Michael McCormack
Riverina · National Party · Australia
“She told the local newspaper, the Daily Advertiser : He shared his personal story and he was just such a brave, compassionate man— and we heard that from the member for Chifley a moment ago. She continued: He was the most warm, caring, generous man.”
“He knew that he was going to succumb to the diseases that were afflicting his body, and yet he used his final months, weeks, days and hours to send a message to the nation about what can be done, what should be done and how we should act.”
“The coalition has concerns from the sector itself about the consultation process, including but not limited to the fact universities had not seen the bill before it was tabled. There are elements of the drafting surprising the actual sector.”
“My thoughts and love and condolences go out to Katie and his children, Emily, Matthew and Lucy. It is a profound loss that they have suffered. I listened closely to the words of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for Health and Ageing yesterday before question time.”
“There are a lot of Australians out there at the moment who are very angry, and, when there is anger, there is unfortunately a race to the bottom when it comes to healthy debate. I don't need to remind the House about the sovereign citizen movement and what that can do to Australia and the nature and discourse of debate.”
“I do believe that children should be allowed to be children. We saw it in the veterans legislation, where there is now going to be a $5,000 cap on allied health for veterans to access important services. The Labor Party said: 'Trust us. We'll do the consultation over the next 12 months.' It's not good enough.”
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“The work that he did during the global pandemic saved lives and kept people's businesses from going insolvent—from going bankrupt. I owe him an eternal debt of gratitude for the work that he did. I say that in all earnest honesty. He was outstanding. On this bill, section 44AAC of the CCA currently provides, as I say, that the ACCC chair does make staff and consultants available to the AER to assist the Australian Energy Regulator to perform its functions. At times, that is required, requested and needed. The combination of these arrangements means that, while the Australian Energy Regulator's regulatory functions are entirely separate, as they should be, from the ACCC, the current accountable authority and the head of the agency is the ACCC chair.”
“Our Public Service serves the Australian public in a very diligent and thorough way, and I think we saw that best during the COVID-19 pandemic. What we saw then was public servants working so very hard, not only on the health side of things to ensure that the safety, wellbeing and health of Australians was paramount, first and foremost, but also on the JobKeeper provisions that were put in place by the coalition government at the time. They kept the doors of business open, kept the lights on, kept the bills being paid and kept the economy ticking over. We should be very, very thankful for what our public servants did. There was no finer public servant at the time than Dr Steven Kennedy. I know he's had a number of roles as secretary of various departments. He looked after Infrastructure and he looked after Treasury.”
“I had some carriage of that when I was the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Finance at the time, Senator Matthias Cormann. He did an outstanding job in that portfolio. The chair of the ACCC is the accountable authority of that listed entity. Section 27 of the Competition and Consumer Act currently provides that the staff at the ACCC are to be engaged under the Public Service Act 1999, that the ACCC chair and staff together constitute a statutory agency, and that the ACCC chair is the head of the statutory agency. It's a lot to place on the ACCC chair. Whoever is in that job does an outstanding job under a lot of pressure. There are a lot of moving parts in that particular role. We should be thankful for our Public Service.”
“I note with some concern that the metal frameworks are not being built with Australian steel. That is a shame, but there is a lot going on in this space. At present, the AER does not employ its own staff. Instead, employees from the ACCC assist the AER in its functions. The ACCC chair is responsible for managing the staff and ensuring that the duties of the AER are indeed met. The Australian Energy Regulator is already established as a body corporate pursuant to section 44AE of the Competition and Consumer Act, and it's constituted by five members pursuant to section 44AG of that particular act. Section 44AAL currently provides that the ACCC and the AER are a single listed entity for the purposes of the finance law within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act.”
“That particular investigation discussed how information sharing could still be maintained. Then we had, in 2020, the Edwards review, which noted that many in the energy sector supported the AER's independence and better governance of the energy market, so to speak. As I say, the energy market is a large and complex thing; we only have to look at what is going on in the energy systems at the moment. The government wants us to go renewables only. We have 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines being proposed and being constructed. This is having a huge effect on regional communities. Not that long ago, I went up into the old Tumbarumba shire area—what is now the area of Snowy Valleys Council—to look at the transmission lines being constructed there.”
