AUSTRALIA


budget emergency”. He stated that “hence the coalition may decide not to oppose any of them; does not commit to reverse any of them; and reserves the option to implement all of them, in government, as short-term emergency measures to deal with the budget crisis Labor has created”. The Australian Greens criticized the budget, noting that it “will make Australia weaker, dumber and meaner”. Greens Leader Sen. Christine Milne said “this is demonstrated by slashing funding to universities and renewable energy, failing to support single parents and the unemployed and delaying, for the second time, our commitment to increase foreign aid to 0.5 per cent of GNI until 2017”. Sen. Milne commented that “all of this could have been avoided if Labor had the backbone to stand up to the big mining companies and abolish fossil fuel subsidies and fix the mining tax. This year the mining tax collected a shocking $200 million, down from the promised $3 billion”.


Western Australia: Bills affect parliamentary privilege In the last few months of sitting in 2012, Western Australia’s Legislative Council passed two Bills that included provisions impacting upon parliamentary privilege. The Evidence and Public


Interest Disclosure Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 contained provisions that established a series of mandatory steps to be taken, and specific factors to be taken into consideration, in any proceeding conducted by “a person acting judicially” where a witness who is a journalist has declined to disclose a confidential source of information. The Western Australian government indicated that it was of the view that both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of the state


THIRD READING: AUSTRALIA


National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 The Act establishes the National Disability Insurance Scheme by setting out the objects and principles of the scheme. People with disability will be given choice and control over the care and support they receive. The Prime Minister Hon. Julia Gillard, MP, commented that the legislation “will transform the lives of people with disability, their families and carers”. She noted that “it will bring an end to the tragedy of services denied or delayed and instead offer people with disability the care and support they need over their lifetimes”. In arguing the need for reform, the Prime Minister stated that “the risk of disability is universal, so our response must be universal. The only solution is therefore a nation-wide, demand-driven system of care tailored to the needs of each individual and established on a durable, long-term basis”. The scheme is ambitious because more than 400 000 Australians are living with a disability, and “because carers are required to stretch the bonds of obligation and kinship past breaking point”.


The Prime Minister, in explaining the detail, noted that “the legislation is designed to ensure that people with disability can access reasonable and necessary supports, that there is an assurance of support over a person’s lifetime, and that the scheme remains sustainable over the long term”. The legislation “sets out a broad role for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Transition Agency to provide general supports to people with disability and their families”. Chapter Three of the legislation sets out the process for how to become a participant in the scheme, and how to develop a personal, goal-based plan with the agency and receive individualized supports. A person may make an access request to the agency to become a participant, and the CEO of the agency must determine whether they meet the access criteria.


The Prime Minister noted that “the legislation is designed to allow participants and their families to choose how their funding for supports under a plan is managed. It also sets out how a participant’s plan may be reviewed over time to take into account the participant’s changing circumstances”.


The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Tony Abbott, MP, rose to support the legislation noting that the “coalition has consistently supported the National Disability Insurance Scheme”. Mr Abbott stated that “quite often in this chamber, I am accused of a relentless negativity. It is always unfair, but in this case it is false—because when it comes to the National Disability Insurance


Scheme, I am Dr Yes. I always have been, always will be”. Mr Abbott, however, noted that the scheme is a work in progress with many questions remaining. Mr Abbott commented that “much of the design work, indeed, is yet to be completed. We still do not know who will be eligible for the NDIS. We do not know what is covered by the NDIS. We do not know the extent of coverage by the NDIS. We do not know the precise role of the states in the operations of the NDIS, if any. Indeed, the very nature of the scheme itself is yet to be determined. Is it to be a scheme such as Medicare? Is it to be, in effect, Medicare for people with disabilities? Or is it to resemble more closely the workers compensation schemes or the state traffic accident schemes, which are genuine insurance schemes?”


Mr Abbott commented that “in the end, for this scheme to successfully come to fruition for the mighty benefit of people with disabilities throughout our country, it cannot simply reflect Labor values; it cannot simply reflect Liberal values. It must reflect national values. It must reflect the values that are held deep by members on both sides of this chamber, values that are common to members of all Parliaments right around our country. It has to be a national scheme”. To ensure that the scheme succeeds, Mr Abbott called for a “bipartisan parliamentary committee, co-chaired by relevant frontbenchers—so that this scheme can indeed be shepherded from the early days to its completion through this Parliament and through the other Parliaments that need to work together if it is to succeed”. Mr Abbott asserted that it was the coalition that could best be relied on to deliver the scheme. He stated that “the party that you can best trust to deliver a national disability insurance scheme is the party that you can most trust to deliver strong economic growth. I would put it to you, Madam Deputy Speaker Rishworth, and through you to the Australian people, that such a party is the coalition”.


Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens, welcomed the legislation noting that it “will help ensure that people living with a disability will receive more comprehensive support in their everyday lives”. She stated that “this legislation provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to confront powerlessness and move towards transformative change by giving much greater choice and control to the individual and providing packages of support that focus on meeting the aspirations of the individual by providing the necessary supports to help them live, work and participate in their own communities”.


The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue Two | 145


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