The SPEAKER ( Ms Anna Burke ) took the chair at 12:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is one of those things that's been put on the—
"let's wait and see" list.
… … …
Of course, elsewhere in the speech he—
… said, "after all, the measure of a decent society is how it looks after its most vulnerable members."
Excuse me while I pause for an eye roll. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that one, I could probably just fund the NDIS myself.
The thing is, Mr Abbott, fixing the broken disability system we have in this country isn't like saving all your pocket money until you could finally afford that CD player you desperately wanted when you were 12. It's not a luxury item that we can simply do without until there's some spare cash floating around. What you said yesterday—
made it very clear that you see improving the living conditions of people with disabilities and our families as an indulgence.
The seven year timeline outlined by the Gillard government is already far too long for many people with disabilities …
The Coalition is so committed to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, for instance, that we've offered to co-chair a bi-partisan parliamentary committee so that support for it doesn't flag across the three terms of parliament and among the nine different governments needed to make it work.
Ahead I see exciting possibilities for all people with a disability and their families from the reforms and service opportunities that the NDIS will deliver.
… … …
The NDIS reform is set to redress years of underfunding and neglect, and correct major weaknesses in our current disability service system in Australia to give all people with a disability the opportunity to be active and participating citizens in their communities regardless of their circumstances or geographic location.
You need to look no further than Kurrajong Waratah to realise the extent of the underfunding, neglect and unmet needs in our communities. Our five year old InterLink service which supports older parent carers who still have their son or daughter living at home with them is currently working with 382 eligible older parent carers across the Riverina Murray Regions.
Our Kurrajong Early Childhood Intervention Service works with babies and children under school age and is doing a mammoth job in managing extreme case loads due to demand. The Griffith arm of our service that is working in the Griffith and western Shires of the Riverina Region is at breaking point. … Our Wagga Wagga service is in a similar situation, funded to service 100 families it provides services to over 140 families each and every year.
… … …
The trial sites for the NDIS were recently announced with the Hunter Region of NSW included. The commencement of the Scheme in the trial sites across Australia will help to ensure that the new NDIS system that is developed to support people with a lifelong disability and their parents/carers, is both sustainable over the longer term and is flexible.
Not since the International Year of People with a Disability in 1981 has the future looked so promising. The challenge for all stakeholders in the disability sector and our supporters in the community is to help ensure that the reforms deliver the dream.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which will now commence with trial sites in 2013 is a positive investment towards a fairer, more equitable and caring Australian society. The scheme will function in a similar way to Medicare with the costs of disability in our communities shared by all Australians through the Commonwealth Government's consolidated revenue.
… … …
The reform path ahead with the NDIS is exciting for people with a disability and their family and carers, but at the same time it will be full of change. Major change of this type will inevitably bring uncertainty, challenges and opportunities.
The proposed disability reform agenda from the NDIS has put a focus on the large exposure many disability service providers have to government funding and government decisions. Many of our colleague organisations are upwards of 80% plus and some 100% reliant on government funding for their service revenue. At Kurrajong Waratah we have always sought to establish as much independence from government funding as possible through our financially viable business models and strong community support. For Kurrajong Waratah our government business revenue is generally between 50% to 65% of our total revenue.
The ‘new world’ we are entering under an NDIS will be very person centred and customer driven. Such a move towards a market driven service approach, determined by the choices that people with a disability as customers will make, will challenge and confront many disability organisations.
Kurrajong Waratah in preparing for this reform will be consulting extensively with our current clients and their families and carers over the next twelve months to determine what types of services and supports are needed to make the difference to their lives. Part of the process will also be to review our existing policies and procedures, service structures, service delivery methods and philosophy.
Right now, the treatment given to people with disabilities depends upon how the disability was incurred and which state it happened in. Most rely on state government-funded disability services where demand always outstrips supply. It's wrong that people's treatment should depend upon the litigation lottery or more upon what the system can afford than upon people's needs. The national disability scheme should be a new project that unites Australians. It has to be done responsibly but it does have to be done. The Coalition will do what we reasonably can to make the NDIS happen and would accept a government invitation to be jointly responsible for this vital national project.
… an entitlement-based funding mechanism, which will provide flexible, person-centred supports so that people can participate in ordinary, daily life.
That's why it's not just a cost. Over time, it is an investment in a better society and in a stronger economy. The NDIS is not about handouts, it is not about charity; it is an investment in our future. It will also give people greater freedom of choice.
Mr Newman faces a difficult battle after inheriting a government that spends less per capita on the disabled than other states.
Mr Newman said his government would kick-start the funding with a $50 million injection in 2014-15, when the budget is projected to return to surplus.