“We've seen quite a debate in recent hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades over energy prices and energy regulation. The default market offer, set by the Australian Energy Regulator, shows that average power bills are up as much as $806 per household. This is having a very harsh effect on ordinary, everyday Australians. I know it's so difficult—for farmers, factories, manufacturing and people just trying to manage household budgets—to pay the energy bills, which just seem to go up and up. In the bill before the house, the changes being recommended come from several reviews. The Vertigan review of 2015 suggested that the AER should have full control over its management and finances by becoming an independent entity. The Finkel review, two years later, highlighted that the AER's separation from the ACCC had not yet occurred.”
“Of course there's always more that it could do in all areas of endeavour, not the least of which is market deregulation, with the monopoly of the supermarkets, and even irrigation and water. We need to ensure that the ACCC, through a regulatory and legislative process, has the teeth to do the work that it does for and on behalf of the nation and for and on behalf of consumers. The AER's present functions are focused on regulating the natural-monopoly transmission and distribution sectors of the national electricity market. It very much overseas monitoring the wholesale electricity market, enforcing electricity market rules. It's a difficult area. The AER's regulatory functions and powers are conferred upon it by the National Electricity Law and the National Electricity Rules, which govern all of these things.”
“I appreciate that the states still make up the bulk of the funding for this, as they should, but there is more and more pressure on the Commonwealth—on taxpayers—to foot the bill for things which used to be solely the remit of the states. It happens in health, too, and certainly both sides of this parliament have overseen a transition whereby the Commonwealth is picking up the tab for what was once very much the remit of the states. The AER is part of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. It enforces the rules established by the Australian Energy Market Commission. The ACCC, for all of the complaints it sometimes receives, does a good job, I believe, and I say that having been a minister with oversight responsibility for the commission. The ACCC has done some very good work over the years.”
“The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Australian Energy Regulator Separation) Bill 2025 is intended to separate the Australian Energy Regulator from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. This will enable the AER to be an independent body with its own board under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. The AER has been around since July 2005. By the year after that, all 13 bodies previously responsible for energy regulation had transferred responsibility to the AER. We know that decisions made by the regulator are subject to appeal, as you would expect. Many years ago the energy grid was the responsibility of the states. Certainly states looked after power. These days, of course, more and more onus is placed on the Commonwealth, whether it's to run power or whether it's to fund state schools.”
“What that trillion dollars—it was about $800 billion, but let's not let $200 billion get in the way of the Treasurer's remarks—did was it kept the doors of businesses open. We kept people alive during the worst global pandemic ever, certainly the biggest pandemic in a century since the World War I Spanish flu.”
“Why aren't they sticking up for their electorates, which are being left high and dry by the minister for infrastructure, who is from Ballarat, by the regional development minister, who is from Eden-Monaro, because they are not funding regional Australia, certainly nowhere near to the point where we were when we were in government, and roads are just full of potholes. We have civic centres, aquatics centres, regional hubs just being left behind, and this is just such a shame. When we talk about the difficulties of regional Australians in particular, we are talking about those people who during COVID carried this nation. We hear about the trillion dollars worth of debt. The member for Rankin, the Treasurer, goes on about all the time. ABC Fact Check have said it's nowhere near a billion dollars.”
“I wholeheartedly agree with the member for Forde, who has just said when governments do not pay for funding, Australians are left to pick up the tab. When they do not fund something, Australians are left to pay the bill, and he is so very correct. Because what we have seen from this Labor government is a complete neglect of regional Australia. We heard in question time today that Labor apparently has more regional members than there are on this side. Well, if that is the case—and I am not disputing it—then why aren't those regional members sticking up for their constituents?”
“My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Labor promised Australians that their bills would fall by $275 in 2025. Is the minister aware that it is now 2025 and that electricity bills are up by nearly 40 per cent? Why did the minister mislead Australians?”
