Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation.

Yet another sitting period goes by in which disabled people are denied transparency by this Labor government. Another week goes by in which a minister comes into the chamber and refuses to provide the public with documentation of the agreement—the secret deal—between the Commonwealth and the states and territories that is driving the devastating cuts that we are seeing to disabled peoples' supports—the supports they need to literally live.

There is absolutely no denying that these cuts are occurring. My office is inundated at the moment by families and advocates reaching out to us and by participants calling us in desperation because their vital supports have been cruelly slashed. It is absolutely unacceptable that, when there are so many corporations and billionaires getting away with paying absolutely no tax or far less tax than it would ever be reasonable for them to pay, the government comes for disabled people, their families and the supports that they need to live a good life.

Labor is very clearly content to put disabled people and our families through hell. They do not care enough to show us the financial framework that underpins the cuts that they are making. In fact, they first tried to deny that the documents, which they have now hidden for over a year, even existed. When they were forced to admit the documents existed, they continued to run an absolutely ridiculous argument that to release them would prejudice the relationship between the Commonwealth and the states and territories, as though transparency and accountability should take a back seat to whether a few ministers in government feel a bit embarrassed. It's ridiculous.

You know what? This secrecy, this lack of transparency and this failure to own up and be honest is creating an environment where the community can't even celebrate some good things when they are announced. Disabled people really need, for instance, a well-functioning healthcare system; that is vital. The government was very proud to announce a healthcare and hospitals funding package recently. Yet, if you look beneath the detail of the announcement and the highly confected media releases, what do you find? You find a Labor government which is holding above its head funding to states and territories for their hospital systems. But you only get it—oh, yes, there's a catch—if you agree, as a state or territory government, that you will join with the Labor government in the perpetuation of the complete nonsense that state and territory governments are equipped to provide alternative services to people who've been kicked off the NDIS and that the states and territories can magically set back up the services and supports that they've been systematically dismantling for over a decade because those services were meant to be provided by the NDIS.

Now, if these services and supports, whether they be in WA, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland or anywhere in between, were ever to exist—remember that we still do not know what a foundational support is; there is no definition and no clarity. If they were ever to be set up, it would easily take, I would say, decades to set these systems back up. Even when they are established, there is no guarantee that they will be transferable so that somebody who currently lives in New South Wales could easily move to WA or anywhere else. It's absolutely ridiculous. These cuts mean that children are going without the services and supports they need and that families are subjected to so much struggle and so much unnecessary pain, and this government can't even own it.