Andrew Leigh

I spoke in parliament last night about a Greens private member's motion that would effectively shut down Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMAs).

Private Member's Bill - Enterprise Migration Agreements, 12 February 2013

The former New Zealand politician and head of the World Trade Organisation Michael Moore once had a terrific analogy to describe those who would argue for more foreign aid but also argue for less trade and less migration. He said that attitude was the like the attitude of someone who puts money in the collection plate on Sundays but then behaves badly to the disadvantaged for the rest of the week. It is with the same concern that I rise to speak on this bill today. The attitude that says that we ought to increase our foreign aid, that we ought to increase our refugee intake, but that when workers in our region want to come to Australia to improve their skills and send some remittances back we ought to slam the door in their face. That is not an attitude that is consistent with the values that I hold dear.

The member for Kennedy was right about one thing in his speech. He said that the old Labor Party would have supported this, and there is an era of my party's history of which I am not particularly proud. In its early founding in the beginning part of the 20th century it was the party of white Australia and the party that railed against ‘Kanakas’. That Labor Party perhaps would have supported this motion, but that Labor Party is gone. Members in this place who said that 'two Wongs don't make a white' have been replaced by members such as Senator Wong, of whom I am greatly proud. Ours is now a party of markets and multiculturalism, a party that recognises that if you do not bring in 1,700 workers to work on a resource project then 6,000 Australian jobs are gone. EMAs are fundamentally about improving the access to megaprojects for Australians. Workers can only come in under EMAs if they are essential to the project. There are key training requirements and this bill would render those EMAs unworkable. Where it does not contain statements that are consistent with what occurs already, it requires the tabling in parliament of commercially sensitive information that would then become publicly available. That would cause no company to go ahead with an EMA. As a result, we would have fewer Australian jobs and fewer overseas workers.

Those overseas workers benefit us and they benefit themselves. My colleague Senator Cameron came to Australia through a migration scheme, part of a great post-war migration, and has greatly enriched Australia. But those skills also benefit people in developing countries when they return. Work by Michael Clemens, Claudio Montenegro and Lant Pritchett have estimated that a Haitian who moves to the United States is six times as productive as that very same person was in Haiti. They learn new skills, send money back and often return to their countries to set up businesses.

If you are in favour of reducing global poverty, you should be in favour of EMAs. If you are in favour of boosting Australian jobs, you should be in favour of EMAs. This is a massive boom. We have seen commodity prices go up tenfold. House prices in Moranbah, Queensland, for example, have risen just in one year from $459,000 to $730,000. We have hundreds of Australians flying in and flying out every week, some of them even from Bali. This is a boom the likes of which we have not seen since the gold rushes. Yes, it is placing stresses on the Australian economy, but the right way to respond to those stresses is to make sure that we do not close ourselves off to the world, that we do not make the mistakes that past generations made under White Australia, that we have EMAs with training requirements and that require employers to test the labour market but recognise that guest workers can sometimes make the difference between a project succeeding and a project falling over. Opposition to EMAs can mean that projects will fall over. If you do not want the 1,700 overseas workers, you will not get the 6,000 Aussie jobs and, furthermore, you will not get the development that goes with EMAs.

In parliament today, I spoke about superannuation, and about aged care.

Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Reducing Illegal Early Release and Other Measures) Bill, 11 February 2013

In 1991, the then Prime Minister Paul Keating said of the superannuation guarantee:

'It will make Australia a more equal place, a more egalitarian place and hence a more cohesive and happier place.'

We do not often talk about happiness and superannuation in the same breath, but I think we should, because a strong superannuation system is a system that ensures dignity in retirement. It ensures that Australian retirees can enjoy that extra grey nomad trip and the comfort of being able to spend time with loved ones without worrying about paying the bills. It ensures that generations that have given much to Australia enjoy the retirement to which they are entitled.