“So well done to Penny Mackay. Thank you to Paul Phillips for bringing that story to me—that attention about his wonderful daughter. We look forward to seeing her succeed—potentially, hopefully—at the national awards in the member for Solomon's electorate. I wish her every success both in those particular awards and in the future.”
“Obviously, Penny is not only doing great things at Kildare Catholic College but indeed providing inspiration for students and inspiration for our region. I recall Penny from the 2019 training awards evening. I spoke at this. Two out of the three finalists in the VET in schools category were Penny's students. The winner, Grace Mattingly, was a business services student of Penny's. She went onto the state level. She's now successfully running two local dance studios, which are thriving not just in Wagga Wagga but indeed throughout the entire region. Grace is doing amazing things. She's only 24 years old. She describes having Penny as one of her mentors as being the motivator for her career and for the great things that she's doing and that she will go on doing. As I said, when you have good teachers, it opens up so many opportunities.”
“Whilst this accomplishment on its own is outstanding, what makes this story particularly unique is that Penny was joined at the regional event by her VET business services student, whom she nominated in the VET in Schools Student of the Year category and who reached the finals, and by a previous hospitality student from the year prior, who had won the regional 2024 VET in Schools Student of the Year award. As you can appreciate, this is an outstanding display of a teacher's passion for her trade and the power of vocational education within not just the region but indeed our nation. We all know that teachers are the great enablers. If you have good teachers, it can put you on the pathway to success. It opens doors for you.”
“Lovely words, Member for Hawke—we all share your pain and your local loss. May God bless both boys and take them into his safe arms. Mine is a happier story—a very happy story. Paul Phillips from Forest Hill has shared a story about his lovely daughter, 34-year-old Penny MacKay, a former apprentice chef in the Riverina region who decided to dedicate her professional career to the training sector, becoming a vocational education teacher/trainer. Not only was she named 2025 Riverina regional VET Trainer/Teacher of the Year; she has gone on to receive the New South Wales state title. She now progresses to the Australian Training Awards, to be held in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, on Friday 5 December.”
“Then, of course, in November 2023, it became $150 million, and we haven't seen that either. Minister, show me the money! And then, of course, we got $25 million in the last budget—apparently. But I say again, 'Show me the money!' because we haven't seen the money. Labor has neglected the Barton Highway, just like they've neglected regional Australia. Show me the money, Labor!”
“Deputy Speaker Claydon, you would be very impressed if you wandered not far from here, Parliament House, and you went to the Yass Valley. You would find a lot of budding Tom Cruises. And when you go out and about in the Yass Valley area, you hear them say, 'Show me the money. Show me the money! Show me the money!' What they're referring to is, of course, the Barton Highway, because it has been neglected. And those budding Tom Cruises—aka Jerry Maguires—are shouting out 'Show me the money!' because they want money for one of Australia's busiest highways, which between 2014 and 2023 has unfortunately seen 141 crashes, nine deaths and five serious injuries. In 2020, during the by-election, the now regional development minister promised a quarter of a billion dollars. Well, Minister, show me the money!”
“But people still find it hard—choking back tears—to even tell these sorts of stories, particularly in the federal parliament but also even to their own family members. I do commend you for your bravery and courage. Thank you for sharing that story. As Maddy and Sam explained, a lot of these people have no support, no opportunity to grieve properly and no memory making. That's important, too. They are still babies. They are still parts of your family. Even though they don't make it, they're still very much part and parcel of your family. Also, mental health issues come as a result of this, as Maddy and Sam explained to me. Thank you, member for Werriwa, for bringing this important motion. Again, member for Melbourne, all our love and support to the important motion and again members of Melbourne, all our love and support go out to you.”
