Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Scullion, the Minister representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Does the minister recall Minister Brough’s comment on 25 July that bilateral agreements with Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT under the Commonwealth-State Territory Disability Agreement would be completed very soon after that meeting? Given that it is now two months since Mr Brough made that promise, can the minister explain why no agreements have been signed? Can the minister confirm that none of those three jurisdictions has even received a written offer from the Commonwealth? When does Mr Brough intend to deliver on his promise to complete bilateral agreements under the CSTDA, and how much longer will Australians with disabilities have to wait for Mr Brough to get his act together?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Perhaps I can take the last aspect of that question first. I think it is quite misleading to say that Minister Brough has somehow not provided for Australians with regard to disability. This is a minister who has, because of the failure of the Labor states, had to provide the $1.8 billion package outside the arrangement to ensure that Australians with a disability get a fair go. With regard to the three offers, the offer was made on the basis of the states and territories coming up with a submission to identify the particular amounts that they are going to need—and I understand that that is the case—

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They have done that—in July.

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, no. The senator interjects with ‘July’. I am sorry to have a conversation without going through you, Mr President. That particular state and the territories have responded at different times. I understand that that is under active consideration. They responded at different times and it is under active consideration. I understand that those negotiations are of the most amicable nature and are being done in the expression of a partnership.

I do understand also that Queensland was not amongst those. We made an offer to them to identify unmet need in areas of respite and supported accommodation, the two most fundamental areas of disability—and of course there was no offer from Queensland; there was stark silence. That is why this government moved to have a partnership with those states and territories that were fair dinkum about this. I have to commend Western Australia, which has a long history of setting the pace in terms of disability, and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. I think they have done very well in that matter.

I mentioned that there were a number of issues that we had to deal with outside of the CSTDA. We have a requirement in the existing CSTDA that the states and territories provide us with an evidentiary process about unmet need. We are a government that does not just throw money around; we want to prioritise. We know there is unmet need in supported accommodation and respite. We said to the states and territories, ‘Can you provide us with that over time?’ It simply has not been provided. So, with the support of industry, we have said, ‘We’ll go out and do it ourselves.’ So we have provided $962 million to help carers and their children, and $562 million for supported accommodation. We are rolling that out at the moment. I announced it about three weeks ago in Townsville. It is in the first part of the consultation process, so the money goes where the need is most.

We are helping people with disabilities and their families, with an allocation of $744.8 million. The amount for child disability assistance is $721.2 million, and the amount for children’s services is $23.6 million. I could go on, but I note that this $1.8 billion is above and beyond the Commonwealth-state disability agreements. This government is a government which leads. We would not be able to make this investment if we did not have a fantastic economy. We would not be able to make this investment if we had weak leadership. We are not prepared to muck about. Labor is weak on leadership. The Howard government is strong on leadership, and we have made a decision to help all those people with a disability who are in need. (Time expired)

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I note that the minister could not explain why no agreements have been signed, some two months after the minister indicated that these agreements would be reached very soon. Can the minister confirm that Minister Brough is in fact raiding the disability assistance package announced in June in order to fund the bilateral agreements? If the funding for the bilateral agreements is coming from the disability assistance package, does this mean that non-government providers from Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT will be frozen out of any additional funding to support older carers of people with disabilities?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I reiterate what I said in part of my initial answer, which was quite clear. In terms of the three agreements, this is a partnership approach. It is an amicable agreement. Announcements in terms of that partnership approach will be made shortly. In terms of the so-called ‘raiding’ of the extra funds that the Commonwealth put in, the $1.8 billion will not be directly spent on the state and territory governments; quite the contrary. We are engaging with all the NGOs and all the service providers across the disability community in order to ensure that those dollars are spent in the very best way. Frankly, the inability of the Labor governments to provide for this is frustrating. Again, the simple message is this: we need strong leadership, which the Howard government gives, instead of the weak leadership that is provided by the Labor governments.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.