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Judy Brewer response on children – Newcastle community meeting

Lisa Paul: I'll go online now and I've got a question for Judy. "I'm a parent of a young child with disability, what does this mean for me?" 

Judy Brewer: Oh gosh, what a good question.

And it's a question I probably would've been asking if I was sitting in the audience not on the screen. If we do our job properly, this review will mean a better life for you, or your loved ones. And a better community, because we will have a more inclusive society. It's a big aim and we have taken this very seriously.

For me being on this review panel comes from being a parent of an autistic man, who's turns 30 this year, who was once an autistic child. And I would never want anyone to go through what we have been through in those 30 years, in giving him the life that he wanted and now has. So we have come...

The scheme, the NDIS is a scheme that has the chance to reform and transform lives. But it's only a part of the equation. So many of our families need more than that.

They need the education system reformed, they need the health system reformed, they need housing, they need mental health, they need understanding, they need inclusion, they need acceptance. It's a very big aim.

So the review's job is to get the NDIS right, and to explain that we need more than the NDIS, for the NDIS to work. So I hope we are delivering that for you. And I wish you all the very best. I know you'll have an... Your child will be not only an awesome child, but one day an awesome adult like my son.