Labor has always had a strong commitment to dignity in retirement. In 2009, we increased the pension—the biggest increase in the pension since its inception. That increase was worth $1,600 a year for singles on the full aged pension. Peter Whiteford from the University of New South Wales estimates that that knocked down the rate of poverty in Australia by about a fifth, from about 14 per cent down to about 11 per cent—one of the biggest decreases in poverty that we have seen. That came as a result of Labor's decision to raise the pension. That is the broad context for retirement security from this side of the house.

Alas, this has not been bipartisan. If we look to the Leader of the Opposition, he said once, 'Compulsory superannuation is one of the biggest con jobs ever foisted by government on the Australian people.' In 1995 he said, 'Compulsory superannuation is possibly the greatest confidence trick of the last decade.' It is in that spirit that we were not surprised when the Leader of the Opposition said on 23 March last year:

'Well, we strongly oppose the superannuation increase. We have always as a coalition been against compulsory superannuation increases…'

and that he said he would therefore oppose them. You can knock him for being wrong but not for being inconsistent. At least he was following true at that point to the things he had said about compulsory superannuation. But now it appears that the opposition have backflipped on superannuation. They say they will now be supporting the increase from nine to 12 per cent. They came into this place and voted against it. It is a phased increase until 2019, but those opposite will now apparently support the increase in superannuation—dragged kicking and screaming to the line—and are now unwilling to back down on this reform.

But you know where those opposite stand when they have the chance to speak out on superannuation. On the superannuation guarantee, Wilson Tuckey said that it was ‘both stupid and dishonest’. Senator Alston said ‘imposing compulsory superannuation on individuals does not increase total savings’—a statement clearly at odds with two recent Reserve Bank discussion papers. Senator Watson from the Liberal Party said ‘unemployment is going to rise’ from superannuation. Those opposite, in their heart of hearts, would really prefer that there was not a universal superannuation system. Just as they fought Medicare at its creation, so too they fought universal superannuation at its creation. Just as they have fought a series of progressive health measures, so too they have fought the increase in superannuation from nine to 12 per cent.

Today, although they may be saying that they are going to support the increase in universal superannuation, they are also going to raise the tax on the superannuation contributions of 3.6 million low-income Australians. That is about one in three workers, and they are the lowest paid workers in Australia. Nearly a third of workers are going to have their superannuation taxes increased by up to $500 a year under the opposition. Of course this is the same opposition who cried foul when the government imposed an additional 15 per cent tax on the superannuation contributions of those earning $300,000 or more in the last budget. That affected 128,000 people and some of the highest earning Australians. This, a measure which benefits 3.6 million of the lowest paid Australians, is a measure that the opposition will claw back.

The superannuation system on which dignity in retirement is founded is a Labor creation. It was Labor that put superannuation in place and has increased it from 9 to 12 per cent. It is Labor that introduced a low income superannuation contribution effective from 1 July last year. It is Labor has put in place a measure to implement a one-off refund of small excess concessional cap contributions breaches from 1 July 2011. Labor has put in place a higher concessional contributions cap for over-50s with low balances, and we have abolished the 70-year-old age limit on the superannuation guarantee. At the same time we are making the system more efficient and making the process of everyday transactions easier through new data and e-commerce standards, the use of tax file numbers as the primary locator of member accounts and facilitating account consolidation and electronic portability.

The Find My Super campaign that I ran locally with ACT MLA Chris Bourke helped link Canberrans to their superannuation. We can also do a lot through the Australian Taxation Office to make sure that your lost superannuation account finds you. Labor is working on those reforms. We have announced new rules to make superannuation simpler and more cost-effective through the MySuper reforms, which are grounded in the Cooper Review. This recognises that choice architecture needs to operate in an environment where many people simply take the default fund and the default option within that fund. Defaults need to have high returns for individuals. The MySuper reforms see that put in place. They ensure that the defaults Australians receive are good defaults. I think this was a notion not well understood in the early 1990s. The emphasis then was very much on choice, but I think a lot of the research since then, particularly some of the studies coming out of behavioural economics, have told us that most people are not active managers of their retirement savings. They want rules that ensure good defaults, and that it what the MySuper reforms put in place.

