Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I'd just like to echo the statements that have been made here today by my colleagues in the Australian Greens. They have spoken in great detail. Senator Steele-John, who is our spokesperson on behalf of disabled people across Australia, has done a fantastic job in his work—and Senator Allman-Payne has also, in her contribution.

There has been significant community backlash in relation to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024, with many organisations and disabled people and their families sharing concerns with our spokesperson Senator Steele-John and with our individual officers here at the Australian Greens. They've been sharing their concerns with the government, and the government, again, have not made a good enough effort to engage with people in the disabled peoples community, who are most affected.

This is affecting everybody. The government concentrated on exactly the issues that Senator Hanson just spoke about; they're focusing on fraud and noncompliance, which are important issues, but they're using them more like cover. There is no doubt that there have been issues with some suppliers. I'm not negating that. But the government have emphasised these points—again, I want to reiterate—as cover. They are taking that as cover to retreat from what the NDIS is supposed to be all about. It's supposed to be centred on the people who have the lived experiences of disability, the people that need the most support to navigate all of the complex systems that we, in this place, have set up.

If this government really does cut $74.3 billion from the NDIS over the next 10 years, we will all feel the consequences of that at some time. Everyone in this country has a relative with a disability or, in fact, is disabled themselves. We cannot consciously sit in this place and do that to people—and we are doing this to them. This decision has been rushed in every single way. It has been rushed through its decision-making processes. It has been rushed past the Australian public before people could even realise what was happening. The government are rushing it through the parliament, downplaying it in their budget announcements, hoping that no-one will notice that this is what they are going to do to disabled people in this country.

Just like I have done many times before in this chamber, I also want to talk about the double disadvantage experienced by First Nations people with a disability. The First Peoples Disability Network Australia have done an amazing lot of work in this space, fighting for the NDIS to better support First Nations people across Australia, and they continue to do this work on an absolute shoestring. The amazing advocates, the people working in policy, the people working alongside frontline programs and services—it's a real testament to their resilience. They have estimated that there are 60,000 First Nations people who are participating in the NDIS, but, in reality, there are actually fewer than that. Not only are they not participating in the NDIS, because they've been excluded, but also they don't recognise or have not been diagnosed for their disability, so we continue to see this disparity in the double disadvantage that exists for First Nations people.

There are many, many reasons why this is happening, and they include the year-long waitlists to access the NDIS assessment and also the disparity in the geographical challenges that we have. Most First Nations people live in rural and remote areas in Australia. Sometimes these services are not accessible, not only in terms of being able to get there but also in terms of centres being open at the particular times when people are reaching out. So it's about having the means, capacity and access to travel hundreds of kilometres to actually get an NDIS assessment in the first place. Sometimes people don't have a car. They potentially have to drive themselves depending on what their disability is. They've got to pay for fuel. They have to have the time to drive the distances across regional and remote Australia and potentially pay for accommodation, particularly if they can't make that trip in one day. That, in fact, is the reality for lots of First Nations people. Some of them have to go town by town, stopping and relying on family and relying on trust that they may be able to have access to money to get to NDIS assessments in this country. These costs all add up very, very quickly. We are in a cost-of-living crisis, and that this government are taking this approach to make this simply unfeasible for many people is just appalling.

As I said, Australia is a huge place. It's very spread out for a lot of First Nations people who work and live on country. I also have lived in regional Western Australia. In fact, I lived in the Goldfields. The nearest service centre to Kalgoorlie would be approximately 600 kilometres away. To make that trip in one day is exhausting. To make that trip if you had a disability, if you had to stop at several places in order to access food or drinks or take a break—all of those things are really important.

Then there is the fact that there are simply not enough First-Nations-specific services across this country to provide culturally appropriate care to the some 60,000 people who, in fact, should be accessing care but are not because this government has failed to see that. When they talk about intersectionality, how about they talk about the fact that there aren't many First-Nations-specific, culturally appropriate services that are accessible to those 60,000 people? A well-funded disability support system is crucial for us in order to close the gap in this country and to uphold the rights and the dignity of First Nations people.

Not only is this bill a slap in the face for disabled people; this government refuses to answer reasonable questions from members of this chamber and members of the public who want to put to the government the reality of the situation of the lived experience of people with a disability and what it means to support someone who is living with a disability. They are the people most affected and will be most affected when you tear the money out of this type of bill and these types of services that are so important for the disabled community.

Labor went to the election and promised that they would make no big changes without 'co-design'. It's not just some fluffy weasel word that you can throw around that looks great in your policy documents. Co-design is sitting down with people and saying: 'Tell us what the lived reality is. Tell us what that means and we will help co-design our approach, our needs based funding, to make sure that we are hitting the mark and we have a bill that caters to that.' But Labor broke that promise. It broke the promise to co-design alongside the NDIS community.

Let's think again about the proposed cuts and what they mean to the NDIS. Labor has chosen, instead, to pump big money into things like submarines. Here they are, wonderfully clapping their hands together today, talking about AUKUS—$368 billion—and handing out money to fossil fuels. They continue to hand out outrageous amounts of money to everybody except the NDIS community. It's appalling. That money could and should be spent on helping the most vulnerable people in our communities.

It continues to be a travesty. Even as late as last week, I was on a flight from Perth to Darwin and was sitting next to a middle-aged lady who talked to me about her experience with the NDIS. I asked her if I could share this story in the Senate, because everything she told me about her health care was so important,. She was travelling from Darwin to Perth to go to Fiona Stanley Hospital, because the services at Royal Darwin Hospital couldn't cater to her health needs. She needed to administer to herself sterile needles because of her medical condition. The machine she had to purchase cost $10,000, yet the NDIS, because it did haven't the same product number, would not cover it.

This is what people are dealing with. She hit the jackpot sitting next to an MP on her flight to talk about her experience, because the government are not listening. This woman has made complaint after complaint about the NDIS. When I asked her, 'What do we do to help you?' She threw her hands in the air because she was so defeated about her story, about the fact that the Labor government are continuing without co-design, without engagement, without conversation and without empathy for people living with disability in our communities.

This lady also talked about her experience in patient assisted travel. It's NDIS related, yes, but it's also a broader issue around how the health system is broken for people. Her NDIS experience has made her so much more determined, but her resilience and her strength in sharing her story is something I really treasure because she wanted to speak about her experience. She wanted to talk about how the NDIS fails. It lets people down. She wanted me to convey that message here today to the government and those in this chamber who I know also feel so strongly and passionately about how disability affects all of us.

I foreshadow that I will bring a second reading amendment to this bill in my name on behalf of the Australian Greens. I want to urge this government to think seriously about what power it has to make a difference, what power it can ensure, as part of its legacy in this place, to look after the most vulnerable in our community. I heard many stories from those in the government and opposite around how disability affects all of us. As a First Nations woman—two children who also have a disability—it is critical that we stand up and continue to enable the voices of those in the NDIS community to be heard. We continue to advocate strongly, and, through Senator Steele-John's wonderful leadership, we continue to ask and demand that this government listen, that this government stop putting money into things that are to the detriment of the disabled community. People with lived experience of disability want to, should be, heard. They continue to ask the government to consider making changes to this bill.