That will climb to $313 million extra by 2018-19, bringing the increase in five years to $868 million.
The state currently spends $959 million on its disabled.
That further statements by indulgence in relation to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI be permitted in the Federation Chamber.
… we have enacted the Minerals Resource Rent Tax we think is appropriate, and consequently we won’t be taking advice from the Greens political party or anybody else on this question.
You … don't want to start double-taxing the resources companies … As it is, people are looking at the sovereign risk and starting to wonder what's going on.
Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Amendment Bill 2013
That the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Amendment Bill 2013 be referred to the Federation Chamber for further consideration.
The adverse impact of the Government’s mining tax on the budget.
Dear Daniel,
I was talking to a local resident the other day who asked, 'Wayne, at a time when we are in the middle of a massive mining boom, why aren't people like me sharing more in its benefits?'
… 'Wayne, at a time when we are in the middle of a massive mining boom, why aren't people like me sharing more in its benefits?'
Any royalties paid and not claimed as a credit will be carried forward at the uplift rate of [the] long-term bond rate plus seven per cent.
I think it's worth having in mind there were circumstances surrounding the design of the mining tax that meant the government had to do the best job it could do in the circumstances available to it.
Would be nice if Nine News had checked the facts...Coalition remains committed to keeping increase in compulsory superannuation from 9-12%.
Hockey stumbles on superannuation … good thing there's no election campaign.
Accordingly, the Coalition will finalise its policy costings after the PEFO is published by the Departments of Treasury and Finance—
and will release them in good time before the election.
Geoffrey Phillip Kidd FCA and Cyrus Patell CA of Western Australia
The Professional Conduct Tribunal had found a case established that both Kidd and Patell were liable to disciplinary action in accordance with By-law 40(f), in that a report dated 18 August 2010 prepared for the … Coalition parties—
Your costings were wrong before the last election.
I don't accept that at all.
JOURNALIST: $11 billion out.
I don't accept that at all. Not at all.
There are so many moving parts in this tax, and so many assumptions about company profits, carrying values and prices, it is near impossible to predict what instalments will be and what the future MRRT will be on an industry wide basis.
Courts and Tribunals Legislation Amendment (Administration) Bill 2012
That this bill be now read a third time.
That the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Bill 2012 be returned to the House for further consideration and the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Stirling speaking for a period not exceeding five minutes.
Australian Education Bill 2012
That the debate be adjourned.
The House divided. [17:03]
(The Speaker—Ms Anna Burke)
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House is of the view that the:
(1) objects of the bill should be amended to read:
(a) families must have the right to choose a school that meets their needs, values and beliefs;
(b) all children must have the opportunity to secure a quality education;
(c) student funding needs to be based on fair, objective, and transparent criteria distributed according to socio-economic need;
(d) students with similar needs must be treated comparably throughout the course of their schooling;
(e) as many decisions as possible should be made locally by parents, communities, principals, teachers, schools and school systems;
(f) schools, school sectors and school systems must be accountable to their community, families and students;
(g) every Australian student must be entitled to a basic grant from the Commonwealth Government;
(h) schools and parents must have a high degree of certainty about school funding so they can effectively plan for the future;
(i) parents who wish to make a private contribution toward the cost of their child's education should not be penalised, nor should schools in their efforts to fundraise and encourage private investment; and
(j) funding arrangements must be simple so schools are able to direct funding toward education outcomes, minimise administration costs and increase productivity and quality.
(2) definitions in the bill should be supplemented to define a non-systemic school as a non-government school that is not a systemic school, and a systemic school as an approved school that is approved as a member of an approved school system; and
(3) bill should provide that the current funding arrangements be extended for a further two years, to guarantee funding certainty for schools and parents."
government school means a school in a State or Territory that is conducted by, or on behalf of, the Government of the State or Territory.
The mission of Catholic schools is to be more than providers of high quality education, advancing the common good of Australian society. Their belief in the ultimate intrinsic value of each student is based on a distinctive educational vision inspired by the example and message of Jesus Christ.
Through their culture, ethos and mission, and through the commitment of their staff and their educational programmes, Catholic schools demonstrate that there is no separation between learning and living the Christian life.
Catholic schools teach that a life lived in the love of God and in the Christian community service of others has purpose and meaning.
Research shows that parents and students choose Catholic schools for reasons including:
… for Australian schooling to provide an excellent education for school students …
The Australian Education Act will erect our nation’s support for a child’s education as one of the entitlements of citizenship.
It continues to be disappointing and frustrating that the Commonwealth is still yet to provide the states with any proposed funding model, particularly in light of the Prime Minister announcing the date for this year's federal election yesterday, an announcement which is meant to provide the electorate with certainty.
