Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. I ask: what action is the government taking to support people with disabilities?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Makin for his question. As he knows, last night we had a very special evening for the annual National Disability Awards. The ceremony was held here in Parliament House. I would like to, first of all, thank all those members and senators—from both sides of the House—who joined us. I particularly thank both the Prime Minister and Therese Rein, the patron for the International Day of People with Disability, for coming along and participating with so many wonderful people who were celebrating the outstanding achievements of people with disability. The member for Bass was telling me just before question time that the night kicked on and people had a wonderful evening. We are very pleased that it was such a special night for all the people who were finalists in the awards. I want to particularly acknowledge the award winners—Sue Gordon, Robert Strike, Dudley Afford, Tina Zeleznik, Michael Taggart and Melissa Noonan, all people who have made extraordinary contributions.

We also last night saluted Kurt Fearnley. I think we have all been following his extraordinary efforts as he crawled the entire 96 kilometres of the Kokoda Track. Those people in this House who have walked or struggled through—not me, but I know people on both sides of the House have done the walk—and know how hard it was for them can really not even imagine how difficult it must have been for Kurt, so it was wonderful to have him there last night. He, of course, like the award winners, is an extraordinary Australian and has achieved extraordinary things.

One of the important matters for us to all think about on a night like last night is that, for many people with a disability, living an ordinary life is still a very, very stiff uphill battle. For far too many people with a disability they face a badly disconnected service system. Even though we have made a start to increase the funding for services to people with a disability, we know that we have a long way to go. We have in fact doubled the funding to the states and territories under the National Disability Agreement. Just so people are aware of the figures, by 2013 that means that the Australian government’s contribution will exceed $1.2 billion to this agreement. That compares to $620 million delivered in 2007 under the previous government.

That said, of course, even with that significant increase in funding, we do know that there is a lot more to be done. There is going to be a very significant increase in the number of people with severe disability. It is why people with disability were so pleased last night when the Prime Minister announced that the Productivity Commission will conduct an inquiry into the feasibility of a long-term national care and support scheme. This has been something which a number of people have campaigned for for a long time to address what are significant unmet needs for people with disability and their carers.

The Productivity Commission will look at the costs, the benefits and the feasibility of approaches which provide essential care and support on an entitlement basis for people with severe disability. It will look at a very new approach for Australia, and that is a social insurance model, as well as looking at other models. There will be an associate commissioner appointed and an independent panel with specialist disability expertise. They will support the review and also make sure that people with disabilities and their carers will have input into the review. We expect the commission to report back by July 2011.

We certainly do understand just how complex this area of policy is, but I do want to pay particular regard to the work by the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, Bill Shorten, who has been an outstanding advocate for people with a disability. He has done an enormous amount of work in this area of policy, which has been far too long ignored by those opposite—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

who are now interjecting. They ought to recognise that people like Bill Shorten are out there doing the job rather than making smart remarks across the chamber. What we want to do is deliver for people with a disability. I thank the Prime Minister and the parliamentary secretary and everyone on this side of the House who has campaigned so long for this reform.