Jamie Chaffey
Parkes · National Party · Australia
“If these services go, people in communities like White Cliffs, Condobolin, Peak Hill, Bogan Gate and Eumungerie will be forced to drive for 60 minutes— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 10:17 to 10:31 People will be forced to drive 60 minutes, 80 minutes, two hours or up to six hours to…”
“These days we can let someone on the other side of the world know what we're thinking almost before we've thought it. But, sadly, it has become harder and harder to send a simple letter. Many people in my electorate prefer to do their banking, post parcels and letters to their loved ones, and pay bills face to face rather than online.”
“It is part of our role as decent human beings to shed light on human rights where they are being violated, even if that's not in our own nation. Today, I voiced my concerns about the case of barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, who is being held in custody in Bangladesh.”
“They have listened to life stories, have helped elderly people with their complicated paperwork, have been the only break in the day for busy farmers, have signed important papers as justices of the peace, and have assisted people to pay their bills. As one licensee said: 'This is not just a commercial concern.”
“There are also concerns about the treatment of Barrister Suman and other political figures facing charges while they're in custody. There are reports of people dying in custody following allegations of torture, extreme malnutrition and denial of adequate medical care.”
“The leaked business case, Post Office Network & Licensed Post Office Reimagined, dated June this year, envisages widespread changes to regional and rural post offices that could see them become nothing more than a parcel locker. I know that's the same for my colleagues in the room the member for Dawson and the member for Cowper.”
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“The leaked business case, Post Office Network & Licensed Post Office Reimagined, dated June this year, envisages widespread changes to regional and rural post offices that could see them become nothing more than a parcel locker. I know that's the same for my colleagues in the room the member for Dawson and the member for Cowper. It's happening right across regional Australia, and enough is enough. Australia Post needs to take note. Regional people need essential services too.”
“If these services go, people in communities like White Cliffs, Condobolin, Peak Hill, Bogan Gate and Eumungerie will be forced to drive for 60 minutes— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 10:17 to 10:31 People will be forced to drive 60 minutes, 80 minutes, two hours or up to six hours to the nearest town with a post office. Regional people once again are treated like second-class citizens. People are paying more and more, but less and less is being delivered. I look forward to the spotlight being shone on Australia Post at the Senate inquiry that will look at this government owned business's leaked plans to close up to 36 metropolitan post offices and change the licensing agreements to regional and rural post offices.”
“They have listened to life stories, have helped elderly people with their complicated paperwork, have been the only break in the day for busy farmers, have signed important papers as justices of the peace, and have assisted people to pay their bills. As one licensee said: 'This is not just a commercial concern. When a small community loses its post office it loses much more than a place to send parcels; it loses its last point of banking, government services, JP functions and human contact with essential services. These networks that exist today took generations to build and cannot easily be replaced.' Another licensee said: 'The post office is not one option of many. It is the infrastructure that holds communities together.”
“These days we can let someone on the other side of the world know what we're thinking almost before we've thought it. But, sadly, it has become harder and harder to send a simple letter. Many people in my electorate prefer to do their banking, post parcels and letters to their loved ones, and pay bills face to face rather than online. But the services of Australia Post are not only costing more; they're becoming fewer and fewer. These services, some of the very few available to quite a number of my communities, are being whittled away. I have had phone calls from no fewer than six licensed post offices across the Parkes electorate speaking up against the slow undermining of regional post offices. Between them, these people have served their communities for decades.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Twice in this parliament, the Prime Minister has been directly asked to guarantee housing prices will not tank. Twice he refused. The Prime Minister keeps claiming his budget is helping first home buyers. Can he tell the House whether the number of first homebuyers has actually increased since the budget, and by how many?”
“There are also concerns about the treatment of Barrister Suman and other political figures facing charges while they're in custody. There are reports of people dying in custody following allegations of torture, extreme malnutrition and denial of adequate medical care. Many supporters of Barrister Suman hold great concerns for him and his family, who have been forced to flee Bangladesh. As a country, Australia is an advocate for human rights, including freedom of religion and belief. I would like the federal government to advise what representations they are making in relation to those reported cases and what further steps may be available. I represent the Bangladeshi community of Dubbo in raising these profound concerns.”
