Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2026. I joined the Labor Party at the age of 15 because I grew up around people whose lives were pretty difficult or who ended up in very difficult situations, including with a disability, through no fault of their own. I saw and lived around people who saw how important it was to look out for each other, especially for those who are vulnerable and especially those who are at risk of being left behind. As a result, I vehemently believe in equality, social justice, care and community.

There's a reason I mention this. It's because these values are a part of the Labor government. It's a Labor government that shares these values that has introduced this bill to provide responsible support for vulnerable people—in this case, people with a disability. It's no surprise that the National Disability Insurance Scheme is a proud Labor legacy that was introduced by former prime minister Julia Gillard. It was developed after years of calls for reform to the disability support sector from people with a disability, community organisations and advocates. It was built on the premise that people with a disability all have different goals and support needs and should be able to control and select the support that they require. It was launched back in 2013, quite a while ago now, but was in operation nationally by 2020.

An important part of the scheme was guaranteed long-term funding for disability services. That was part of the rationale behind NDIS. It was jointly paid for by the Australian state and territory governments. This scheme provides funding to eligible people with disability so that they can gain more time with family and friends, have greater independence and might be able to access new skills, get a job, volunteer in their community and have improved quality of life. It really just connects anyone with a disability to people in their community. It enables people to live the life they want with dignity and purpose.

The NDIS supports over half a million Australians with a disability. This includes David's 18-year-old son, who lives in my electorate. The son has a very complex disability and he works and contributes in our community through employment support. He loves his job and, importantly, it gives him purpose and provides some comfort to his parents, who want him to lead the best life he can as he relies on the NDIS.

Australians are rightly proud of the life-changing support of the NDIS to people with disability. But, as we've heard, it is not working the way it should. When Labor came to government in 2022, spending on the NDIS was growing at 22 per cent a year. That's not sustainable. The Audit Office found that the system set-up lacked basic prevention controls for fraud and noncompliance. I want to be clear that the majority of people who work in this sector are good people and they act in the best interests of Rob, another NDIS recipient I know. But we also know that that doesn't happen 100 per cent of the time. So our government acted quickly, investing over $550 million in tackling fraud and noncompliance, including setting up the Fraud Fusion Taskforce and making amendments to the act. Now more claims are reviewed every single day than were reviewed in a year under the previous government.

Unfortunately, when we see fraud, too often we also see violence, abuse and neglect, and this is simply unacceptable. This bill is about cleaning up the sector and protecting the people it was meant for, with changes to the penalty framework, banning orders, promotion orders, plan variation protections et cetera. The National Disability Insurance Scheme has had its difficulties, but it must be safe and it must operate with integrity. Those who defraud the NDIS are exploiting not just the hundreds of thousands who rely on the life-changing support that NDIS delivers but their families. We know that, under the previous government, there were just too many players that saw the NDIS not as a disability support service but as a get-rich-quick scheme. That's appalling. It is improving, but more needs to be done.

I really do want to thank the disability community for their insights in helping shape the many reforms that are being introduced, but I equally look forward to ongoing discussions with them and with those in my community who use the NDIS every day. We need to continuously look at how to make it better, and through this bill we are putting in place the necessary changes to ensure stability and integrity to the scheme.

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