We are making sure that the directors of super funds are appropriately accountable for meeting their duties towards members. All of this is of a piece with ensuring that Australia can be a financial services hub and ensuring that Australia is a place where we encourage good money management in a way where we ensure that financial advisers are not conflicted and that they have good disclosure for their clients. The consumer credit reforms we have put in place sit alongside the MySuper reforms in making sure that customers get a good deal, making sure we have a system that puts customers first.

To go to the specific provisions of the bill: the bill introduces civil and criminal sanctions for someone who promotes a scheme that has resulted or is likely to result in the illegal early release of superannuation benefits. At the moment, there are not those provisions available for promoters unless they are themselves trustees of a fund. This ensures that those who would seek to benefit from the illegal early release of superannuation benefits can be punished.

The bill amends the Anti-Money-Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 to require that superannuation benefits that are rolled over into self-managed superannuation funds are captured as a designated service. That ensures that we take into account the risks of money laundering and financing of terrorism that can be associated with asset rollover and that we have the appropriate customer identification and reporting requirements to ensure that superannuation is not used for inappropriate ends.

The bill amends the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to introduce administrative consequences for contraventions relating to self-managed superannuation funds. That gives the Commissioner of Taxation effective, flexible, proportionate power to address noncompliance with superannuation laws.

These reforms are essential if we are to ensure that the superannuation system remains a strong system which ensures good investment in Australia—we have seen the pool of assets grow to around the size of Australia's GDP. These reforms ensure that Australians have dignity in retirement.

I call on those opposite to change their commitment to scrapping the low-income superannuation contribution. They have argued that they are not going to support any measures that are linked to the mining tax, but we know that is not the case because, as soon as the breath was out of their mouths, they then said: 'Not the increase from nine to 12 per cent.' The increase from nine to 12 per cent is not small bickies. I understand that each percentage point is around $1 billion of forgone tax revenue for the government. So there is $3 billion sitting right there.

My call to those opposite is: if they are going to support a good measure—increasing superannuation contributions from nine to 12 per cent—why not continue and support an equally good measure in bringing down the tax rate paid by the lowest income Australians on their superannuation contributions? It is a reform that follows the Henry review. The Henry review recommended the tax paid on superannuation contributions should be an individual's marginal tax rate minus 15 per cent. We have not gotten to precisely that, but we have recognised the wisdom of the Henry review's recommendation that superannuation taxation should not be a flat tax, that it should be lower for lower income Australians. So we have brought down the tax rate to zero for 3.6 million Australians.

I call on those opposite to support that measure. It is a good measure. It improves dignity in retirement and it improves dignity for lower income Australians, who are disproportionately female workers. As we know, women earn lower wages in the Australian labour market, for a range of reasons—from industry, to discrimination, to career breaks. Women in the Australian workforce earn less and, as a result, have lower superannuation balances. These 3.6 million Australians, disproportionately women, are benefiting from the low-income superannuation contribution. If the coalition were to come to government and scrap it, they would be raising taxes on a group of low-income earners, disproportionately women.

This is as good a measure, in my view, as the increased superannuation contribution. It is an important equity measure and it is an important measure to ensure that Australians in their retirement have the independence to be able to travel, to spend time with loved ones, to enjoy a good retirement. I hope that sense prevails, that the Liberal Party, which has traditionally been deeply suspicious of universal superannuation—since the very inception of universal superannuation—can now see its way to support recommendations coming out of the Henry review that low-income Australians pay less tax. I commend the bill to the House.

Private Member's Motion on Aged Care, 11 February 2013

On Saturday, 1 December it was my great pleasure to attend the Belconnen Senior Citizens Club's 30th anniversary party. I went along with my two older boys—my five-year-old Sebastian and my three-year-old Theodore—who I must say were wonderfully feted by the members of the Belconnen Senior Citizens Club. This is a club which is focused on sports and recreation. There are older Australians in the Belconnen area who are engaged in dancing clubs, walking clubs and sports of all kinds. Mal, Noelene and Marj were particularly generous in looking after Sebastian and Theodore, and I also enjoyed seeing new ACT MLA Yvette Berry and her father, Wayne, at the event. It was a great reminder, if one were needed, of the vigour and energy of older Australians in my electorate of Fraser.