“It is part of our role as decent human beings to shed light on human rights where they are being violated, even if that's not in our own nation. Today, I voiced my concerns about the case of barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, who is being held in custody in Bangladesh. This matter has been raised with me by many of my constituents on behalf of the Bangladeshi community in Dubbo and across Australia. I'm informed that Mr Suman, known as Barrister Suman, has been a prominent voice against corruption, injustice and abuse of power. He has worked for the poor and disadvantaged to improve their lives. Under the current interim government, he has been arrested and is facing multiple charges that I am advised are politically motivated.”
“Michael Lynch of Parkes has been recognised with an OAM for service to the community of Parkes through St Vincent de Paul, the diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, the Parkes Prostate Cancer Support Group and the Parkes Veteran Golf Club. Kenneth Harrison of Dubbo has been recognised with a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to emergency response and management after dedicating more than 30 years of his life to service. I congratulate these amazing people on being among the outstanding Australians in this year's King's Honour List.”
“This year's King's Birthday Honours list includes five people from the mighty Parkes electorate who live inspiring lives. They include Juley Clarke of Forbes, a teacher and founder of the Forbes North Public School Wiradjuri Choir and part of the Forbes School Artwork Show Society. She has been recognised with an OAM for service to primary education. Susan Hood of Dubbo has been recognised with an OAM for service to regional agricultural shows and to the youth for her role in the Agricultural Societies Council of New South Wales, Dubbo Show Society, the Wongarbon Girl Guides Group and the American Field Service. Susie Lyle of Gunnedah has been recognised with an OAM for service to the community of Gunnedah. Mrs Lyle has long been part of the Red Cross, Gunnedah Nursing Home and the Caroona Coal Action Group.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. To ram through Labor's toxic taxes, the Prime Minister has changed his position again and done a dangerous deal with the Greens. Will the Prime Minister rule out agreeing to the Greens' demand to impose a tax on the family home?”
“Our local governments deserve more certainty, more sustainability and a lot more respect, and I commend the motion to this chamber.”
“Already, that inquiry has received more than 250 submissions from Carnarvon, Parkes, Huon Valley, Balonne, Kangaroo Island—from right across Australia. The Greater Ballarat Alliance of Councils—councils within the Minister for Local Government's own electorate—has written in its submission that its councils, like many others, are facing increased demands for growth infrastructure and heightened community services expectations amid financial constraints. The cry is universal; councils are underfunded, and this Labor government is not delivering. These are the same councils who are already, according to the 2024 National state of the assets report , groaning under the weight of a shortfall of $50 billion to $55 billion to replace existing infrastructure reaching its end of life.”
“This government has also quietly cut $41.7 million from the Fee-Free TAFE Skills Agreement. This is yet another blow for equity in our regions and yet another blow for growth and sustainability. Last year, the federal parliament's own I nterim report into local government sustainability found councils, municipalities and shires played an essential role. The report noted increased service delivery obligations and cost shifting. It found responsibility for services and management of complex infrastructure assets had shifted from state and territory and federal governments onto local government. It also found councils' funding and ability to raise revenue had deteriorated. This concerning report has been followed up, after the federal election, by a renewed inquiry into local government sustainability.”
“While we're talking about a severe lack of respect for the tier of government that provides services essential for our survival, let's talk about the government's approach to housing support. The Labor government has allocated $2 billion in the Local Infrastructure Fund under the Housing Support Program, with only $500 million dedicated to local infrastructure for regional communities. There are 410 regional, rural and remote councils in Australia and just 138 metropolitan councils. The bottom line of this housing support is that the cities are allocated nine times the amount that has been allocated to regional councils. In this competitive program, what chance does a small council, like Walgett or Central Darling Shire or Brewarrina in my electorate, have?”
“Local government employs more than 213,000 local residents in communities throughout the 538 councils within Australia. Yet, in the recent budget alone, we saw exactly what level of respect the Albanese Labor government has for local government—and that's zero. The Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program and the Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program have all been cut and replaced with one program, the growing regions and thriving suburbs program. This is an impressive sounding program that actually translates to our regional councils as 'your funding has been cut'. Instead of the dedicated regional funding and non-contestable programs, every local government across Australia—city or country—will be competing for the same dollars. Our small councils don't stand a chance.”
