Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 goes to the very heart of restoring the National Disability Insurance Scheme to what it was always intended to be—a system that supports Australians living with permanent and significant disability—while ensuring that it remains strong, fair and, very importantly, sustainable into the future and for generations to come. The NDIS is one of the most important social reforms in our nation's history. It was a once-in-a-generation change for the disability sector, and it's changed many, many lives. I was here in this House when the NDIS changes were made pre 2013, and I clearly recall sitting in the Speaker's chair, doing my shift on the Speaker's panel—as you are now, Deputy Speaker Chesters—when the bill finally went through. I remember the joy on the faces of Jenny Macklin, Julia Gillard and many others. It was an achievement that was going to change people's lives.

I also recall, way before the NDIS was being discussed, when it was just bits and pieces of ideas from the disability sector for how it could be funded. At the time, in 2005, Bill Shorten was the disability services shadow minister. He had visited my electorate, where we had a disability forum with members of the disability sector, people with disabilities, educators and parents to discuss a whole range of issues and how to better fund better services et cetera for people with disabilities. At that very meeting—it was held in Glenelg, in my old electorate of Hindmarsh, with about 100 people in the room—there was an idea that perhaps a disability insurance scheme should be looked at for the services and requirements of people with disabilities. Mr Shorten, at the time, was engaging with this idea at other forums as well. So I suspect that a bit of a role that I played was to plant the seed that day for the shadow minister, who then went on to become the minister. With Julia Gillard, who then took over, and Jenny Macklin, all of that was brought to fruition.

It was a very, very noble bill. It was a bill, as I said, that changed people's lives. It was there to give people dignity—people who perhaps don't have the same ability that we do to just get up in the morning to get dressed and go to work and who need assistance and help to be able to participate, whether it be at work or in the community, as a full member of our community. That's what the NDIS was designed to do—to give people the opportunities to be able to participate regardless of disabilities.

As I said, it has changed many, many lives. It's transformed lives. It's restored independence, and it's provided dignity, confidence and opportunities to hundreds of thousands of Australians and their families. For many, it represents not just support but also recognition from governments, government agencies and those that make the rules of the importance of offering support to people so they can participate and be fully fledged contributing members of the community. We've seen, as I said, many lives changed. It's also recognition that every Australian, regardless of their circumstances, deserves the opportunity to participate fully in our society.

But, of course, with a scheme of this scale and importance comes an equally significant responsibility—a responsibility to ensure that it works and is working as it was designed to work; a responsibility to ensure that support is being delivered to those who genuinely rely on it, those for whom it makes a difference and turns lives around; and a responsibility to ensure that the NDIS is protected so it can survive well into the future to service future generations of Australians. As I said, it's not just for those who depend on it today but also for those who will rely on it well into the future. If we fail to act at this point of time, when reform is needed, then we risk undermining the very system that Australians depend on.

This bill represents an important step forward in meeting that responsibility. It gives effect to key elements of a broader plan to restore the scheme's integrity, to bring it back to its original intent and to ensure that it continues to deliver meaningful outcomes for those that it was designed to support. When I read those words, it brings back memories of a forum in Glenelg where members of the disability sector were asking the then government to design something to give people support. I think of those people in that room who have turned their lives around since then because of the NDIS and have benefited from it. The bill introduces reforms that focus on the core foundations of the scheme—access, eligibility and planning—ensuring that decisions are clear, consistent and grounded in the needs of participants.

This bill strengthens the governance arrangements, improves transparency around pricing decisions and introduces more structured and effective planning frameworks. Importantly, it provides for the transitional arrangements necessary to support participants as changes are implemented, ensuring that no-one is left uncertain or unsupported through the process.

This bill also addresses a critical issue that has increasingly come to the forefront: the need to protect the scheme from misuse and ensure its long-term integrity. Fraud and noncompliance do not just the affect the system; they affect the lives of people in the system and all of us. They take resources away from those who need them the most. They undermine confidence in the scheme, and they place unnecessary pressure on the sustainability of the scheme. That is why this bill provides the NDIA with stronger powers to improve oversight, strengthen compliance and ensure that the scheme operates in a way that is fair, accountable and responsible. It's about ensuring that the NDIS remains compassionate but also consistent, that it is supportive but also sustainable and that it continues to deliver for those who depend on it most, without compromising its future. The NDIS is more than a program. As I said earlier, it is a promise, and it is our responsibility to ensure that that promise is kept today, tomorrow and, importantly, for many generations to come.

