NDS CEO Meeting Day 2(AUNDSC0612A)

NDS CEO Meeting Day 2(AUNDSC0612A)

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JENNIFER FITZGERALD: Good morning, everyone, welcome to day two our CEO meeting. Keep making your way in. If you were here yesterday, most of this housekeeping will be just a refresher. If you are joining for the first time this morning, please listen up to these important details.

We would again like to thank our sponsors, the IT Department, HESTA and Edmen Committee Staffing for their support for today. Do remember all our exhibitors are displaying in the room, do visit them and they have competitions you might like to enter.

We also have coffee available all day in the hall next door. Please pop your mobile phones on silent. But don't put them away, but please keep tweeting with #leadyourchange and we will have polls that will be launching throughout.

Accessible bathrooms located on this floor, head back to the registration desk and head right.

Lunch, morning tea, afternoon tea, will all be served next door. Some seating is available in the foyer and in room 203. Special requirements at the tables are set up for you to visit.

A quick announcement for somebody at our BuyAbility breakfast - you have left your sunglasses, so come and see me at the AV desk to claim those.

Lastly, we are excited to let you know we have a screening of a documentary at lunchtime today on Richard Side. If you were at the CEO Meeting last year, we had the team behind that documentary coming to present. It tells the story of Richard, a young man with significant intellectual disability, and it told the story over 30 years. This is the third documentary in that series.

We are going to be screening that at lunchtime. It goes for 21 minutes, so you will have plenty of time to enjoy lunch following that. Please join us at lunchtime for that screening.

I'm now going to hand over to our Vice President, Jennifer Fitzgerald.

JENNIFER FITZGERALD: Thanks, Catherine. Good morning everyone. I'm Jenny, Vice President National Disability Services. I would like to start by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people of the great nation and pay my respect to Elders past and present.

I hope you enjoyed day one of the conference and found it informative. The address on shaping the future going forward was testimony to the depth of understanding and challenges that face our sector.

It offered a pathway to co-design and improve the delivery of NDIS, and in doing so, improve the lives of people with disability. As a sector and members of NDS, we are taking control of our future, building strong data capable of tracking change and informing our strategic advocacy.

The third State of the Sector Report and the Financial Sustainability of the Disability Sector Report was presented by David Gilchrist. It painted an emerging picture of a sector under increasing stress.

We are, however, resilient and determined, and our experiences must be captured and must be heard. The development of the industry barometer is a unique and powerful way to do so.

He also presented a new strategic plan for 2017 and 2020, a pathway to future success. NDS is committed to shaping, influencing, informing and communicating with and on behalf of its members.

As the peak body and as a sector, we are the critical juncture in our history. It is therefore vital that we leverage our skills, knowledge and social purpose to drive the delivery of NDIS vision that we all fought for.

Day two - it gives me great pleasure to introduce Senator Carol Brown, Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers. Passion and commitment to see all people fitted with equity and respect, is driven by her own life experience.

She has been a lifelong advocate for quality and fairness, and a representative of Tasmania since joining the Senate in 2005. Involvement with the Labor movement began when she joined the party at the age of 20, determined to fight for core values, equal access to employment, health and other communities services. She is passionate about the care of women, how we treat older women, equal opportunities for all our communities regardless of background. Initiatives that lead to inclusive society and fight against discrimination.

She has been a strong advocate for workers rights.

It is me great pleasure to introduce Senator Carol Brown, Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers.

(Applause)

SENATOR CAROL BROWN: Thank you for that kind introduction. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to you about the future of the disability sector. It does sound like your first day was a busy one and I hope it was also instructive. And I hope we come here today after the CEO dinner last night ready for day two.

In recent months I have had the opportunity to meet with some of you, and look forward in the coming months to meeting many more of you.

I was truly honoured to be appointed as the Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers following this year's election and I will just tell you why.

I am Carol Brown, one of 13 children. I come from the glorious state of Tasmania. We were not from a wealthy family - we were from a very poor family, and my mother for over 30 years cared for my brother. He had an acquired injury when he was in his late teens. And she fought for and harassed for every little bit of assistance and support she received.

Back then, it wasn't anywhere near the level of support from the sector as it is now. My brother passed away in 2010, and I remember quite well that my own mother, her major concern was who was going to look after him when she passed. That was what she was interested in.

She was interested in giving him a full life, making sure that he had every opportunity that was available. But it was hard fought for back then. It was hard even to get a diagnosis.

It was hard to access those supports. But when they came, they really were a godsend for my mother. To see my brother being able to access and have the opportunities of other Australians - it made his family very happy indeed.

So that's why this area is very important to me. And that is why I hope that in your eyes, that I will be able to represent the views of your sector.

And I know that if I don't, and if I am not listening, I know there's at least 650 CEOs that will tell me,"Hey, hang on." I do look forward to working with colleagues across the portfolio, to ensure Labor includes disability and carers policy and programs beyond the social services portfolio.

It is a portfolio very dear to my heart. I know the stresses both people with a disability and their carers are under every day. And I know the difference of services that your organisations provide. Without your dedication and commitment, we would not have come this far with the transformation of services for people with disability in Australia. You are commended not only for the changes NDIS has brought, but standing by people with disabilities and their families.

Governments, policymakers, see the need of reform. And the NDIS is often described as one of the biggest policy reforms since Medicare. Talking about the NDIS as a reform underplays the task ahead and the impact it will have.

The NDIS is not simply a reform of the disability support system, it is confirmation of the system.

We are not merely renovating a broken system - it is a knockdown, total rebuild job.

We are building a system from its foundation, and as anybody who has ever built a house will tell you, you can't build anything without a solid foundation. All structural problems come from foundation.

Cracks in the wall, uneven walls, these are all foundation-related issues, and foundation failures are a significant problem in its own right. Left unaddressed, even minor foundation damage can lead to much bigger and more costly problems down the road.

That's why it is critical we get the transition to the full roll-out of the NDIS right. It's critical that the foundation of the NDS is solid, and any problems are addressed now. Because problems in the foundation of our disability services system doesn't just jam doors, it closes them and locks people out. We must not and cannot revert to a broken system.

But this is not an easy job. Realising the dream on a blueprint is never an easy job. Realising the vision of the NDIS requires significant change to the way we do business.

Each of the organisations you represent is on the frontline of the change that is before us. You are the agents of change. Which is by no means an easy role - but I know from speaking with many of you, this is the role that you have embraced. Because you are all driven by the one desire to provide better lives for people with disability.

In recent years, Australia has made significant progress in extending fairness and opportunity to people with disability, their families and carers. But it is clear that we still have much more to do to ensure an Australian with a disability is not excluded from society, and has the same opportunities as other Australians to participate in the community and have their rights protected.

While we have seen significant reforms in the way support is provided to people with disability, it has not come about without its challenges.

But we must face the challenges without fear, because failure is not an option for the NDIS.

In coming into the role of spokesp