“And who maintains the footpaths, ensures pets are part of our community and guides the planning and development of the towns and cities in which we live? Local government—the very same organisations that ensure there are cemeteries where our loved ones can visit us once we have gone. Which tier of government has been systematically underfunded and ignored in the recent budget? Which tier of government is collapsing under the weight of cost shifting and price increases? And which tier of government has no grant fund available to plan for communities' futures? The answer, again, is local government. Today, I move that this chamber notes that local government is a critical tier of government in Australia that deserves the respect and trust of this federal government.”
“This week, while this parliament sits, more than a thousand mayors, councillors, shire presidents and executive staff are gathering in Canberra for the National General Assembly of Local Government under the Australian Local Government Association's theme of Stronger Together. As human beings, some of our most basic needs are clean water, reliable sanitation and shelter. These are mostly the domain of local government. We have a need for human connection that relies on local roads to bring us together. This is also the responsibility of local government. Take a look at the parks where we played as children and have spent time with family and achieved our sporting goals. Again, this is the work of local government.”
“I move: That this House: (1) notes that local government; (a) is a critical tier of government in Australia that deserves the trust of the Government; and (b) employs more than 213,000 local residents in communities throughout the 537 councils across the nation; (2) acknowledges the Government's reannouncement of the 2022 election commitment to increase the roads to recovery funding program; (3) recognises that most local councils throughout Australia: (a) build and maintain tens of thousands of kilometres of local and regional roads; (b) provide the sewer, water and waste services to communities; (c) manage parks, gardens and sporting fields to communities; (d) manage our libraries, halls, civic centres, galleries and cultural centres; and (e) care for our lost animals, people and infrastructure; (4) further recognises that local government: (a) develop master planning in communities for residential growth; (b) develop master planning in communities for industrial growth; and (c) ensure the protection of the local environment; (5) condemns the Government for defunding in the 2026-27 budget such as: (a) the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program (LRCI); (b) the regional Precincts and Partnership Program (rPPP); (c) the urban Precincts and Partnerships Program (uPPP); and (d) cutting $41.7 million from the Fee-Free TAFE Skills Agreement; and (6) strongly condemns the Government for cutting funding to local government.”
“This budget, by its own government's design, was forced to spend its way out of that very vulnerability—emergency fuel reserves, emergency loans, emergency stockholdings—because the underlying weakness was never fixed. Regional industry are not asking for sympathy or another emergency package the next time there is a global shock; they are asking for a fair fight, affordable energy, honest competition and a government that values what Australia can produce. I commend this motion to the chamber.”
“And it's why we call for an overhaul of the 'Australian Made' logo fees, because it makes no sense that a small regional workshop must pay a premium just to tell the world where the product was built. We don't need to wait for a budget to make these changes. If this government were serious about backing our manufacturers, they would have taken this action by now. Without policy intervention on energy costs and imported standards, regional manufacturers do not stagnate; they decline permanently. A billion dollars in loans buys an industry a few more months. It won't buy them a future. This is about national sovereignty as much as it is economics. A country that cannot make its own steel, its own components or its own equipment has handed control of its own future to somebody else.”
“A budget serious about manufacturing would have started at the cost of energy. This one didn't. Let's be honest about what regional manufacturers are actually asking for—not a handout, but a level playing field. They are competing against many substandard imported products that would never pass our own quality and safety standards if they were made in Australia, undercutting local workshops doing the right thing. That is a failure of this government to defend its own industry. That's why this motion calls for a national import quality taskforce to stop substandard foreign dumping at our border. It's why we're calling for royalty discounts for companies that procure 100 per cent Australian-made products.”
