Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition will support the government's position on this particular amendment, but I would like to acknowledge the intent behind the amendment that's been put forward by Senator Steele-John, because the reality is that simply changing the name of something doesn't actually change the outcomes that are delivered by it. We would say to the government that, if you are intending to change the name and include the word 'inclusion', it does provide a level of responsibility for you to actually follow through and improve the inclusiveness of the way that the government operates in terms of its interface with the disability sector for the provision of services to the sector going forward.

We know from a number of other initiatives by the government so far that they seem to think that changing a name somehow is going to change the outcome, and changing the name signals to the electorate that they are intending to do so. I can't think of better example of that than urgent care clinics. Simply changing the name of a practice to an urgent care clinic, when nothing else changes, does not deliver any beneficial outcome to the Australian public. So I would say to the government that we'll be watching very closely as this bill comes into effect, because the responsibility of government in relation to disability goes far beyond the responsibility for the NDIS and the delivery of that scheme. A bipartisan approach was offered to the NDIS, and the coalition remains very committed to the delivery of the outcomes of the NDIS, but that does not mean that government can walk away from its broader responsibility to make sure that people who live with disability are being supported even if they are not part of the NDIS.

We will not be supporting this amendment, but we will certainly expect the government to not just use and include the word 'inclusion' in the bill. We will expect them to act on inclusion if they really think that this bill is going to deliver what its title says it will.