Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Government Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Askew for that question and for her support for people on the NDIS in Tasmania. The Australian government is committed to fully funding and delivering on the vision of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. That, of course, includes ensuring that there is a strong and sustainable workforce for many generations to come. Last week, I had the pleasure of launching the NDIS National Workforce Plan whilst visiting Autism WA in Perth. Autism WA is an extraordinary organisation that for over 50 years has been providing life-changing services and today provides services to more than 4,500 children and adults with autism. I was incredibly privileged to present long-service awards to Stacey, Ken and Darren. These three dedicated individuals so clearly love their jobs and are passionate about, and proud of, what they do each and every day. The values and the skills and the heart and the passion that these three bring to Autism WA is what we need in our workforce, and we need so many more of them. In fact, we need 83,000 more Staceys, Kens and Darrens. Today, 270,000 Australians work in supporting and caring for 450,000 NDIS participants. However, that is not enough. We need to recruit, over the next few years, another 83,000 workers into the support workforce. That's why I've launched the NDIS National Workforce Plan. It's a comprehensive and very practical blueprint for today and also well into the future. It's designed to attract workers with the values, the attributes and the heart we need, while improving existing workers' access to training and new development opportunities. But to do that we need all Australians—