“What they got was a $1 billion interest-free loan to help them survive a fuel and supply chain crisis that this government did not see coming—a rescue package dressed up as reform. Industry has already said it plainly: this budget does not provide a clear path to lower industrial costs in the face of rising energy prices. You do not build sovereign manufacturing capability on emergency loans; you build it on cheaper, reliable power every day, every year, not just when there's a crisis. While this government has spent $18 billion in this budget on net zero initiatives, manufacturers right across regional Australia are paying the price with their power bills. This is a direct result of the last four years of policy that has shut down base-load generation faster than it has been replaced.”
“What is missing is a government willing to back them. Here is the truth this government must acknowledge and confront: you cannot run an advanced manufacturing sector on the back of the highest energy costs in the developed world. Reliable, affordable base-load power is not a luxury for manufacturers; it is the foundation everything else is built on. Every policy that has driven up energy costs while strangling the development of our own gas and energy resources has made every single one of those 930,000 Australian jobs less secure. This is where I must direct the focus back to the budget this government has just handed down. Manufacturers were told to expect a cheaper plan for more reliable power.”
“I rise to speak on this motion because the debate is not theoretical; it is about whether this country still makes things and whether the people who make these things can afford to keep doing so in this country. Manufacturing is Australia's sixth-largest industry, producing $137 billion of value-added output every year and employing over 930,000 Australians. It's not in Canberra boardrooms or in the Labor Party room run by the unions but on the factory floors in regional towns, where the local manufacturer is often the largest employer within that district. This is an industry that has transformed itself into a hub of research, capital investment and innovation. Our manufacturers can design, build and scale high-tech, high-value goods using world-class processes with a world-class skilled workforce. The capacity is here.”
“People who have dreams—another great Australian tradition—and want to fund their own business now need to think twice. The risk is now 47 per cent higher and the end benefits are less. I support schedule 3, the working Australians tax offset, and schedule 4, the $1,000 standard deduction for work related expenses. I do not support the changes to the capital gains tax regime or the changes to the negative gearing regime. How workable is a scheme that only rewards new builds? Where is the incentive to continue to cherish and maintain our beautiful older homes?”
“Financial Services Council analysis shows the reform 'could materially increase taxes on Australians investing outside superannuation, including younger Australians, families, part-time workers and Australians approaching retirement'. Its modelling shows that, under these reforms, a 25-year-old Australian on a median income investing $10,000 in shares would pay more tax. A median-income young family investing $40,000 in a balanced managed fund would also pay more tax. A 35-year-old professional on an above-median income investing $60,000 in high-growth managed funds would pay more tax, and a 46-year-old operations manager on an above-median income investing $110,000 to build financial security and safety would also pay more tax. The modelling also showed that people on low incomes would also pay more tax on even modest investments.”
“They have no support for young people or understanding. They are robbing many young people like me trying to get into farming, and they don't care. I feel support for the younger generation is at an all-time low. Well, if our young Australians feel this way and we are attacking the savings of our older generations also, then what is this tax grab all about? Should this younger generation manage to battle their way through the forest of hurdles and the cost-of-living increases and taxes to find an affordable home, they will be prevented from investing later on themselves due to the very same capital gains reform that we're here looking at today. They too, our newer hardworking generation, are being hit at every turn.”
“In Tristan's own words, these tax reforms do 'more damage than good, especially for those of us who are young and taking risks to run a business and try and get ahead. I'd like to read the rest of what Tristan had to say as a young Australian who these tax hikes are meant to benefit. He said: I am losing faith in the system in a big way. I don't see the Prime Minister or any other Ministers out there with me working 20 to 23 hours a day in peak season helping, but they rob us blind of our work and money. I am a farming contractor. I bought machinery to generate a turnover to build an asset portfolio to get into land ownership. Negative gearing was a great way to get there and build up a portfolio. Unless you come from family money or inheritance—which I have no doubt they are trying to go after as well—you can't really get into it.”
“A Moree accountant has called the capital gains tax reform a 'contemptible' change that will hurt lower income Australians the most. He gives an example where the reform will add 11 per cent to the capital gains tax paid on the sale of a house that makes an inflation adjusted gain of just $100,000. Already we are seeing the result of these reforms before they've even arrived. Auction clearance rates and volumes are down, and rents are up—so much for helping younger generations! Tristan from Forbes in my electorate of Parkes is a young man who is trying to live his dream with his agricultural contracting business. Tristan came to question time last month and was infuriated by what he heard from those on that side of the House.”