“Before Joy was born, Vilomah, knowing that they were going to go through this experience, reached out, talked about the services offered and explained in a very deeply personal and emotional way what was going to happen and what to expect. It didn't take, as Sam and Maddy explained, long to realise stillbirth is common in the Riverina, and we've heard it's common right throughout Australia. It's all too common. Sam and Maddy were shocked by the amount of people they knew who told them that they'd lost a baby through stillbirth. When you do talk about this thing—the member for Melbourne is right—it wasn't always talked about. Back in the early 1970s, it probably wasn't talked about at all. We're much more open now as a society.”
“This organisation provides help and wraparound services that assist particularly mums but also parents through the loss, healing and recovery—not that you ever recover, not that you ever properly heal. I would really like to see this organisation, which is under the umbrella of the Murrumbidgee local health district, properly funded so that it can enable referrals to become compulsory after a stillbirth, should the parents need it, want it and expect it, so that every family that suffers grief and loss has the opportunity to access a 12-month support program. It would be really good for mums right across the Riverina district.”
“We always text each other, message each other, on that day because it is a special day in our family. Thank you to the member for Werriwa for bringing forward this important discussion, and it is important. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and no-one feels this more than the mums who've lost bubs. It is deeply tragic. It is deeply personal. As a bloke, I want to say that we share your pain too, but no-one knows how profound is the loss in a woman who has indeed gone through that experience. I want to also share with the House a couple I know well—they're only young—Sam and Maddy Armstrong. They live near Marrar, where I come from, and they lost a little girl in January 2024, Joy. They were supported through this loss by an organisation called Vilomah Community.”
“Member for Melbourne, thank you for sharing that deeply personal story. Absolutely, condolences go out to you, and it brings home the fact that it doesn't matter the years that pass, it still cuts deep; the loss is still deeply felt. My late mother, Eileen, carried a baby to full term, a beautiful little boy, and lost him the night before she was due to give birth. His little grave marker in the Wagga Wagga lawn cemetery simply has on it 'Baby McCormack 15.7.72', the date he was born, the day he obviously didn't make it. Mum carried that pain for all of her life. It actually changed her. My mum was a good person; unlike me, she was a really, really good person. I know how deeply it cut into her. She had two other children following this little boy, but my three sisters and I never forget 15 July.”
“But why should they be expected to go out and put their own lives at risk when they are very worried—they are not trained or equipped to put out these flames from these fires, which could well have a large effect on their own wellbeing and their own health. This climate risk assessment might pay the energy minister's dues, where he is catastrophising and saying that country Australia can indeed have this reckless rollout of renewables. The fact is country people are pushing back, and rightly so. They've had enough of this nonsense, and it's going to cost this country trillions of dollars.”
“You've got volunteer firefighters, who, as they say, are not equipped to deal with the toxicity of the flames from these battery energy storage systems and who are absolutely worried that, if these battery energy storage systems catch fire, they are going to be asked to go and put them out. We know that these fires always seem to start on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve or whenever people should be rightly celebrating with family. These brave volunteers, many of whom are well beyond the age of 65, let me tell you—they're older, not younger—have given of their own and given selflessly for many, many years. They go out, attend crashes and the like and rescue people in country Australia.”
“They cannot, and they are being asked to because of reports such as this, which are only sending the energy costs for ordinary, everyday Australians through the roof. Reports such as this are dividing communities, because we've got largely foreign owned superannuation companies coming into regional Australia. They're dividing families, dividing generational friendships and pitting farmers against their next-door neighbours. It is just a bridge too far. We then have the battery energy storage systems. They are going to carpet-bomb our electorates as well.”
“When we talk about climate action, the balance is certainly not being met between Binalong and Bowning in my electorate, where they want to put up 90 wind towers that are 260 metres high. In neighbouring Upper Lachlan Shire, there is even a green energy project where they are taking the subsidies and want to take the subsidies, but it's not even going to be connected to the grid. It's no wonder that these farmers and these residents are pushing back. It's no wonder. When ENGIE pulled back a project—I'll give this French owned company its due. That fact they actually withdrew the project was absolutely met with approval. It was going to be a solar factory right next door to Yass which was—wait for it—going to be bigger than Yass itself! Country communities can't keep carrying the can.”