In my federal electorate of Adelaide, I see firsthand how important the NDIS is because my office deals with participants—as your office does, Deputy Speaker Chesters, and many other offices do—and their families every single day. More often than not, they're not coming to us because everything is working well. They usually come to us because they need help either navigating the system or cutting through to the services that they require. They're coming to us because something in the system has not worked the way that it should have, and we hear from constituents who feel overwhelmed navigating that system.

It is a complex system. Those of you who deal with it in your electorate offices see the complexity of it. It's everything from families struggling to understand changes to their plans to, most concerningly, people who feel vulnerable in a system that was meant to protect them. We've seen cases where providers take advantage of those who are most at risk. We've seen the frustration from participants who believe their funding has perhaps been reduced without clear explanation or whose changing circumstances aren't being properly recognised. These are not isolated incidences in the electorate office. They're the real experiences of people in my community, and they highlight something important: while the NDIS has changed lives, it must also be strengthened to work better for the people it serves and for those it was designed to serve. That is why these reforms matter so much.

Securing the NDIS is not about sustainability; it's about fairness. It's about ensuring that participants across Australia and in my electorate and my community can trust the system. It's about making sure that supports are delivered where they're needed. It's about stopping the kind of behaviour that undermines confidence in the scheme. Stronger action on fraud and compliance, clearer eligibility and better planning processes will help restore that balance. There've also been calls for more practical safeguards, including placing limits on what providers can charge. We've seen unscrupulous providers charging exorbitant fees that, outside this system, would be much cheaper. I've seen that firsthand. We need to ensure that those participants are not overburdened and that the funding is used in the way that it was intended: to service people with disabilities.

Ultimately, these reforms are about making the system work better on the ground and not just in theory. They're about protecting people who rely on the scheme, they're about restoring confidence for those people and their families, and they're about ensuring that, when someone turns to the NDIS for the support that they need, they're met with fairness, clarity and care. For the people in my electorate of Adelaide who depend on it, it's not just the policy; it's their daily life. It's their everyday life, and it's core. This bill is about protecting one of the most important social commitments this country has ever made. The NDIS is not just a program; as I said, it's a promise. It's a promise to Australians living with permanent, significant disability that they will be supported, that they will be included and that they will be given the opportunity to live with the dignity and independence that they deserve.

But, for that promise to endure, we need the scheme to be sustainable, and that's what this bill is all about. It must be fair, it must be accountable and it must work as it was always intended to—that is, supporting those who need it the most. That's why these reforms truly matter. Securing the NDIS means more than just managing the costs; it means restoring confidence, strengthening integrity and ensuring the support is delivered where it is genuinely needed. It means tackling the fraud and stopping misuse, clarifying access and eligibility, improving planning and ensuring quality services for participants.

We've already seen the importance of acting responsibly. Growth in the scheme has been unsustainable. Without intervention, it would have continued to place pressure not just on the system but on the very people it is designed to support. Without action, it will collapse. It may go on for a few years, but, without action—such as this bill—it could collapse. That would have been very detrimental. This bill builds on the work strengthening governance, improving safeguards and implementing those reforms that reflect the recommendations of independent reviews that have been done and the voices of the disability community itself. Importantly, this work was not done in isolation. The government remains committed to working with people with disability, their families, their carers and the broader community because the success of the NDIS depends on trust, cooperation, a shared responsibility and sustainability.

Australians expect the NDIS to continue transforming lives, as it should, and they expect it to provide certainty. They expect it to provide dignity, and they expect it to be here not just today but in the years ahead so generations of people can have the facilities and be serviced in a way that provides that dignity. It's more than just reform. It's about responsibility, and that's what this government is doing. It's about protecting one of the most significant social agreements this nation has ever made and ensuring it endures with strength, fairness and integrity.

This is so important because the NDIS is not just the policy; it is a lifeline. It is the difference between isolation and inclusion, between dependence and independence, between uncertainty and dignity. If we get this right, we secure that promise for generations of Australians who will one day rely on it and for those who already rely on it. But, if we fail to act, we risk weakening the very system that so many depend on. This moment, this bill and these reforms truly matter because securing the NDIS is not about— (Time expired)

See this speech in context