Over the last 40 years life expectancy in Australia has increased by around a decade. And one of the great thought experiments is: which would you prefer—an extra decade of life or the economic growth that has come over that period, with approximately a doubling in real per capita incomes? I have barely met a person who says if they had to choose between the two they would take the money over the years. Most of us value that extra decade of life far more than even a doubling in income. It is a reminder of the great advantages of Australia and of the health and lifestyle reforms that have increased longevity. When I hear commentators talk about the ‘problem’ of ageing, I am tempted to reply—as Minister Shorten sometimes does—it beats the alternative. Certainly there are challenges that Australia faces in an ageing population but they are great challenges to have.

On 19 November last year Minister Butler came to my electorate and held with me an aged care forum to speak with Canberrans about the aged care changes that the government is putting through in its Living Longer. Living Better aged care package. The package is improving the wages in the aged care sector and making sure that people have greater access to choice and information. Older Australians and their loved ones often have to make quick decisions and it is important that people have access to all of the information in front of them. It is important that people looking at retirement home options realise that they do not just have to pay bonds but that they can pay daily payments. It is important that people have support if they want to stay in their own homes as so many do.

The forum was the most popular event I have run in my electorate. I held another on 7 December, which again packed out the room in the Griffin Centre. It was a real reminder of the interest that Canberrans have in understanding the government's aged care reforms. This is a government that is committed to improving dignity in retirement. When we increased the single aged pension for someone on the full rate by $1,600 a year, it decreased the poverty rate. The University of New South Wales’ Peter Whiteford estimated that it reduced by about a fifth the number of people living in poverty in Australia, a massive reduction.

Now the government's increase in universal superannuation from nine to 12 per cent is again going to see more Australians enjoying dignity in retirement. By bringing down the tax rate on superannuation contributions of lower-income Australians to zero, we are encouraging low-income Australians to save for their retirement. Recognising that low-income earners are disproportionately women, who have lower superannuation balances, this is a measure that particularly advantages women, which is why taking it away would so disadvantage low-income Australians and women. This government is proud of its reforms, of its assistance to people in the aged care sector and of increased longevity in Australia.

For the third year running, I am inviting locals to come along and celebrate the newest members of our community at “Welcoming the Babies” on Sunday 24 February 2013 (10.30am to 12.30pm) Glebe Park, Canberra City.

The inaugural Welcoming the Babies held in 2011 had 150 people in attendance, including babies, their parents, and siblings.
Parents are invited to register babies up to 18 months of age, so that they can participate.

As a father of three young boys I know how daunting it can be trying to get information about what’s out there. By bringing together the various services and organisations in one place we’re hoping to make looking after young ones that little bit easier. It’s a chance for parents to find out the different things out there for them and benefit from the camaraderie of fellow sleep-deprived parents. It’s also a way for us to celebrate our youngest and cutest residents. The event is also a reminder that we need supportive families and a strong community to give children the best opportunity in life. Last year was a great success and was a fun filled day with face painting, balloons, and entertainment. I’m looking forward to an even bigger "Welcoming the Babies" this year. Parents wishing to register their babies should email andrew.leigh.mp < at > aph.gov.au or call 6247 4396 with the name of their baby and their contact details.

All members of the community are invited to come along and help celebrate “Welcoming the Babies”.

People in the ACT will soon enjoy a variety of health services in convenient locations, with the first sod turned on the ACT GP Super Clinic ‘hub’ in Bruce today.