“But, wait for this, he said that this would make fresh fruit and vegetables a once-in-a-year treat. That is catastrophising. This particular report also said that once-in-a-century events would become once-in-a-fortnight events. That is just catastrophising. If our children are being taught that once-in-a-century events are going to become once-in-a-fortnight events, that is just unnecessarily alarmist. I hear the member for Richmond say they could become so. It would not be once-in-a-century events becoming once-in-a-fortnight events, Member for Richmond. That is just alarmist. It is placing unnecessary pressure indeed on schoolchildren who are being taught this stuff. It's got to be put into balance.”
“I commend the member for Griffith for staying in the chamber at least for her matter of private members' business, but I do take umbrage with some of the issues taken up in this particular report. Let's just go through a few of the issues in the National Climate Risk Assessment, particularly as, when asked in Senate estimates, officials from the department actually said that cold deaths were out of the scope of investigation for the assessment. Now, heat deaths were considered, but cold deaths—and there are far more cold deaths than there are heat deaths—were not considered as part of this report. United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell, who is considered quite an authority on climate action, said that, without more ambitious climate action, Australia could face megadroughts.”
“That report from Ben Packham on 22 October is worrying, because we need to make sure that we maintain the spending—indeed, increase the spending—as we've been asked to do to meet our commitments in a difficult international situation and for the national security of our nation.”
“Again I say, 'Thank you, former coalition government,' because it is vital that we not only spend money on those regional bases where so much of the training and so much of the strategy are being done and acquired but, indeed, continue to spend the money that we need not just on AUKUS but on Defence as a whole. That report in the Australian is disturbing: Days after Donald Trump declared "full steam ahead" for the AUKUS pact, the Australian can reveal the Chief of the Air Force, Stephen Chappell, has initiated reviews of capability and sustainment costs as part of a service-wide push to "mitigate overspending" and "address budget challenges".”
“Don't just take my word for it; you only have to look at what is happening in our Pacific Rim to see that there is trouble afoot and that we need to absolutely make sure that AUKUS is solid—and also that all the other spending that we're doing on defence is being kept up. I had the acting prime minister—the member for Corio, the Defence minister—in Wagga Wagga last week. He visited the Air Force base at Forest Hill and he visited Blamey Barracks at Kapooka, where soldiering begins. That's where they do the recruit training for our nation, for our Army. He was very pleased to see the almost $1½ billion being spent on infrastructure at those two bases—funding that I acquired when I was in the position to do so as assistant minister for defence.”
“But, a warning—not long after that important White House get-together, the Australian reported: Defence is being ordered to delay projects, slash maintenance costs and cut workforce spending in a severe austerity drive, as the soaring costs of nuclear submarines and new shipbuilding programs undermine the nation's readiness for conflict. What Defence cannot do is cut the cloth to fit the tailor, to suit the tailor. What Defence needs to do is absolutely make sure that it lobbies government through the right channels for more money. The pie is only so big, and we need to acknowledge, as a government, as a parliament, what is critical at the moment: national security.”
“I acknowledge the coming together of Prime Minister Albanese and President Trump to say yes to AUKUS, and again I say, 'Thank you, former coalition government, for coming to the table, for having that vision,' knowing that, in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, we have two firm friends—friends for decades. We've fought alongside one another, we've bled beside one another, and we're going to go forward with one another to ensure that the rights of democracy are upheld, and national security is absolutely paramount.”
“She notes 'opportunities for small and medium sized businesses across the state and Australia'—thank you, former coalition government; thank you, former member for Cook Scott Morrison. And 'certainty for industry that will partner on the construction of infrastructure and facilities'—you know where I'm going to go with this, don't you?—former coalition government, thank you very, very much; thank you, former member for Cook Scott Morrison. In times of volatility—and our geopolitical situation has never been more precarious since World War II—what we need is to know who our friends are. Indeed, we saw at the White House just last week two friends making a pact, strengthening an alliance, and I acknowledge that.”