My Board is somewhat anxious given there is no information as to our State and Federal Government funding sources … beyond 2013. Given we are an employer of some 91 staff, and we are in a growth phase and attempting to plan building and expansion over the next 20 years, I am at a loss as to the advice to provide my Board.
The last objection to the SES model is more philosophical, that the model makes no allowance for the amassed resources of any particular school. As we are all aware, over the years many prestige schools have amassed wealth—wealth in terms of buildings and facilities, wealth in terms of the equipment available, wealth in terms of alumni fundraising, trust funds, endowment funds and the like.
… it must follow as a matter of logic that the economic capacity of a school is affected by both its income generation potential—from the current class of parents whose kids are enrolled in the school—and the assets of the school. The SES funding system makes some attempt to measure the income generation potential of the parents of the kids in the school but absolutely no attempt to measure the latter, the assets of the school. This is a gaping flaw …
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House is of the view that the:
(1) objects of the bill should be amended to read:
(a) families must have the right to choose a school that meets their needs, values and beliefs;
(b) all children must have the opportunity to secure a quality education;
(c) student funding needs to be based on fair, objective, and transparent criteria distributed according to socio-economic need;
(d) students with similar needs must be treated comparably throughout the course of their schooling;
(e) as many decisions as possible should be made locally by parents, communities, principals, teachers, schools and school systems;
(f) schools, school sectors and school systems must be accountable to their community, families and students;
(g) every Australian student must be entitled to a basic grant from the Commonwealth government;
(h) schools and parents must have a high degree of certainty about school funding so they can effectively plan for the future;
(i) parents who wish to make a private contribution toward the cost of their child's education should not be penalised, nor should schools in their efforts to fundraise and encourage private investment; and
(j) funding arrangements must be simple so schools are able to direct funding toward education outcomes, minimise administration costs and increase productivity and quality.
(2) definitions in the bill should be supplemented to define a non-systemic school as a non-government school that is not a systemic school, and a systemic school as an approved school that is approved as a member of an approved school system; and
(3) bill should provide that the current funding arrangements be extended for a further two years, to guarantee funding certainty for schools and parents."
After the first reading but before the resumption of debate on the motion for the second reading:
(a) a motion may be moved without notice to refer a bill to the Main Committee for further consideration as provided by standing order 183;
or
(b) a determination may be made by the Selection Committee as provided by standing order 222 to refer a bill to a committee for an advisory report. The determination may specify a date by which the committee is to report to the House. After an advisory report has been presented to the House, the bill may then be referred to the Main Committee …
… include a 'per student' amount, with adjustments for students and schools facing certain additional costs.
Base funding would be set for every student at the amount deemed necessary to educate a student in well-performing schools, where at least 80 per cent of students achieve above the national literacy and numeracy minimum standard.
The report suggests the base amount could be about $8,000 per primary student, and about $10,500 for secondary students.
There would be extra loadings for disadvantage such as disability, low socioeconomic background, school size, remoteness, the number of Indigenous students, and lack of English proficiency.
The report says at least 10 per cent of student funding in non-government schools should come from private contributions. The minimum public contribution would be set at between 20 and 25 per cent.
This Act does not create legally enforceable obligations etc.
(1) This Act does not create rights or duties that are legally enforceable in judicial or other proceedings.
(2) A failure to comply with this Act does not affect the validity of any decision, and is not a ground for the review or challenge of any decision.
Without the benefit of the committee's findings, rather than to oppose the bill outright or just wave it through because it is meaningless, I do support the member for Sturt's amendments as a genuine attempt to try to assist the government to put some meat on the bones of this bill. A mendment (1) state s :
(a) families must have the right to choose a school that meets their needs, values and beliefs;
(b) all children must have the opportunity to secure a quality education;
(c) student funding needs to be based on fair, objective, and transparent criteria distributed according to socio-economic need;
(d) students with similar needs must be treated comparably throughout the course of their schooling;
(e) as many decisions as possible should be made locally by parents, communities, principals, teachers, schools and school systems—
(f) schools, school sectors and school systems must be accountable to their community, families and students;
(g) every Australian student must be entitled to a basic grant from the Commonwealth government—
(h) schools and parents must have a high degree of certainty about school funding so they can effectively plan for the future;
(i) parents who wish to make a private contribution toward the cost of their child's education should not be penalised, nor should schools in their efforts to fundraise and encourage private investment; and
(j) funding arrangements must be simple so schools are able to direct funding toward education outcomes, minimise administration costs and increase productivity and quality.
