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

In the very few minutes that I've got before we proceed to adjournment tonight, I'll begin some comments regarding this bill, but I'll conclude those tomorrow morning. Obviously, the coalition will be supporting the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2026. We've proposed an amendment, moved by my colleague the member for Lindsay earlier this evening.

I'll start by making some comments in relation to the importance of the NDIS as a national institution. I've recently taken on responsibility as shadow assistant minister for the NDIS and disabilities. It was a role that I put my hand up for, and I asked our new leader to allow me to take on that responsibility, because I see it as such a critical reform and as something that we have to get right. It is one of those complex policy Rubik's cubes that we deal with in this building, and in this city, that have such a massive impact across every community that's represented in this chamber. So many people who have been on the sidelines of our society have been able to fully enjoy the full benefits of this scheme. It has been an absolute game changer for so many across our communities.

Unfortunately, we're now reaching a point where it simply cannot be sustained on the current footing. The rate of growth, as the previous speaker said, is up at 10.3 per cent according to the last quarterly update. I admit that, in the course of the previous coalition government, while the scheme was growing and reaching maturity—we were adding people, fresh in, who had spent many decades without these levels of support. The growth was a lot higher as we got things going. But, now, 10.3 per cent on a very mature scheme is way too high. Unfortunately, what we've seen from this government is a target of eight per cent. They're not meeting that. We're now seeing the National Cabinet saying, 'We're going to try to get it to five or six per cent.' We're well and truly over that. We have got a significant challenge in trying to get that number down to the government's goal.

What concerns us on this side of the chamber is what we are reading in the press. I've got a media alert for the term 'NDIS'. I can see multiple media reports every day—and I'm sure that will grow as we head towards the budget—where the assumption seems to be that the growth projections for the NDIS within the budget will match the government's target. That's great. That's wonderful except they're not meeting the target. They're nowhere near. They're growing at double the rate of the target. We can pretend that we're going to somehow magically find ourselves at a point where we are achieving the government's target, or we can get real about what we are actually going to do to try to ensure we do get there.

Unfortunately—and I spoke on this in the Federation Chamber yesterday, and I'm sure every MP in this place would be experiencing the same amount of casework that I am—about 80 per cent of the correspondence that I receive in my office is now NDIS casework, and primarily from people who have had their plans cut. I heard, from the previous speaker, 'Well, if you consider it in the totality, if you consider the average plan'—no. For the constituents who contact my office who have had their plans cut, sometimes significantly—

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