“The member for Hasluck has moved a private member's motion acknowledging the government is going to make available an initial $12 billion towards the Henderson defence precinct to deliver continuous naval shipbuilding and an AUKUS presence in Western Australia—thank you, former coalition government; thank you, former member for Cook Scott Morrison. In the motion, she notes that there will be a record investment across shipbuilding and in AUKUS in the west—thank you, former coalition government; thank you, former member for Cook Scott Morrison. She notes 'support for approximately 10,000 direct jobs over the next two decades'—thank you, former coalition government; thank you, former member for Cook Scott Morrison.”
“I'm far from doing that. But we still have many, many Australians for whom the truth—despite the Prime Minister's claim on any number of occasions that all you need is your Medicare card, not your credit card—is that it's not being seen regional Australia in particular. But right across the nation, it is a fallacy. It is just not true that you can go to any doctor, produce your Medicare card and receive that service for free. That is not the case. The Prime Minister and Labor people should stop saying it. They should stop just reading their talking points that are produced for them, because what they're saying is simply not true. It's not correct. And Australians out there are reeling from the effects of poor health policies by this government.”
“They have produced a number of doctors who have then stayed in regional Australia. That's the crux of the issue: staying in regional Australia to practise. They come to regional Australia, fall in love with regional Australia or fall in love with somebody in regional Australia, and then they know that there is a future for them in regional Australia. But we know that—certainly in Senate estimates the other day—health department officials admitted that Australians are not seeing a benefit from Labor's bulk-billing health policy. They won't see this for four long years. At the same time, people are sick, and they need to get better. If they can't see a bulk-billing doctor in regional Australia, they have to pay through the nose for it. That's just the way it is. We've got a very good health system, and we should never talk it down.”
“One of the worst things Labor did when it came to government was change the distribution priority areas, whereby many doctors in rural Australia literally took the plaque off their practice and moved to Newcastle or Wollongong or the Gold Coast, which, quite frankly, had plenty of doctors. I will never say 'enough doctors', because there are never enough doctors. But what we have done and did do in regional Australia was put in the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network. I was proud to finance and fund that as part of a coalition government. I know that, in a few short weeks, the minister for regional health will open the new facility at Wagga Wagga, where I went the other day. They celebrated quite a milestone. They were a clinical school; now they've become a medical school.”
“What we heard from the health minister at one stage was: if you can't get a bulk-billing doctor, just make another appointment with another doctor who bulk-bills. The fallacy of that is that that might be all well and good in the leafy suburbs of Adelaide, but it doesn't cut the mustard in regional Australia and particularly in remote Australia, where, if you can find a doctor at all, you're doing well. You can't be fussy about whether they bulk-bill. You just need to get a doctor, particularly if you have chronic pain. 'When in pain, catch the plane' shouldn't be a truism in remote Australia. You should have access to a doctor right there and then.”
“It was a worldwide pandemic. I hear the minister at the table scoffing, but our response to COVID, according to the Hopkins Centre, was second in the world. We made sure that, health-wise, we provided the vaccinations which saved tens of thousands of lives. Not only that, we also provided the economic benefits to save many, many businesses from bankruptcy. That is what we did in that decade and, indeed, towards the back end of that decade. When Labor talks about taking over in May 2022, with bulk-billing in freefall, the facts don't stack up, because under Labor bulk-billing rates have dropped 11 per cent, from 88 per cent to 77 per cent. That would be even worse in regional areas.”
“The member for Calwell has fallen into the trap of coming into the chamber and just reading the talking points that Labor has given to him, making out as if all is well in the area of health. Well, all is not well, particularly in rural and regional Australia and especially in remote Australia. He talks about the urgent after-hours care clinics. That would be great if the urgent care clinics were distributed fairly across the nation, but, unfortunately, they are not. While the urgent care clinics are a good initiative, there are areas in need that do not have access to them. These areas in need are outside Labor seats, and the need and desire for them are just not being met. The Labor Party talks about the decade of neglect. What Labor doesn't realise, or conveniently forgets, is that we were dealing with COVID.”