We've had absolutely no detail about numbers … We don't have a model from which we can work and we also don't have any idea about what state contributions are supposed to be, let alone whether we can afford them.
You can tell the worth of any community, any nation … by how it treats its weakest members.
All students in all schools are entitled to an excellent education, allowing each student to reach his or her full potential so that he or she can succeed and contribute fully to his or her community, now and in the future.
The quality of a student’s education should not be limited by where the student lives, the income of his or her family, the school he or she attends, or his or her personal circumstances.
Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of a mine, that a child of farm worker can become the president of a great nation.
The Australian government and the states and territories in consultation with the non-government sector should develop and implement a schooling resource standard as the basis for general recurrent funding of government and non-government schools.
Children and young people represent a country's future. They are also important, now, as valued members of society, each with unique characteristics and potential to contribute to family and community.
Public funding for school systems would be provided to system authorities for distribution to their schools. There would be an expectation that systems would be publicly accountable for their decisions on the redistribution of that funding. Non-systemic schools would receive funding directly from governments.
We've had absolutely no detail about numbers. … We don't have a model from which we can work and we also don't have any idea about what state contributions are supposed to be let alone whether we can afford them.
… to the details of the Gonski proposals because nobody knows what they are. All we know is it's going to cost a lot of money …
While ISCA appreciates the complexity of the task, many of the 1,100 independent school communities have genuine concerns about the continuing uncertainty of future funding arrangements. Considerable time has passed since the release of the Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling and current Australian Government funding arrangements for independent schools expire at the end of 2013.
ISCA encourages the Government to quickly finalise the details of the funding arrangements with state and territory governments and with the independent and Catholic sectors, and to incorporate them into the Australian Education Bill as soon as possible. This is the only way to provide school communities with an assurance that there will be stable, fair, robust and transparent public funding of independent schools from the commencement of 2014.
Let us think of education as the means to developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our Nation.
The Bill provides the foundation for a legislative framework that puts an excellent education for every child at the heart of how Australia delivers and funds schooling.
… would expose at least some asylum seekers to a real risk of torture, persecution or other flagrant human rights violations and therefore violate Australia’s non-refoulement obligations under international law;
The recently announced reduction of $7.815 million in funding to Alfred Health by the federal government can only have a detrimental impact on our continuous improvement and for that I am greatly saddened as I know you will be. It is with this in mind, and with great regret, that Alfred Health will reduce its elective surgery program to only the most urgent cases for six weeks around Easter from March 29 to May 10.
He oughta know it's illegal. That's a storm sewer. If it fills with gas, I pity the person who lights a match within ten yards of it.
So what's the matter with you … it's finally out of its misery.
I don't know what to say except it's Christmas, and we're all in misery.
Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun … No, no … We're gonna press on.
Could things get any worse? Take a look around here, Ellen … We're on the threshold of hell!
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Livermore ) took the chair at 16:01.
Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Amendment Bill 2013
Debate resumed.
The data being released today shows that the MRRT has collected less revenue in its first two instalments than was forecast originally. Now clearly, the huge drop in commodity prices in the second half of last year had a dramatic impact on MRRT revenues …
These funds … can deliver a promise of a future free from the threat of cervical cancer to millions of young women thanks to the HPV vaccine. This is critical to the Every Woman Every Child campaign.
Pneumonia is a leading cause of death among children under five years in Senegal. Thanks to the support provided by the GAVI Alliance and its donors, my country will soon be able to introduce the pneumococcal vaccine and contribute to saving the lives of thousands of children. A big thank you for your support.
GAVI is a great investment because it really gets into the countries and gets these new vaccines out there. It is now that we are going to start to get the last two vaccines that rich kids take for granted—the pneumococcus and rotavirus—and over these next five years get them out to every child everywhere. That means, for the first time ever, that we have equity in vaccines.
Not only was it the right amount, it was extraordinarily well structured, with careful attention to what would stimulate the economy in the shorter run, the medium term and the long term.
… … …
When I look around the world, it was, I think, probably the best-designed stimulus program in the world and you should be happy that in fact it worked in exactly the way it was designed to work.
Last year's annual report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development should have been an obituary for the neoliberal model developed by Hayek and Friedman and their disciples. It shows unequivocally that their policies have created the opposite outcomes to those they predicted. As neoliberal policies (cutting taxes for the rich, privatising state assets, deregulating labour, reducing social security) began to bite from the 1980s onwards, growth rates started to fall and unemployment to rise.
The remarkable growth in the rich nations during the 50s, 60s and 70s was made possible by the destruction of the wealth and power of the elite, as a result of the 1930s depression and the second world war. Their embarrassment gave the other 99% an unprecedented chance to demand redistribution, state spending and social security, all of which stimulated demand.