“But, under these reforms, together with the sneaky new death tax and the raid on family trust, keeping these businesses in the family has become even harder. Included in this is the broken promise that assets bought before 1985 would never attract capital gains tax. I have had constituents who have written to me to say that these changes will not help the young people to buy their own homes. They will instead entrench intergenerational inequity by denying to those who don't already own a home the mechanics enjoyed by older generations to do so. One constituent has told me that, while he has lived his entire life in Australia, these toxic new taxes are now forcing the family to think about leaving the country. How bad is it that an Australian family is considering leaving the country to escape the huge burden of new taxes?”
“Farmers in my electorate of Parkes and across the country have been left wondering what this means for them. The National Farmers' Federation have raised alarm that these reforms, unintentionally or otherwise, will have a deep impact on farms and on farmers. I'll quote from the National Farmers' Federation president Hamish McIntyre. He said: The Government cannot afford to get this wrong. If these settings are not fit for purpose, we risk decreased investment, delayed succession, increased debt burdens and in some cases, forced sales of farmland to meet the increased tax liability. These farms are often the result of generations of savings. They are the legacy left for children and for grandchildren, and they are ultimately the family business.”
“Nearly half a century ago this woman and her husband bought a property near Brewarrina. Their three children came home on the school bus to work in the shearing shed and to lend a hand on the farm. The five of them worked hard, and, as most of us know, there's very little time for luxury when you work on the land. The couple, who are now elderly, live in Dubbo, but the dad still works on the farm that his worked for 48 years. This hard work is now being paid back with uncertainty and with the prospect of tax gouging under changes to the capital gains tax regime as part of this bill. Farmers who have stepped into the boots of their parents and worked the entirety of their lives on the land have been taxed every step of the way, and it's not as easy to make a quid on the land as you'd think.”
“It is those values that are under attack here today in this House. First and foremost is honesty and integrity. We have learnt not to listen when the Prime Minister announces he has made things clear. He made things clear ahead of the election when he declared that there would be no new taxes. He made things clear just long enough to be elected, and then suddenly there emerged a whole new kind of clarity. We cannot trust the government that has been elected. A promise made to get through the door is not worth anything if it's not kept. Having ditched our Australian values of honesty and integrity, this government has moved on to take a kick at other national values. Let's talk about hard work. There's a letter in my office from an 83-year-old woman from Dubbo.”
“I'd like to reflect for a minute or two on what makes us proud to be Australians. We're all here in this place, proud to be Australians—or we wouldn't be here—representing families, business owners, investors, the elderly and the generation who will themselves sit here in these seats one day. So what is it that we are here protecting and supporting? What is it that we are here to look at and that says 'this is what being Australian is all about'? Let's look at some of our favourite films, our favourite days, our favourite cultural moments and our favourite traditions. I'm thinking of Gallipoli, Breaker Morant, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Phar Lap, St Mary MacKillop and even Don Bradman. They show us that Australians admire bravery. We admire and strive towards hard work, mateship and integrity. We admire honesty.”
“The Pink Angels support breast cancer patients and their families in Dubbo and western New South Wales, travelling as far as Cobar and Lightning Ridge. They raise their own funds to help patients with home-care expenses and many other needs. The Pink Angels are yet another example of great work that great people are doing throughout the Parkes electorate. It is an honour to serve such a caring electorate. I congratulate all volunteers, not just those in these organisations who give their time, resources and skills to the whole community. (Time expired)”
“The Condobolin branch and the Terramungamine branch in Dubbo will next month celebrate their 100-year anniversary. A century of serving your community is truly something that must be applauded, and well done not only to those people on today's committee but also those who have worked hard over the past 100 years. I must also say a big thank you to another organisation that provides transport for seriously ill children in rural and regional areas, and that is Little Wings. Recently I attended a function for the start of the monthly paediatric clinic in Nyngan. What a difference Little Wings is making for sick kids, and also for their parents. I'd also like to pay tribute to another organisation who care for their community, and that is the Pink Angels.”
