Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition will be supporting the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2026. We are supporters of the NDIS. It is something that provides support and assistance for some of the most vulnerable people across our communities, and I have spoken to the NDIS quite a number of times in relation to a number of constituents who have made representations to my office.

One of the things that we have the opportunity to do, as members of parliament, is attend end-of-year school events. I recently had the opportunity to attend a school event at Varsity College in my electorate. I had a mother come up to me at the end of that ceremony. She wanted to introduce me to her son. Her son was 12 years old at the time, and his name is Levi. Levi has cerebral palsy. His mother had contacted our office to seek assistance on their NDIS matter, as they'd had significant difficulties in obtaining clear information from the NDIS. He hadn't had an updated plan in nearly five years, and he required critical support.

After we managed to take on that matter and make a representation to the NDIS, we were able to obtain a favourable outcome for Levi—which was great. But most Australians shouldn't have to go through their federal MP in order to do that. That should be part of how the system works. It's symptomatic of a broader issue with the NDIS. I think just about every person in this chamber would agree that the NDIS—like I said, its intention is really good; we just need to make sure it actually delivers for the people who need it. That is the key thing. The coalition will always support measures which improve the integrity of the NDIS and ensure that there are safeguards in place to protect the participants involved in it, while at the same time prevent the fraud and rorting that, as we know, is rife within the scheme.

I do note, however, that the changes in this bill don't actually provide direct regulation or fraud controls for the 94 per cent of NDIS providers who are not registered. We are constantly, as federal members of parliament, receiving reports in our offices about NDIS participants who are seeking quotes for basic services around the home, whether it's for cleaning or for gardening or whatever, and they are quoted prices that are absolutely extraordinary. They are quoted prices that we would never see outside the NDIS. This happens the moment they say that they want to use their NDIS plan to pay for the work. When they do that, the cost of the service doubles, triples, quadruples.

That is symptomatic of certain people out there—it's not all providers; I have some fantastic providers in my electorate—who are using the NDIS as nothing more than a cash cow. This is something that government needs to step up on, because, at the end of the day, the NDIS is being used for people who have a genuine need, but there are billions and billions of dollars of taxpayer money that are funding it. We need to make sure, and it is the responsibility of every person in this place to make sure, that when we are using taxpayer money that we are using it in a way that maximises its potential for the benefit of those who need the assistance. That's the main point that I would make.

There are many, many examples that I could provide in relation to people who've approached my office, people who have that genuine need that I speak of, who shouldn't need to engage with a federal MP, who should be able to go through the regular process of the NDIS. There is no shortage of bureaucracy in it, there is no shortage of assistance there that should be able to be afforded. There are many examples across my electorate. People are saying, 'We recognise this is a system that was set up for the right reasons, and we just need to make sure that this government is taking very seriously the fraud that we are seeing', and I've spoken about that fraud many times in this place. We need to ensure we have a system of integrity, a system that Australians can be proud of and a system that ultimately delivers for the people who have that genuine need.

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