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

Over the last couple of days there have been a number of stories with regard to autism in the NDIS. I thought it was time we step forward to some of the stuff that's misleading and some of the stuff that could be rectified. Initially, we saw the removal of DSM-IV for DSM-5, which saw a number of diagnoses which used to be separate to autism bundled up under the autism umbrella. These were developmental delays like PDD-NOS or global developmental delay. These are not permanent and lifelong disabilities but they have been bundled up under the NDIS. We do know that children need some support, since the states have vacated the field, but they do not need to be on the NDIS for the rest of their lives. So it is important that we have some sort of objectivity when we look at children that still need to continue post the early childhood stream.

We do know that lots of these children are coming on with a diagnosis of level 2. How do we determine whether that's actually the case? We do actually have tests that are objective, but for some reason the NDIA does not look at implementing them. These are things that should be looked at and conducted by all diagnosticians. They should be using standardised tests to ensure that we are getting the right children into the scheme, supporting them when they need to be supported, but also that there is a transition out for children that do not need to remain on the scheme for the rest of their lives. We have the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and we have the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales. Vineland will look at a child's social interactions and personal skills, in which they can be supported early, but they quite often will not need that support moving forward. We have the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and we also have the Preschool Language Scales. These are actually objective tests that will educate and inform parents as to where their child's level is. They will also ensure autism is funded in the right way for those people that actually need it for the rest of their lives because of the severity of the autism and the permanent impairment.