“For nine decades the Royal Flying Doctor Service has been the lifeline for people in the Broken Hill region and beyond, delivering world-class health care where and when it's needed. This milestone is an opportunity to recognise the incredible doctors, nurses, pilots and staff who make their service possible, along with the volunteers, the supporters and the communities that have stood beside the Royal Flying Doctor Service for generations. I'd also like to congratulate the Royal Flying Doctor Service Broken Hill Women's Auxiliary, who recently celebrated their 75th anniversary. This wonderful organisation has been hosting the RFDS ball for more than 60 years and raising funds for the RFDS. Another amazing organisation at work in the Parkes electorate, and beyond, is the Country Women's Association.”
“The population of the Parkes electorate gives me more than 216,000 reasons to love this job. Those 216,000-plus people include some of the most unselfish, kind and caring individuals you could ever meet, who go above and beyond every single day to make their communities great places to live. And, in the past month or so, the full generosity of this electorate has given me many reasons to celebrate. Recently I was honoured to join the community in Broken Hill to celebrate 90 years of the Royal Flying Doctor Service south-eastern division in New South Wales. The RFDS has been recognised as Australia's most reputable charity 13 times, and with good reason. Every two minutes someone from around Australia is calling on the RFDS for help.”
“The families who have struggled through this system and these changes need to know exactly how it will affect them and what they can do about it. They have suffered enough uncertainty and weathered enough storms. There is no capacity to get this wrong, and we need to ensure the structure is there for all of the health professionals who make the big difference in our regions in order for them to continue. The quality services and the caring people need to stay. We need solutions that support the people who need it when they need it. That is absolutely crucial for both participants and for providers. As Joe's mum Maree puts it, the NDIS is about people doing their best to live their lives as all of us should have the opportunity to do.”
“How will people be assessed? Where will they go to be assessed when our health system is already buckling under the pressure? Are their families, who will be waiting so patiently for support, going to be forced to go right back to the beginning again, waiting for specialists, waiting for diagnosis, waiting for assessment? And when all of this is navigated, will the service be there to support them? What will help here is consultation. What will help here is talking to the people whose lives this will impact, and what will make a difference is listening. When the consultation has been completed and when families and services who will be affected have been heard, communication of the end result is desperately needed.”
“The Australian National Audit Office reports that six to 10 per cent of claims might be incorrect, fraudulent or non-compliant. The General Manager of the Fraud Fusion Taskforce and Integrity Capability told a Senate inquiry that every day they identify about 50,000 claims that might be risky. The most rotten cogs in the wheels are shonky providers who are not doing the right thing. Some providers are taking advantage of participants with their pricing. Some are doing substandard jobs or not doing the job at all. It is the scammers and the reporters who need to be targeted, not the people who depend on these services, not Joe in Dubbo. There are many people in Australia right now who are deeply worried that the help they so desperately need will be taken away. There is confusion about the lack of detail in these changes.”
“Instead of becoming more efficient, the NDIS services will just be cut, hurting some of the most vulnerable people in my electorate of Parkes and across Australia. For people who are suddenly not eligible, who are told that their challenges are not big enough, what options will there be? We will always support measures that improve the integrity of the NDIS. We will always support measures that ensure there are safeguards in place to protect participants, and we will always support ways to prevent fraud and rorting, which, of course, do take place. Every day, there are reports of fraud and misuse. We know it happens and we know it's a problem, but neither this Labor government nor the National Disability Insurance Agency has been able to get a handle on it.”
“The NDIS can do that, but, yes, the need is far greater than anyone could foresee. The scheme has grown to 760,000 participants at a cost of almost $50 billion. Labor has failed to meet the commitment to reduce the annual growth rate of the scheme to eight per cent. Something does need to be done to ensure the NDIS is sustainable. The costs continue to rise, and we must make sure that the scheme is around for a long time to come to support people with disabilities, but I am deeply concerned about the way in which this is being done. Instead of targeting scammers, these changes will impact people like Joe from Dubbo or a child in Walgett, who will no longer get the support that they need. Instead of shutting down shonky operators, these changes will mean people with a disability in remote areas will not be able to access services.”