“They find it hard enough to find staff let alone RNs to properly meet the commitments that they've had foisted upon them by this government. Why should Sandra sell her house to fund her husband's aged-care expenses? This is a common complaint I'm hearing right throughout the Riverina and elsewhere. The minister does need to show that he cares about senior citizens by answering these sorts of questions and others. I haven't got a response back from the minister's office about the two letters I've sent from Coolamon shire. They've got an aged-care facility called Allawah Lodge, which is a wonderful facility, and they're doing their best under limited circumstances. As to the Medicare card situation, people can't just provide their Medicare card and get the services in country areas. That's a falsehood.”
“The NDIS claim they're having conversations, but there have been minimal conversations about supports given to adults in this space, and it's simply not good enough. Aged-care reform delay—I speak of Sandra Wild of Ardlethan, who is one of those people who feels as though the situation is beyond help. She's trying to find an aged-care home for her husband. They've been together for 28 years, and he's got dementia. It's a sad situation. I don't think the minister, who is responsible for aged care and the NDIS as well, is treating aged care in country areas the way it should be. I know we've got the 24/7 nurse in, and I know the royal commission suggested this as a recommendation, but it's having such an impost on those caring facilities.”
“I want to know why the minister announces these programs ad hoc, because it causes much angst and stress within the disability community, and then there's no support provided for those families when the programs are not then funded. Will the minister provide clear guidelines for providers and parents to follow? Why is the minister not able to correctly define autism health categories? It is something that is playing out not just in my regional electorate of Riverina but right throughout Australia. There are so many children these days afflicted with autism, and it is a big issue in the NDIS space. Five minutes doesn't give us time enough to really delve down into the details about autism and what this government is doing to help those NDIS patients.”
“He is one of the victims of these cost-cutting measures, and it is such a shame. I want to know what the minister will do to alleviate the stress and the worry of those families who previously had that NDIS support and have had the rug pulled out from under them. I would like an answer. I can give a more detailed request for that. The Thriving Kids program previously was a commitment from the government to implement foundational supports, but it hasn't happened. It really does affect children who continue to be denied access to the NDIS following their sixth birthday—although there are many inconsistencies in the process that I would say make it an inequitable process. This isn't being partisan. This is being someone who cares for these families who are at the end of their tether. They truly are.”
“I know when the coalition was in government, the senior minister—with all due respect, Assistant Minister—was here to answer questions, to make sure that they returned fire, so to speak, as soon as the questions were asked. I do hope that you take the questions asked in this chamber back to the minister so that he can respond in an appropriate time. And I have a few questions, particularly around disability. I'm very, very concerned about the National Disability Insurance Scheme and travel cuts for regional people. I do want to know why the minister is not listening to those country people for whom this is a very important topic, such as Patricia and her son Michael Veney of Cowra. Michael's on the NDIS. He's been cut off from his supports, like his occupational therapy.”
“We've heard some good contributions. The member for Mackellar talked about childhood obesity, which is such an important issue, and the member for Maribyrnong talked about mental health. I thank you both for those contributions. There have been other good and worthwhile contributions made in this important to-and-fro, because it is a consideration in detail. I respect the fact that the assistant health minister, the member for Lyons, is in the chamber. I apologise in advance; I have to run off after my contribution because I've got the Georgian ambassador in my office. But it's a shame that the Minister for Health and Ageing, the actual person who heads up the department, is not here.”
“Labor has had five years, almost, to make the case for this policy, prior to coming into government and since being in government. They have not successfully done so. We, perhaps for that reason alone, oppose this legislation. We believe it can go to a Senate inquiry. Labor can do what they like. They can. They have a 51 seat majority in this chamber. I understand that. It's numbers. 'We'll get it through this place.' But a Senate inquiry is necessary to delve into precisely what the implications of this particular legislation could involve. On the broader question of disease control and being more prepared when—and hopefully it won't happen—another pandemic occurs, I have to say, the coalition's response to COVID-19 was first class. It was considered by the Johns Hopkins institute—”