[caption id="attachment_3831" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Joining Minister Tanya Plibersek, and Chief Minister Katy Gallagher for the first sod-turned on the Bruce GP Super Clinic construction site"][/caption]

This new GP Super Clinic will mean easier access for patients to healthcare services, with three locations around Canberra. GP Super Clinics are a key part of the Government’s commitment to providing all Australians with access to high quality health care, when they need it, where they need it. These clinics bring together a variety of health professionals to work as a team, providing the best possible overall care for their patients.

The Australian Government has provided $15 million for the ACT GP Super Clinic, which will be built on a ‘hub and spoke’ (main and subsidiary clinics) model. The Bruce hub will be in a larger four-storey building on the University of Canberra campus. The second hub will be built in Casey, northern Gungahlin. An existing practice in Calwell will form a GP Super Clinic ‘spoke’, giving staff and students the opportunity to work across a number of practice areas.

In addition to providing GP and nursing services and a variety of other healthcare services such as physiotherapy, the Bruce hub will also strongly emphasise education for medical, nursing and other health students. We know that medical students who train in the ACT are more likely to end up living and working in our community. Training the next generation of healthcare professionals in the GP Super Clinic environment, with its emphasis on teamwork, will lay the groundwork for better and more convenient health services in Canberra.

The ACT GP Super Clinic is being established by Ochre Health (ACT) Pty Ltd. The construction at Bruce is being funded jointly by Health Workforce Australia, the University of Canberra and the Department of Health and Ageing, and is expected to be completed by early 2014.
The Australian Government is making a significant investment in GP Super Clinics. It. has committed about $650 million to build more than 60 of the clinics around Australia, and upgrade and extend about 425 existing general practices, community and other health services, and Aboriginal Medical Services. There are now 48 clinics either open, providing limited services or under construction.

On Sky AM Agenda today, I spoke with host Kieran Gilbert and Liberal Senator Mitch Fifield about why a profits-based mining tax has volatile revenues, why Labor is committed to seeing low-income earners pay no tax on their superannuation contributions, and the importance of politicians not meddling in criminal investigations.

I spoke today with Mark Parton about Labor's investments in the ACT, including through the NBN, the Majura Parkway, and the new GP SuperClinic in Bruce. Here's a podcast.

This month there are a series of free financial information sessions designed to help locals take control of their finances. They are a local and practical avenue for people of all ages to gain information on a range of important topics. The Australian Government has offered the Financial Information Service (FIS) for over 20 years, educating hundreds of thousands of people by providing information to help them plan for their future security. The experienced FIS Officers can show you how to make informed financial decisions and help you understand the consequences of those decisions in the short, medium and long term. These seminars are regularly held across the country, educating communities on a wide range of topics from superannuation and creating wealth, right through to finance and accommodation options in retirement and they're not just for people receiving Centrelink payments - they are open to anyone interested, and are popular so bookings are essential.

Upcoming local seminars at Belconnen Premier Inn (110 Benjamin Way, Belconnen)

Age pension and your choices, Tuesday 12 February 2013, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm;
Running your own super fund, Thursday 14 February 2013, 6:00 pm to 8:30pm

For FIS seminar bookings call 13 6357 or email [email protected]
To find out more about Human Services free Financial Information Service seminars visit humanservices.gov.au/fis.

I spoke in parliament today about the passing of James Savoulidis, who emigrated to Australia from Greece in the 1930s.

James Savoulidis, 7 February 2013

I rise to pay tribute to James Savoulidis, known as 'Gentleman Jim', who passed away on 20 December last year at the age of 93. Gentleman Jim was Canberra's pizza pioneer. He was born in Greece, grew up during the Great Depression and was sent to Australia in 1938 by parents who wanted a better life for him. In 1959 he settled here in Canberra and opened a number of businesses, including the Mondial Night Club in East Row. He helped many Greek families who migrated to Australia get established in Canberra. In 1971 he established the Plaka restaurant in Mawson, where Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was a regular patron. As I noted in my first speech to this place, it was James Savoulidis who taught Gough Whitlam to dance the Zorba.

