STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator PAYMAN (Western Australia—Australia's Voice Whip) (13:21): Nearly everyone in this place knows someone with a disability and the difficulties they face in life and in accessing the NDIS. I hear stories every day about how accessing supports is becoming more and more difficult. NDIS pricing arrangements were altered this year, and these changes have caused distress for participants and providers alike.

A report from the alliance of registered therapy providers found that 31 per cent of participants with therapy needs live outside major cities. The halving of travel allowances means fewer providers can offer services to regional participants. Not only does this policy disproportionately disadvantage regional participants; it also puts financial pressure on providers.

Declining rates of travel reimbursement and years of price freezes are having a profound impact, particularly on allied health professionals. Every day the people who provide quality care to the most vulnerable are fighting to keep their heads above water. Gaps in funding mean that, according to the Ability Roundtable project, quality therapy providers will run at an average loss of 24.6 per cent this financial year.

Registered providers, for the most part, struggle to turn a profit as the costs of living and doing business rises and NDIS prices have been frozen for six years. A survey by Occupational Therapy Australia recently found that 55 per cent of occupational therapy businesses ran at a loss last year, 50 per cent are considering leaving the sector and 14 per cent intend to close.

This is the data from one of many allied health sectors in crisis. But what do we hear from the government? We hear there's a need for 'sustainability'—in other words, cuts.

We hear about rampant fraud within the NDIS. Is there fraud? Yes, but there are far more genuine users and providers than fraudsters.

Given 60 per cent aren't profitable, it would be a dedicated fraudster who defrauds the NDIS at a cost to themselves! The Prime Minister speaks of sustainability and the benefits the NDIS provides, but he showed his true colours last year in the other place when he asked a member of the opposition: 'Have you got Tourette's or something? You sit there—"babble, babble, babble."' There we saw the Prime Minister's true feelings towards disability—that it is something to be mocked.

He made a sheepish apology later that day, but everyone had seen the slip of the mask. We saw it in the faces of his colleagues as lips pursed and eyes widened. It is emblematic of the government's wider inconsistency between what it says and what it actually does.

It says it supports first home buyers and then implements policies that increase home prices. It says it supports the environment and then negotiates a secret deal with the coalition on environment laws. It says it supports transparency and then brings in a bill to gut freedom of information.

What happens in this place has repercussions across the country. Cuts to travel reimbursements have disproportionately affected children and participants with complex needs, and there has been an alarming rise in participants ceasing services altogether due to difficulties getting to where their services are provided. Cutting the NDIS may look like an easy fix to the government, but it causes more problems than it solves.

When people miss out on therapy, it costs taxpayers more in the years ahead, as development opportunities are missed or capacity is not built. Expecting disabled people to succeed without giving them the resources to do so is a recipe for disaster. For some, being unable to access services can mean ending up in a hospital.

At a time when hospitals are under such strain, pushing disabled people towards hospitals is distressing and puts unnecessary pressure on our public health system. What the NDIS needs is long-term vision, not cuts designed for short-term political benefit. Allied health providers must be supported so they can have confidence in their businesses and participants can rely on them for quality services.

Without that certainty, the current crisis will continue, businesses will continue to close, and participants will continue to suffer.