“This, of course, includes parents who will have to see their children living with a disability, who already have so many challenges, lose even more. The NDIS plays a huge role in helping Australians with significant and permanent disabilities to live with dignity, independence and greater choice. That's what it was established for. I fully support this scheme and have seen so much evidence of the good it does when I'm at work, driving around my electorate. When it works well, it helps with medical attention and allows human contacts that are important to all of us. It has the capacity to greatly improve lives. It is part of our responsibility as human beings to care for each other, to assist those who are in need, to share the good fortune we have and to make all our lives richer for it.”
“The service says this structure will mean no services for Coonamble, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Walgett and Wee Waa. It means the entire service may no longer be viable after operating for more than 10 years. It's another example of a flawed NDIS arrangement and another massive hurdle that service providers have to overcome. It is yet more evidence of just how difficult a Labor government can make living in regional areas. I repeat that there are 5,505 people on the NDIS in the Parkes electorate. I've spoken about the stories of just three of those people. There are 5,502 other stories, many of which are likely to be impacted by the cuts to NDIS funding. There will be people who can't get medical appointments, who will no longer be able to see friends or family or who will go without services that make their lives so much easier.”
“I've heard from providers who were devastated that they could no longer offer services to remote clients, because their travel allowance had been cut. Again, these changes hurt our most vulnerable community members, people in remote areas living with a disability. These cuts will add to the minefield of changes that service providers are already negotiating. The Elephant in the Room service has been helping children and families in the Parkes electorate for more than 10 years. It employs allied health professionals such as behaviour support practitioners, support coordinators and early intervention workers in Coonamble, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Dubbo, Wee Waa and Walgett. But this service is fighting a battle on a number of fronts, including the eligibility criteria for the New South Wales government's Thriving Kids program.”
“In September last year, I spoke about a 16-year-old girl who asked to be known as Maddie and was facing the consequences of the last changes to the NDIS made by this Labor government. The changes to section 33 of the NDIS Act that came in last year meant funding could no longer be used as needed and had to be staggered equally across the year. Obviously, life doesn't work that way. We all know that all of your bills, and sometimes your troubles, come at once. For Maddie from Dubbo, who has cerebral palsy, this meant she was not able to get the support she needed to transition to her new school. She could not access half of her sessions until she'd started, with no timely training for support staff.”
“I have raised this issue before on behalf of Katherine McDowell of Dubbo, who presented a petition to this parliament called 'Harley's Law: National Safeguards for Terminal, Degenerative and High-Complexity Disabilities'. Katherine's son, Harley, has juvenile Huntington's disease, and she well understands the human cost of anonymous decision-making. Her petition sought a ban on automated tool-reducing support without human sign-off. It sought transparency for any automated tool used in disability assessment and enforceable rights for people and families to choose home, community or residential care. It called for the creation of an independent dignity-in-care commission. The petition had more than 2,000 signatures, and Katherine has yet to receive a well overdue formal response from this government.”
“Reduced funding would mean Joe could no longer work and would spend a lot of his time alone, leading him back down the path of isolation. Joe's mum says: By radically reducing people's social and community participation funding, we will end up with a cookie-cutter approach and more day care centres for people with disability because that will be the only way to make people's reduced funding last. The concept of choice and control will go out the window and we'll go back to the bad old days! Maree Barnes is also concerned about decisions about vulnerable people being made by machines, rather than by people. Computers can't replace human understanding, human compassion and good old common sense.”
“I rise to speak to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. There are 5,505 people in my electorate of Parkes who are participating in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Let me introduce you to one of them. His name is Joe Barnes. Joe, from Dubbo, is 26—a fun, busy and social guy, I'm told, who has his own microbusiness, Barnsey's Bakes. He is studying hospitality at TAFE and works in a kitchen of a hotel and at a local forklift business. Joe has Down syndrome. Joe's mother, Maree, says he is 'happier, healthier and more independent' since the NDIS changed his life. He lives independently through supported independent living. Unfortunately, Joe is likely to be one of the people whose lives could be about to change through the cuts to the NDIS.”