He was painted by local artist Peter Engel—a painting which hung proudly in my local café in Hackett, Wilbur's. Wilbur's is one of the many fine dining establishments that have been set up by James Savoulidis's sons who have followed him into the business. To bring pizza to Canberra in the 1960s was tougher than it is today. This was a more white-bread city, one which lacked the cultural diversity that we now appreciate. James Savoulidis was an innovator and a risk taker. He has a great entrepreneurial spirit and the wishes that his parents had for him when they sent him to Australia from Greece at the age of just 18 were, I think, greatly fulfilled.

His son, Steven Savoulidis, wrote to me and, after modestly telling me that I did not need to speak in parliament about his father at all, said:

‘… he had a long and great life, of which 3/4 of a century was here in OZ. He always told us the best thing his parents did for him was to send him to AUSTRALIA. He said "if you put in the effort, respect people, have respect for yourself, you will get everything you'll ever need from Australia" he loved it here. We were lucky to have him and call him our father.’

With the passing of James Savoulidis, we lose the second of two great Canberra culinary pioneers, the other being Augustin 'Gus' Petersilka, who passed away in 1994. They were for a period both in Garema Arcade—Mr Savoulidis on the Garema Place side, Gus on Bunda Street.

While James Savoulidis fought for pizza and the Zorba, Gus was fighting for open-air dining. It was Gus who engaged in legendary battles with local Canberra bureaucrats over the right to put tables on the footpath. They thought footpaths were for walking; he felt that it added to the character of the place to have outdoor eating. History, I think, has proven Gus right. He petitioned the Queen and said he was willing to go to jail for his right to have tables on the footpaths. Eventually he was made Canberran of the Year in 1978. Many Canberrans know him through Gus's Cafe in Garema Place. Gus himself said, in an interview in the Canberra Times, 'I had a fair go'. In the same interview, he went on to say:

‘To the Viennese, homes are only to sleep; the coffee house is their home away from home.’

This is a recognition that so much of the social capital in Canberra, which is indeed the nation's social capital, occurs in our cafes and restaurants. Our vibrant cafe and restaurant scene is not just a matter of increasing total GDP; it is about improving the social connectedness of Canberra. Having great restaurateurs and great local establishments has made Canberra a so much more exciting city in which to live.

We are greatly in the debt of Gus and greatly in the debt of the late James Savoulidis. My condolences go to Mr Savoulidis's widow, Helen; his sons, Steven, Nasi and Andrew, and their partners, Vicky, Geraldine and Cherie; and his grandchildren, James, Eleni, Crystal, Dimitri, Kasia and Jasmine. Rest in peace, James Savoulidis.

I spoke in parliament today in favour of a bill to create the NDIS.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill, 7 February 2013

Last month, I received a letter from Denise Reid, one of my constituents. Ms Reid wrote to me about her son Tim, a 21-year-old man with Down syndrome. She has given me permission to share the contents of that letter with the House today, so I want to begin by reading part of it. She writes:

‘I receive a part payment, sixty-five dollars and fourteen cents per fortnight, with the remainder paid to my ex-husband. We share care of our son, who is 21. He has Down syndrome. From time to time, Centrelink reviews eligibility for this payment. I find this extremely frustrating. My son has an intellectual disability. There is no cure and he will never grow out of it.’

She goes on to speak about him. She writes: 'Tim is a helpful, sensitive, caring and observant young man with a great sense of humour. He enjoys swimming.' She speaks about his enjoyment of rock and roll music. But then she writes:

‘The payment is small and sometimes I feel like giving up the bureaucratic battle. But I don't. I fill out the form and visit the GP to complete another form and wait to hear if I've been able to prove disability. That makes me sad.’

The story of parents whose children have disabilities that are lifelong having to again and again prove that their children's conditions have not changed is one that you hear so often in discussions around the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is a particular frustration because parents of children with disabilities work as hard as any other parent in Australia, if not harder. They are constantly dealing with night wakes. They are often having to do hard, physical work. What they do not need is a system that requires them to again and again prove disability, as Ms Reid puts it.

