Trish Cook (Bullwinkel, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The NDIS is a national program that funds care and support for people under 65 years of age with permanent and significant disabilities. I rise today to speak on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2026. In my electorate of Bullwinkel, from the hills of Mundaring to the heart of the western wheatbelt towns and the foothill communities, I see firsthand the transformative power of the NDIS. Australians are rightly proud of this scheme. It is a world-leading, life-changing pillar of our social fabric. For the families that I meet in my electorate, the NDIS isn't just about policy; it's the difference between isolation and community, between a life of limitation and a life of independence. The NDIS is a life-changing scheme and, today, it helps more than 750,000 Australians live better and more dignified lives. It was Labor who created the NDIS, and let there be no doubt that under Labor it is here to stay.

As a registered nurse and midwife myself, I've spent my career caring for people when they are at their most vulnerable. I know that healthcare and disability supports are built on a foundation of trust. Because we value this scheme so deeply, we all have a collective responsibility to protect it. We must ensure that it is sustainable, effective and safe. Most importantly, we must ensure that it operates with absolute integrity and that every cent goes towards the care that our community deserves.

When this government came into power in 2020, we unfortunately inherited a system that was not ready to meet the challenges of the future. We inherited a mess. Under the previous coalition government, NDIS spending was growing at a staggering 22 per cent every single year. It wasn't just the trajectory of the cost; it was the total lack of oversight of the system. The Australian National Audit Office confirmed what many in our local community have felt. The system set up by the previous government lacked basic prevention controls for fraud and noncompliance. It was a set-and-forget approach. They left the doors unlocked and the windows open and then expressed shock when the system was exploited. In a regional and suburban electorate like Bullwinkel, we know the value of a dollar, and we know that waste in Canberra means fewer services in local homes.

Further to this, under the previous coalition government there were fewer than 30 staff who worked on NDIS fraud. Under our government, there are hundreds of staff. Under the previous government, there were only 30 warrants issued over the four year period of 2018 to 2021. Under this government, there have been 77 warrants executed in 2025. Under the previous government, there were five prosecutions in their last year in office. Under this government, 21 prosecutions have commenced already this financial year. We are making progress against those who prey on people with disabilities and the NDIS.

Our government is acting. We recognise that every dollar lost to a fraudster is a dollar stolen from a person with a disability. Since 2022, we have invested over $550 million to specifically tackle fraud and noncompliance. We established the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, bringing together law enforcement and intelligence to hunt down those who think NDIS is their personal ATM, and the results are clear. We have amended the NDIS act to tighten loopholes. We have scaled up our oversight to an unprecedented level. Today, more claims are made every single day than were reviewed in an entire year under the previous government.

We must be blunt and speak about the stakes. Where we see financial fraud, we too often see violence, abuse and neglect. When an unscrupulous provider views the NDIS as a get-rich-quick scheme rather than a support system, the safety of the participant can become an afterthought. I know that, when the system fails, it is the individual who suffers. We refuse to accept a status quo where the vulnerable are treated as commodities. We are cleaning up this sector to protect the wellbeing of every Australian person with a disability.

Let's deal with some facts. As I've previously mentioned, fact one is that we are finally getting the NDIS growth under control. Under the Liberals it was 22 per cent and spinning way out of control. Under our government, that's been brought down to 10 per cent. The NDIS Scheme Actuary projected that without Labor's intervention the scheme expenses would have increased by a staggering $45 billion over the next 10 years and by acting now we are saving the scheme from collapse. We are cleaning up the mess left by the coalition and cracking down on those people committing NDIS fraud.

Combating overall growth does not mean cutting plans. In Bullwinkel, I hear the anxiety of families who fear that their support will be ripped away. But let's be clear: overall plans are not being cut. The average value of plans is going up. While growth is moderating, the data shows that reassessed plans are actually more likely to increase than decrease. Last year, 58 per cent of reassessed plans increased by more than five per cent. Only 23 per cent saw a decrease. We're ensuring that the moderation of the scheme is achieved through efficiency and integrity, not by depriving participants of the support that they need to live their lives.

The bill before the House today introduces commonsense measures that are ready to go. It strengthens the NDIS commission's ability to act. That means stronger penalties by introducing a tougher penalty framework for breaches of registration, banning orders and the code of conduct. It means expanding banning orders so that banning orders can now be issued to auditors and consultants, closing the gap where middlemen could facilitate non-compliance from the shadows. There is the antipromotion orders measure. This gives the commission the power to stop unscrupulous providers from promoting products or services that are actively undermining the integrity of the NDIS.

The vast majority of NDIS providers in Bullwinkel and across Australia are fantastic. They are local small businesses, often health professionals, and not-for-profits who are doing the right thing every single day. They care for our neighbours, our friends and our families. Our goal is to create a system where compliance is easy and noncompliance is hard. We want our local honest providers to spend less time on paperwork and more time on care, while building a high-tensile steel wall against the crooks.

We know there is a lot more to do, and this bill is a major step. We will continue to work closely with the disability community to ensure that these protections remain robust. The NDIS is too important to fail. We cannot allow it to be drained by those who see it as an easy mark. I care for my community in Bullwinkel, and we care for one another, and this bill is about the same principle: protecting a scheme that belongs to all of us. It's about telling the scammers that the party is over and telling people with a disability that their future is secure. I commend the bill to the House.

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