Page 1425 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 2021
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families, not eyesores that people avoid because there are so few bins, disgusting toilets, little seating and insufficient parking.
Minister Vassarotti states that strategies are paper thin, and indeed they are. Action is what we need. I call on Minister Vassarotti to put her ministerial statement on nature into action immediately by fixing up Yerrabi Pond for the benefit and enjoyment of the Yerrabi constituents I am so proud to represent.
MS VASSAROTTI (Kurrajong—Minister for the Environment, Minister for Heritage, Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services and Minister for Sustainable Building and Construction) (10.32), in reply: I welcome the commitment of the Canberra Liberals in relation to recognising the importance of nature.
Ms Castley said that the tree canopy in the ACT is decreasing. I would remind her of the statement that I provided in response to a question without notice, a statement that I made in the April sitting, which put on the record the fact that the research that was being referred to was wrong, and we are one of only two cities in Australia where we are seeing canopy rise. I also understand that Minister Rattenbury has provided a response in relation to the review of the climate strategy, again in a previous sitting.
It is good to hear a commitment from the Canberra Liberals about the importance of nature in the city and some recognition of the work that the government is doing.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Disability services—National Disability Insurance Scheme
Ministerial statement
MS DAVIDSON (Murrumbidgee—Assistant Minister for Seniors, Veterans, Families and Community Services, Minister for Disability, Minister for Justice Health and Minister for Mental Health) (10.33): I rise today to speak about current issues in commonwealth disability policy. Ten years ago, the people of Australia developed a vision. This vision was for a scheme which would provide people with choice and control of how, when and where support would be provided to people with disabilities. It was a once in a generation, ground-breaking change to the way people with disability were supported.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme, NDIS, has rightly been compared, in scale and scope, to the introduction of Medicare, a system where support would be based on individual need, where participants could choose who provides support—a scheme that is an insurance scheme, not a welfare system. The community was told that this scheme would be there for everyone.
The ACT was the first jurisdiction to accept all eligible residents into the National Disability Insurance Scheme. From the ACT NDIS trial in 2014 to today, the ACT government has continued to remain committed to the successful delivery of the NDIS and ensuring that people with disability are able to maximise the opportunities that the scheme presents to ACT residents.
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