Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Here we are again, sadly, almost at the 12 month anniversary of this government's lack of transparency to this chamber. If only Minster Shorten and the Labor Party had spent the last 2½ years not performing gymnastics, trying to find new ways to not provide any information to senators in this place. If only they had spent half of that effort for the last 2½ years negotiating with the states and territories in good faith so that, by the time this legislation came to this place, the states and territories would be ready to sign off on this. Instead, Minister Shorten has employed spin companies to spin this, to assist him to—I was going to say 'lie'—not tell the truth to the sector. 'Oh, there's no problem here.' Remember, before the last election, they said: 'There is no problem with the scheme. The opposition don't know what they're talking about.' And I seem to recall as late as last week Minster Shorten saying, 'When I came into this portfolio I had no idea that this scheme was in trouble.' What? He couldn't read the budget papers? He couldn't read the quarterly reports? He couldn't read all the other transparency documents that we, when in government, made available? So here we are again.

We've had nearly 12 months of those opposite and Minister Shorten not providing any transparency. They provided the fourth-quarter report after our last hearing with the actuaries so we could not ask questions for information on that piece of legislation. But, to be kind, this report is cooking the books before the legislation comes forward. It is very clear that this Q4 report is not worth the paper it is written on. The government are now saying, 'Yes, well, we're moderating cost down to 10.1 per cent per annum.' Actually, the truth is this: if you take quarter on quarter, they've moderated it down to 18.88 per cent; it is still increasing 18 per cent quarter on quarter, fourth-quarter to fourth-quarter.

But how have they cooked the books? How have they cooked this quarterly report? Well, they've done it at least two ways, which is what they're not providing us information on. The first thing is that there are between 50,000 to 60,000 participants who have got plan variations in because—guess what?—the cost of living has gone up; the costs of the services they use have gone up, and they have run out of money or are about to run out of money in their plan. Instead of actually giving them an answer and giving them more money, this government has got 50,000 to 60,000 participants who are desperately waiting for an answer. That shows the scheme has moderated until all of their plans are reassessed.

Then, the other way they've cooked this report is that there are tens of thousands of people who are waiting to come into the scheme. The government have admitted there is an enormous backlog that they have not processed for technical reasons. That means those people also don't go onto the books, and the government are not paying for more people's plans. Not only have the government completely stuffed up this process; they have caused untold anguish to 650,000 participants and their families, who are in complete—I was going to say 'dismay', but it goes well beyond that. They are concerned for their life, for how they're going to live, all because of the incompetence—well, it's actually not even incompetence. If you are incompetent and transparent, at least we would understand the figures and we could work with you to actually reform this scheme to make it sustainable. But, by hiding the figures for 2½ years, by conducting a review—the minister has just come in and said, 'We did this review, and it reported in November.' Well, yes, it did, but we still haven't got the government response to that report from November last year. So the sector doesn't even know what the government response is, yet you have this legislation here—and the budget paper said 18 times, 'We're going to fill your $60 billion gap,' but you have not provided one single shred of evidence, including the document in this OPD, on how you are going to do that. Australians with disability deserve so much more.