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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-15 Daily Xml
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National Disability Insurance Scheme

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:37): I speak today in support of the thousands of South Australian families being let down by the NDIS. They are simply not getting the help they need from either the state or federal Liberal governments.

On Tuesday 1 October, the Hon. Amanda Rishworth, the Hon. Bill Shorten and I hosted a community NDIS forum in our southern suburbs, and we were expecting a lot of community interest. We were not surprised to speak to a room full to the brim of families and people living with disability. They told us how the NDIS had failed them. The reason we were not surprised is that when things are going well a forum is not needed—a forum is not needed to provide people with their voices—but with this forum we closed off registrations in advance and the forum was full to brim.

Bill Shorten is on a mission to get the NDIS delivered how it was intended. I am determined to work with him to ensure that the NDIS also lives up to the promise it made to deliver better outcomes for people living with disability. Of course, when it is easy it can do that, but the NDIS really is not delivering on its promise, particularly for those people who need it the most. Using some of Bill's words:

..the NDIS is being constipated by the federal Liberal government, who is more interested in banking $4.6 billion NDIS savings [as a surplus] and cheering this as a budget success.

Shame on that government and shame on the Marshall government for being accomplices in the failure, shrugging their shoulders and saying, 'The NDIS is not our problem. Disability services are no longer our problem. Nothing to see here. The NDIS is fully rolled out. Move along.'

The broad themes of complaints about the NDIS we heard at the forum are mostly a symptom of the Liberals' lack of funding, staffing caps and inexperienced staff. One problem I have spoken about before in this place is the lack of transport funding for participants. I received an email from Avril, who was not able to attend the forum but wanted to submit her situation and have it shared. Avril has fragile bones and she is in a wheelchair. She also works, however.

Avril has NDIS transport funding of $136 per fortnight. She needs to take a taxi to and from work. Working three days a week, she spends $420 a fortnight on taxis. It is quite easy to do the maths and see how Avril is out of pocket just to get to work. Her shortfall amounts to approximately $7,000 per year—but yay for budget savings. Previously, Avril was a SATSS member and, in her words, using SATSS taxi vouchers 'opened up so many opportunities as I was not bound by transport woes and could be equally a part of society'.

Last week, we heard the Minister for Human Services and the Minister for Transport, I am sure, asking for a round of applause, and we have seen that repeated today by the Minister for Transport, for stepping in at the eleventh hour and extending SATSS. But will this help Avril? Avril did not have vouchers. She lost her Centrelink allowance also—

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Point of order.

Ms COOK: Will you really interrupt this?

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Member for Hurtle Vale, could you please take your seat. The Minister for the Environment on a point of order.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Mr Acting Speaker, I draw your attention to the state of the house.

A quorum having been formed:

Ms COOK: When I was interrupted, I was speaking about Avril. Avril is in constant pain and is out of pocket some $7,000 a year because of the challenges of the NDIS to meet her needs. Avril is now stuck in a situation where she will still be disadvantaged by her NDIS plan even if she is re-eligible for her vouchers. We hear nothing, it is completely silent, on the loss of the Centrelink payments, which are also taken away from people, in the hundreds and hundreds of dollars every month.

We also heard that not only do NDIS plans often lack funding for required therapy but that funds are provided in areas where they are not needed and that it is near impossible to move funds from one part of their plan to another. Additionally, even when funds are allocated as needed, there are often waitlists to get access to the service providers, such as specialist therapists. If funds are not spent, they are lost in the next plan. This is not a system that is working successfully. There are also far too many people waiting to have their plans finalised, no doubt due to staff shortages caused by the staffing cap imposed by the federal Liberal government, which the state Liberal government is completely silent on.

We met Jessica and her five-year-old daughter Ava, who has severe disabilities and is confined to a wheelchair. She has not been able to get new equipment, particularly a replacement for her wheelchair, for two years. She is a growing child, so after two years her wheelchair is far too small. She is in constant pain and she gets pressure sores if she sits in it for more than an hour. The NDIS planner, who is helping Jessica, works only two days a week and she said she will get to it when she can. Well, that is just not good enough. We are now reversing that decision and getting some improvements for her.

People are suffering. There was so much pain and anger in that room. Families feel like they are fighting a war with the NDIS and the federal and the state governments in order to access services and get the care they need for themselves. While this government can say it is us beating up a fuss, this is actually taking away from the great advocacy by the people with disabilities who are crying out for help. What are the ministers for human services and transport going to say to these families? What are they going to do to help them get the outcomes they need?

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