Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges increasing reports from participants, families and service providers that the Government's mismanagement of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is resulting in reduced support packages, particularly for those with complex and high needs;

(2) notes evidence provided through National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) answers to Questions on Notice from Supplementary Budget Estimates showing that:

(a) eligibility reassessments increased from 12,366 in the fourth quarter of 2024-25 to 21,189 in the first quarter of 2025-26;

(b) reassessments resulting in revoked eligibility surged from 389 to 10,202 over the same period; and

(c) plan reviews led to a reduction of $436 million from participant plans in the first quarter of 2025-26;

(3) recognises the reports that these changes are often occurring behind the scenes, with limited explanation or transparency provided to participants and their families;

(4) condemns any approach to scheme sustainability that prioritises cutting participant supports over addressing systemic issues such as waste, red tape and fraud; and

(5) calls on the Government to restore transparency, consistency and accountability in decision making, including clear communication of reasons for funding changes and a renewed focus on fixing inefficiency and safeguarding the integrity of the scheme.

It's important that we recognise how significant the National Disability Insurance Scheme is and what a game changer it has been for so many across the communities that we represent in this place. We talk a lot about the big reforms that have happened over the course of the Australian federation. I don't think there are many that have had the sort of game-changing impact that we have seen from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and both sides of parliament should be proud of the progress that we've made to try to ensure that those who are the most vulnerable in our communities are looked after in a way that we would expect them to be. It's often said that the true measure of a society is how we treat our most vulnerable. If that is the true measure of a society, then Australia should be very proud of how well we do treat our most vulnerable, with this really world-leading reform that has been put into place over recent years.

But, of course, with that important reform and with this institution that we've created and the very, very complex regulations and legislation that underpin it, it is so critical that we have good stewardship of the NDIS, that we ensure that every dollar that is invested from the taxpayer is going where it is intended and that we ensure that no-one is slipping through the cracks. This is a scheme that is reaching maturity now. It's in its 13th year. It's a bit like a teenager, if you like. It's reaching that point now where it needs to make a call as to which direction it's going to go in. It could very easily slip into an overly bureaucratic, centrally controlled, grey, soulless bureaucracy that doesn't get the results we want. Similarly, it could become an absolute free-for-all, Wild-West-style enterprise, where people are rorting it left, right and centre. What we want to try to do is find that gap, that happy medium where people are getting the outcomes that they want—getting the outcomes that we want to see them want—but we're making sure that all the regulations are in place that are going to make sure that it is sustainable and achieving all those outcomes.

But what we are unfortunately seeing is growth that is unsustainable. What we are seeing is growth at about 10.3 per cent per annum. That was from the last quarterly update. The government, of course, has had a strategy. They've had a goal of trying to get it to eight per cent. Now the National Cabinet is trying to set a target of five to six per cent. Unfortunately, what we're seeing in the press over recent days, as we head towards the budget the month after next, is speculation that the government's going to try to budget that five to six per cent aspirational target as what they're going to use as their forward projection. That concerns us. It worries us about whether the government have got a serious plan about how they're going to actually try to achieve that five to six per cent.

I'm sure that every MP here, including the member for Forde, would appreciate that a huge amount of our casework that we're seeing in our electorate offices consists of people who are having their plans cut. They're being cut because this government is delivering very poor stewardship of this scheme. I had a 78-year-old mother called Jan reach out to me. She's providing palliative care to her son, who's got Huntington's disease. He requires constant one-on-one support. He can't communicate, can't feed himself and is constantly at risk of choking. Jan's providing all that care herself at 78. Her son's plan includes $18,000 for behavioural consultations, which of course he won't be using because he's heading, unfortunately, to palliative care. He's had a significant cut in his funding. Julie, another woman who lives down the road from me in Wellington Point, is a 61-year-old living with advanced symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer's disease and requires 24/7 care. She's had an unannounced 43 per cent cut. I'm sure I'm not the only MP who's hearing these sorts of stories.

I'm going to run out of time, but all I can say is that cutting from the most vulnerable is the easy way out. That's not the way that any government should be trying to handle their stewardship of this scheme. These are the people the scheme was designed to support, and we cannot let them down.

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