Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to begin by thanking my colleague Senator Steele-John for his passionate advocacy for disabled people. In this instance, I thank him for campaigning against the government's plan to limit the budget of, and hence access to, the NDIS, and against their sneaky unwillingness to be upfront about the rationale behind their cap on spending. What this matter of urgency is calling for is pretty basic, and essential if you are serious about treating disabled people with dignity. It calls on the government to release all the information related to the NDIS Financial Sustainability Framework and commit to making publicly available all the recommendations from the review of the NDIS. This information is critical in the decision-making of government as to the future of the NDIS and critical for the community, in particular the disabled community, to know the basis on which decisions are being made.

The Greens, of course, want to see an increase in funding for the NDIS. Right now, too many disabled people are unable to get the support they need to live a decent life. But, as Senator Steele-John has said, Labor's announcement to have a target for spending growth is sounding a lot like a cap on the NDIS. The notion of a cap is a broken promise from the Albanese government, and it is causing tremendous concern in the disabled community. If the federal government continues to limit growth to eight per cent, this announcement will see over $50 billion less allocated to the NDIS over the decade, and defunding the NDIS by this amount is completely unacceptable. The NDIS is succeeding. It's providing disabled people with the opportunity to participate in the community, to go to work and to enjoy the basics in life, like having a shower. There are social and economic benefits to the NDIS. Money invested has a positive return for the economy and, importantly, for the community.

The NDIS Review has had input from very many people in the disabled community, and it is not fair on them—it is disrespectful to them—if the recommendations and all of that information are not released. People were hopeful that this review was going to end up with a clear trajectory for change, but instead they are deeply disappointed that big decisions that are going to impact the future of the scheme are being made without being upfront, transparent or accountable. Decisions are being made behind closed doors.

There are more than four million disabled people in Australia, and, just like everyone else, they have a right to be supported to live full and active lives. But there still so many significant barriers in our society. Disabled people are continuing to fall through the cracks and are being denied the same rights that other people have, and successive governments have perpetuated discrimination against disabled people, often denying them access to inclusive education, meaningful employment, adequate services and the support they need.

As well as what's going on here with the NDIS, we have another clear example of this, and that's the government's approach to income support. Right now, millions of people are barely scraping by on youth allowance, older people are increasingly becoming homeless, it's harder than ever for people who have a disability to access the disability support pension, and people with disabilities who are on JobSeeker are having to survive on payments way below the poverty line and cannot lead a decent life. They are people who are not able to go out and just get a full-time job. They are people who have particular needs that need to be catered for. They are often not able to access the NDIS, and they are living on poverty payments. Our social security system is broken. Over 43 per cent of JobSeeker recipients have only a partial capacity to work, meaning they are disabled and/or sick. We've heard countless stories from disabled people on JobSeeker who are being forced to fulfil mutual obligations or risk losing their payment, despite being limited in their ability to work and at times passed over by employers due to their disability.

We as Greens know that our social safety net is failing disabled people, so we have to call on the government to fully resource the NDIS so that it meets the needs of disabled people and their families and carers and to have an income support system that fully allows disabled people to be able to get by and flourish.