable risks themselves so that they can reach their goals. It is also intended to suit an emerging market based system in which participants are building their capacity to act as informed consumers. The workforce is growing rapidly, and new providers are entering the market with innovative ideas and different models of providing services. This bill complements and strengthens existing measures to remove discrimination against people with disability in Australia and to provide them with support and assistance: measures such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the provision of income support through the disability support pension, carer payment and carer allowance, and the National Disability Strategy and the National Disability Agreement.

In bringing the bill forward, the government is seeking to deliver a safe and high-quality NDIS. The government has provided $209 million over four years to establish this commission. The bill gives scope for the commission to continue the work underway with the states and territories under the national framework for reducing and eliminating the use of restrictive practices. The government is fully committed to delivering a fully funded high-quality NDIS. We've supported the NDIS from day one, and the establishment of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission demonstrates this ongoing commitment. Preventing abuse of people with disability is obviously broader than the NDIS, as I've outlined. The commission's work will not replace reporting to the police or other authorities, but it does represent a very significant reform designed to strengthen the standards to address abuse and neglect for the most vulnerable in our society.

I thank the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee for its report on the establishment of the commission and for its recommendations. The report was published on 8 November 2017, and I note that the committee recommended that the bill be passed. The committee acknowledged that concerns were raised about the development of the NDIS rules, ensuring people with disability remain central to the design and ongoing focus of the commission and can effectively participate in quality and safeguard processes. The committee was satisfied, however, that the bill struck the right balance in the rapidly growing and evolving NDIS market.

In developing the bill, input was sought and received from a cross-section of the community, including people with disability, carers, providers, workers, volunteers, peak organisations, advocacy groups, professional bodies, unions, corporate stakeholders and state and territory governments. Recommendations which have emerged during public consultation reflect the diversity of views across the disability community and the balance we seek between safeguards and choice. However, it's clear that all welcome the bill and the establishment of the commission.

I extend the government's thanks for the commitment and contributions made by so many people across the community as we work together to ensure the rights of people with disability are upheld and that the services and supports provided through the NDIS are safe. Collaborative work on the NDIS rules will continue as we develop more detail about how the commission will work in practice with NDIS participants, providers and workers, including in relation to the NDIS rules. The commission will have across all of its functions a focus on education, capacity building and development for people with disability, providers and workers, as well as compliance and enforcement powers. The government notes the additional comments made by senators opposite with respect to the need for ongoing consultation as the commission is established, as well as further comments to strengthen the bill's references to independent advocacy, procedural fairness and the reduction and elimination of restrictive practices. The government will be moving a package of amendments in response to the additional comments made by senators opposite and has provided a commitment to all senators that we will continue to consult with people with disability, disability stakeholders, unions and state and territory governments as we progress the implementation of the quality and safeguards framework and the establishment of the commission for the commencement of operations in New South Wales and South Australia from 1 July 2018.

The government also notes the additional comments of the Australian Greens senators with respect to schedule 2. Schedule 2 introduced minor administrative amendments to the NDIS Act in accordance with COAG's response to an independent legislative review. The government does not intend to put at risk the establishment of the commission or delay the passage of this bill to secure the passage of these minor amendments. The government will therefore be moving an additional amendment to remove schedule 2 from the bill.

The bill delivers on a core commitment of this government for strong, clear, demonstrable action in support of people with disability and the NDIS marketplace. The amendments proposed by the government represent a fair response to the issues raised by those opposite, and I would encourage the parliament to support the bill to establish the commission and ensure the long-term sustainability and quality of our NDIS system.