Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know tonight's budget is going to have a few surprises in it, and we know that it's going to specifically target the people who didn't vote for them. We know those sitting opposite who are in government now don't like people in rural and regional Australia, and we know that they're going to punish those people in the bush who didn't vote for them. We didn't know, though, that their cruelty was going to extend to families in regional areas who have children with autism. I got an email last night from the CEO of AEIOU, a best-practice autism early-intervention centre that allows families to work while their children are in child care and receiving intensive best-practice autism therapy. The results that AEIOU has across its centres in Queensland, South Australia and here in the ACT are extraordinary, particularly when you look at what happens to children that attend these centres and how many of them then go on to participate in mainstream education.

What those opposite might not understand, because they've made all these promises around the NDIS but clearly don't understand the fundamentals around it, is that early intervention is key to ensuring that children can move off NDIS and that they can move into mainstream. But, if you live in Townsville, that option is no longer available to you, because $2 million has been ripped from AEIOU, who were planning to invest that money in the establishment of a Townsville centre. That is now not going ahead, so for families in Townsville with autistic children, under this government, it is tough luck. You will not get support and you will not get access to best-practice therapy, because those opposite are going to punish the people in the regions who did not vote for them.

They do not care about children with autism or their families or best-practice early intervention. It is heartless, it is disgraceful, and, if you are serious about families, you will review this decision immediately.