Neoliberalism was an attempt to turn back these reforms. Lavishly funded by millionaires, its advocates were amazingly successful—politically. Economically they flopped.
Throughout the OECD countries taxation has become more regressive: the rich pay less, the poor pay more. The result, the neoliberals claimed, would be that economic efficiency and investment would rise, enriching everyone. The opposite occurred. As taxes on the rich and on business diminished, the spending power of both the state and poorer people fell, and demand contracted. The result was that investment rates declined, in step with companies' expectations of growth.
The neoliberals also insisted that unrestrained inequality in incomes and flexible wages would reduce unemployment. But throughout the rich world both inequality and unemployment have soared. The recent jump in unemployment in most developed countries—worse than in any previous recession of the past three decades—was preceded by the lowest level of wages as a share of GDP since the second world war. Bang goes the theory. It failed for the same obvious reason: low wages suppress demand, which suppresses employment.
As wages stagnated, people supplemented their income with debt. Rising debt fed the deregulated banks, with consequences of which we are all aware. The greater inequality becomes, the UN report finds, the less stable the economy and the lower its rates of growth. The policies with which neoliberal governments seek to reduce their deficits and stimulate their economies are counter-productive.
… … …
Relearning some old lessons about fairness and participation, the UN says, is the only way to eventually overcome the crisis and pursue a path of sustainable economic development.
There appears to be a consensus that there would have been the same result at each of the last four elections if they had been held under a voluntary regime.
There appears to be a consensus that there would have been the same result at each of the last four elections if they had been held under a voluntary regime.
Firstly and most importantly—it should cost students from regional areas no more than students from city areas to access university education. At the moment this is not the case. Country students, whose families earn more than the parental income threshold, receive no help at all—no Youth Allowance, no Start-up Allowance and no Rent Assistance. How can this be fair when those families living in the city, earning the same income, do not have the relocation and rental costs that regional families are required to pay when their children want to attend university? My husband and I live in Geraldton WA which is located over 400kms from Perth. Our twin daughters attended their first year at university at Edith Cowan University last year. We decided they would need to work a gap year in 2011 after they finished High School as we could not afford the ongoing costs associated with them moving to Perth straight away. We were also of the belief that if our girls gained independence through working a gap year, as many have done before them, they would qualify for Youth Allowance.
After checking with Centrelink, to our surprise and disappointment, even though our girls were deemed independent after satisfying the third element criteria, we were told that as from last year, we would be subject to a Parental Income Test. We were of the understanding, as are many others, which 'independent' meant students were not dependent on their families—so why is the family's income taken into account? The recent introduction of the parental income test by the Gillard government has caused a great deal of stress and hardship for us and many rural families.
We are in our mid 50's and have a $170,000 mortgage. We only bought our first house about 6 years ago and have very few assets—we do not consider ourselves wealthy at all. … Many of us are not wealthy asset rich families. … The current cost to accommodate students at the Joondalup University Campus is over $200.00 per week each, this did not include meals. … As we could not afford this we were lucky enough to find private accommodation which was very difficult to find. We spent many weekends travelling to Perth, lining up at home viewings along with 30 to 40 other people. The cost of this, including travelling accommodation, was very expensive. In the end it was just luck … we were able to find a rental property. Although we are still paying over $1000 a month just in rent, the cost of re-locating and setting them up with furniture and whitegoods was a very costly exercise. We live over 400 kilometres from Perth and the cost of travelling to visit our daughters is expensive, as it is for them, when they return home for holidays and family reasons. These are all costs that city families and students living at home do not have. After allowing a modest $100 a week for food each, the total cost to us will be over $21,000 for the first year. Many incidental costs occurred along the way as well. This does not take into account the thousands of dollars we will be paying in university fees. Regional students relocating to the city, face not only financial pressure but emotional upheaval as well. Many of these students have not been away from their home and families for long periods of time. Most will be required to find work (and work more hours than city students do) to support themselves along with shopping, cooking and household duties.
They envy their city friends who are still living in the comfort of their own homes. This makes it very difficult for them to find enough time for their studies. We know of students many last year who have returned home before completing their studies because of these added pressures. These regional students are legally adults, have worked for a year and don't live in the family home. They are looking after themselves and most have to work part-time while studying to make ends meet. They are living independently and should automatically qualify for centrelink assistance as independent students.
It is the Australian Government's responsibility to ensure that access to tertiary studies is equitable for all students and their families, no matter where they reside.
That the Federation Chamber do now adjourn.