National Disability Insurance Scheme

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:19): Last time I spoke in this part of our proceedings, I talked about the importance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme to people living with disability and their families. I talked about how the new NDIS is about ensuring that people living with disability are able to have a dignified life and be treated with dignity. I also spoke about how this group is one of the most vulnerable in our society, deserving every bit of support the NDIS will provide it.

Fortunately, this scheme is about ensuring that these people get quality services, quality support and also support for their families. It is the most important reform in social policy since the introduction of Medicare. All this good work is now under threat because the federal Liberal government is linking federal budget cuts to people on low incomes and pensioners so that they can provide additional funding for the NDIS. It is a disgraceful and deplorable act that the federal government is pitting one group of vulnerable people in our community against another, ostensibly for budget repair.

The omnibus bill seeks to boost funding for the NDIS by cutting financial support for low income earners and pensioners. The federal government believes that the ever-growing income and wealth inequality in our community are good for our economy and our society. That could not be more wrong. In my opinion, it is this growing income and wealth inequality that underpins the growing dissatisfaction with mainstream political parties and gives rise to political groups that undermine our democracy.

I would like to paraphrase a very insightful article by Michael McGuire on page 15 of yesterday's Advertiser. It says that these new groups are about blame culture. It is about immigrants, it is about Muslims, it is about unions, it is about gays, it is about banks, it is about whoever you want it to be—but it is not about you. This group does not want an open, generous, engaged Australia. They want a closed, mean, selfish Australia. It is policies like that of the federal Liberal government, which seek to cut support for the most vulnerable while at the same time giving tax cuts to the most wealthy, that give rise to these groups in our society.

It is policies like this that continue to support and feed these groups. In my opinion, it is counterproductive that we can choose to attack the leaders of these groups, when they are merely giving voice, albeit quite unproductively, to ordinary people's concerns. Their concerns are about economic security and economic justice. Those are the concerns of these people who choose to vote for this growing number of minor parties—economic inequality and income insecurity. Over the past 10 years, it is no accident that the rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer, not only in Australia but across the Western world. Who has paid for it? The people who have paid this price are middle and low income earners.

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: We have a federal Liberal government. We have had the Abbott government, we have the Turnbull government, so do not blame Labor.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Davenport.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Give me a chance; I will come to it. The global economy has created new wealth, but it has not distributed it fairly, and that has given rise to inequality in our communities. While the federal government cuts pensions, it wants to give its mates in the multinational companies a $52 billion tax cut, which makes the wealthy more wealthy. The federal government supports cuts to penalty rates for those on low income in the cleaning and hospitality industries, people on minimum wages. They want to cut the wages of young people and women, who disproportionately make up this workforce and will be hit the hardest.

These policies will make it harder for these groups to have home ownership. While Liberal party members of the federal parliament talk about how people should get better jobs to afford home ownership, their mates are supporting cuts to wages for the poorest in our community. Rather than attack the leaders of these emerging political groups, the Liberal Party should introduce policies that create a fairer Australia. The federal Liberal omnibus bill is more ominous than people realise. It hurts more than just ordinary people: it undermines our democracy.