It is with that spirit and with a recognition that past governments have not provided adequate support to people with disabilities and their carers that this government is putting in place a National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is a nation-changing reform. Today is a significant moment for the almost one in five Australians who have a disability, have a family member with a disability or are a carer for someone with a disability. The first stage of the NDIS will benefit more than 20,000 Australians later this year.

I wrote a piece for the local Canberra Chronicle newspaper just over a year ago and noted that if you feel like you have had a tough week just try chatting with a parent who is caring for a child with a profound disability. Not only will they be bleary eyed and bone tired but they might be struggling to make ends meet, sometimes contending with their own health issues. Parents of children with a disability can find themselves caring for a 40-year-old who has the mental abilities of a toddler.

Like every parent they love their children, but it is because of that love that many of them face a searing fear from that awful question: what will happen to my child when I am no longer here? The National Disability Insurance Scheme, by providing better care to people with a disability, may hopefully allay that fear. In so doing it will resolve some of the indefensible anomalies in the current system. For example, if you become a paraplegic in a car accident you are more likely to get a payout than if you fall off your roof while cleaning the gutters. If you rent a car in one state and have an accident which causes a disability then you will receive different treatment than if your car is registered in a different state. That is true even if you are renting from the same car company. 'Check the number plates,' people with a disability will sometimes say. That is how much of a patchwork our current system is.

A National Disability Insurance Scheme system will not be cheap. Its path forward will not be straightforward because we need to bundle in many of the current supports that are provided. But thanks to the leadership of the then parliamentary secretary Bill Shorten, the government commissioned a report on the National Disability Insurance Scheme from the Productivity Commission. They came back with a strong recommendation that we go ahead. That is why we are working with the states and territories to build the foundations of a National Disability Insurance Scheme.

I am really proud that under the leadership of the Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, herself a former support worker for people with disabilities, the ACT did not skip a beat before signing up. Around 5,000 Canberrans with a disability will benefit when the ACT becomes one of the launch sites later this year.

I am a strong advocate of the NDIS. My parliamentary window has one thing in it—a Count Me In poster, put together by the Every Australian Counts campaign. I have spoken before in this place on the issue of disability and the importance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. In my own electorate of Fraser, I have held two community forums on the NDIS, seeking input from Canberrans about the scheme.

In August last year, one of the forums was held with Senator Jan McLucas and the member for Canberra. We held a forum in the Griffin Centre and heard many accounts from people with disabilities and their carers. Before that, in October 2011, I held a forum in Belconnen with Daniel Kyriacou from the Every Australian Counts campaign and members of the ACT Labor Party's Community Services and Social Justice Committee. That was, again, an important conversation about what the NDIS means and how people can work with the campaign to bring about an NDIS. Those forums were well attended by carers, people with disabilities and Canberrans of goodwill, keen to see this important social reform become a reality.

Earlier that same month, I met with a group of people with disabilities and their carers at a morning tea roundtable in my electorate office to talk about what an NDIS will mean for people with disabilities and for organisations that are supporting people with disabilities. I want to thank Simon Rosenberg, Luke Jones, Bob Buckley, Kerry Bargas, Trish and Glenn Mowbray, Susan Healy, Mary Webb, Kerrie Langford, Robert Altamore, Fiona May, Eileen Jerga, Adrian Nicholls, Christina Ryan, Brooke McKail, Sally Richards and others for sharing their stories and concerns with me. They helped me to better understand the issues around a National Disability Insurance Scheme and why Australians with disabilities and their carers need this scheme so much.

I appreciated a visit to the 1RPH print handicapped radio station in the ACT. Again, they are providing an important support to people with disabilities. I have visited agencies that support people with disabilities who have spoken about the charges that they will face in adapting to an NDIS.

The Every Australian Counts website asks this simple question: which developed country would expect someone to live with two showers a week?' At the moment, the answer is Australia. We heard at the forum in the Griffin Centre with Senator McLucas the story of a Queensland woman who has to reapply every 15 days for emergency care. We heard stories about mothers of children with Down syndrome who have to constantly prove that their child's chromosomes have not changed, stories like the one with which I began my speech.

