National Disability Insurance Scheme

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (14:51): My question is for the Premier. Why did the Premier transition from a state-based system to the NDIS if there were gaps?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The question contains alleged fact and argument.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I am willing to hear the question, given how it's gone today. Is that the entire question—if there are gaps?

Ms COOK: Yes.

The SPEAKER: The Premier.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:51): Even before that.

The SPEAKER: Members on my right, be quiet.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I go back to my earlier comments, that the establishment of this reform received bipartisan report. Originally Bill Shorten was the minister responsible—I think it was in the Gillard government—and so the deal was actually signed between a federal Labor government and a state Labor government. Whilst we weren't party to the actual contract or that transition plan, we were certainly supporters of this major reform as we move towards individual funding for those people who are living with a disability.

Everybody appreciated that we couldn't just switch off one system one day and switch on a new system the next day, and so what took place was a series of trials across the country. My understanding is that in South Australia we particularly dealt with transitioning younger people with a disability, and that trial in South Australia took place between 2013 and 2015. Certainly in 2015 we were in that position, and then ultimately the major transfer occurred in late 2018.

This is a massive, massive upheaval. The federal government established a new federal agency, the Quality and Safeguards Commission, to oversee those people who were living under the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). We still retained some people in South Australia—those people who were living in some supported accommodation in South Australia, particularly in group homes, as well as those people who were under a guardianship arrangement with the Public Advocate in South Australia. So there is still somewhat of a mixed system between the states and the commonwealth, but by and large there has been a transfer from one jurisdiction to the other.