We heard a story about a child in the Northern Territory who has to hand in his hearing aids when he leaves school at the end of each day. The hearing aids have to stay at school and he has to go home without them. You cannot hear these stories in a prosperous nation like ours without feeling a sense that there is something profoundly wrong with our nation's social contract, that we need to put in place a system which shares the cost of disability support services across the community. Yes, member for Longman, that involves states and territories doing more. That is not playing politics. That is the simple reality of building a national disability insurance scheme—an NDIS that will enable people with a disability to exercise more choice and control over their lives.

This reform is on par with Labor's legacy reforms of Medicare, universal superannuation and native title. But, as the NDIS rolls out, we need to keep on asking those whom it supports: 'What do you want and how can we deliver it?' The message that I have heard in the regular forums that I have conducted is that assessments under the NDIS need to be done no more frequently than is necessary and that over-frequent assessments are enormously frustrating and at their extreme can cost carers their jobs.

As I have noted, the ACT is one of the sites leading the way in improving care for people with disabilities. In July last year, I was pleased to join the Prime Minister and Chief Minister Gallagher at Black Mountain School to discuss the issues facing people with a disability. I pay tribute to Black Mountain School for the hard work that they do. In Hackett, my own suburb, Ross Walker Lodge is a supported accommodation facility for six people with intellectual disabilities. Ross Walker preached the social gospel and was a strong advocate for the most disadvantaged people in our community. By coincidence, his life followed a similar trajectory to that of my paternal grandfather, Keith Leigh, who was also born in the 1920s and came to the Methodist ministry after World War II.

In Holt, I attended an event at Sharing Places for what is known as a DisabiliTEA morning tea. That was part of a campaign for a national disability insurance scheme. Sharing Places focuses on providing day services to adults with an intellectual disability, and I appreciated meeting with the clients and carers alike. Some of them had been working in the sector for decades and they told me it was the most rewarding work they have ever done.

In December last year, I joined the member for Canberra in announcing the three ACT based organisations that received Commonwealth funding to help people with a disability, their carers and families adjust to the options available under an NDIS. The National Rural Health Alliance, Disability Advocacy Network of Australia and ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy received nearly $300,000 in funding to get ready for the introduction of an NDIS.

Last week, the Prime Minister gave an address at the National Press Club in which she spoke about how the NDIS is part of the government's vision for a fairer nation. She noted that in July we will launch the NDIS in five locations around Australia and pointed out how the NDIS is in the Labor tradition of knowing that it is smart policy to make us a fairer nation. The Prime Minister said:

‘… risk is shared as well, where those hit with life's cruellest blows get the help they need.’

That is what this bill will do. It sets out the framework for an NDIS and establishes important principles for a person becoming a participant in the scheme, how participants will develop personal, goal-based plans, and how reasonable and necessary supports will be guaranteed. The framework sets out how people will be able to choose how they manage their care and support.

The first stage of the scheme will, apart from the ACT, also be launched in South Australia, Tasmania, the Hunter in New South Wales and the Barwon area of Victoria. I acknowledge the work of the leaders in those jurisdictions in making this happen. The principles of the framework are based on giving people with a disability individual care and support that is based on their needs, giving them real choice and control over these supports, fostering innovative services that are delivered and coordinated locally, and bringing long-term certainty to the resourcing of disability care and support. We want to give people with a disability the security that they will get what they need over their lifetime.

I want to thank and acknowledge the advocates, those working in the sector, the family members and the people with a disability who have fought for a fair system that is based on their needs and that empowers them with more choice and control. As I have acknowledged before, it was Minister Shorten who initiated much of this reform but I also want to recognise the hard work of Minister Macklin, the Prime Minister and Senator McLucas, who have worked together to make Australia's social contract a little stronger, to make us a little fairer as a nation and, hopefully, to improve the lives of thousands of Australians with a disability and their families and carers.