Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In 2023, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability delivered its final report after four years of hearings. More than 8,000 people gave evidence to the commission. What it documented was not a story of a compassionate nation falling short in isolated cases; it was a systemic account of how Australians with disability had been, in the commission's own words, too often treated as though their lives mattered less. It heard from people who had been restrained, secluded and medicated into compliance. It heard from families who had fought year after year for basic supports that should never have been in question. It heard from people with disability who said with striking consistency that the NDIS, for all its imperfections, had been the first time the system that had looked at them and said, 'Your life has value and your needs are worth meeting.' That testimony is the foundation on which this bill rests. That foundation is the voices of people with disability who told a royal commission what it means to have a scheme that works and what it costs in human terms when it does not.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 is built on Labor values of fairness, sustainability and an unshakeable belief that Australians with permanent and significant disability deserve more than good intentions and motherhood statements. They deserve a scheme that will be there for them in 10, 20 or even 30 years time.

The truth of what the coalition left behind explains everything about why this bill is needed and is before the House today. For nearly a decade, the coalition presided over an NDIS in crisis—a crisis that was manufactured by them. They were handed one of the most significant social reforms in Australia's history, and then they ran it into the ground. The Gillard Labor government built the NDIS on a simple moral conviction that disability should not determine destiny. The coalition inherited that conviction and treated it as an inconvenience.

Under those opposite, NDIS annual growth cost reached 22 per cent—not 22 per cent over a decade, but 22 per cent per year—with no coherent plan to slow it, with no serious action on fraud, with no credible workforce strategy and, crucially, no accountability for the billions of dollars flowing to a largely unregistered, largely unregulated provider market. That uncontrolled growth meant the scheme was increasingly captured by bad actors—providers charging for services not delivered and support workers with no qualifications and no checks. It gave rise to complex financial arrangements designed to extract money from vulnerable people rather than support them. The fraud was not at the margins. According to the National Disability Insurance Agency's own assessments, billions of dollars were lost to rorting and waste.

Yet—this is the part that should shame every member opposite—the coalition did almost nothing. They commissioned reviews that they did not implement. They announced crackdowns that they did not enforce. They stood in this chamber and spoke of their commitment to people with disability while the scheme they were responsible for was being looted in broad daylight. Meanwhile, participants, people in my community, were stuck in planning processes that took months. They were fighting decisions that defied reason and receiving supports that often fell far short of what they needed.

The coalition talked about the NDIS. Labor built it. And now, with this bill, Labor is securing it for every Australian who will need it in the decades to come. When we came to government in May 2022, we made an immediate commitment that we would fix the NDIS—not dismantle it, not hollow it out, but fix it—because it is too important and the Australians who depend on it are too important to do anything less.

We established the independent review into the NDIS, led by Bruce Bonyhady and Lisa Paul. We commissioned it not as a stalling exercise but as a genuine reckoning, an honest look at what had gone wrong and what needed to change. The review consulted with thousands of people with disability and their families, carers, providers and advocates. Its findings were sobering, but its recommendations were clear. At the time the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability delivered its final report, a devastating account of systemic failures that had gone unaddressed for far too long, we committed to acting on its recommendations, and we are.

We have already brought NDIS cost growth down from 22 per cent to 10 per cent. This is the result of serious, deliberate work, cracking down on fraud, improving processes, strengthening compliance and beginning the hard work of building a better regulated market. At the January 2026 National Cabinet meeting, all governments agreed to work together to bring growth down further to between five and six per cent or lower. This is an historic commitment because it means the states and territories, for the first time ever, are genuinely invested partners in the NDIS's long-term success.

We have done all of this while simultaneously delivering the largest investment in foundational disability supports in Australia's history. It's because we understand that the NDIS works best when it sits within a broader ecosystem of community services and early intervention. We are building that ecosystem. The coalition never bothered to try.

I want to dwell on something that sometimes gets lost in the technical debate about the scheme's sustainability: securing the NDIS is cost-of-living relief. It is also good for our economy. When the NDIS works as it should, as it is intended, it does not just support the person with a disability. It means a mum can return to work because her child support is funded. It means a carer does not have to choose between their own health and their parent's dignity. It means a family does not spend their savings, their superannuation or their retirement on care costs that should be covered by the scheme that they have paid taxes into their entire working lives.

The cost pressures Australian families are facing right now are tough. We know this, and that is why our government has been relentless in delivering real cost-of-living relief, like cheaper medicines, more bulk-billing and tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer. The NDIS is part of that broader relief package. A scheme that works for the people who rely on it, that is funded sustainably for its long-term future and that delivers quality, tailored support is cost-of-living relief for tens of thousands of families across this country who are holding things together because the NDIS is there for them. But a scheme that collapses under unsustainable growth or, worse, a scheme that is gutted by future governments because the politics of fiscal repair demand it would be a catastrophe not just for people with disability but for every family that depends on it. That is why this bill matters. It is our responsibility to ensure the future of the NDIS is one grounded in care and support and one that is sustainable.

This bill is the next major step in our plan to secure the NDIS for future generations. It has been carefully constructed and is evidence based. It has been developed in close consultation with people with disability and the disability community because Labor understands that nothing about the NDIS should be done without consulting those who rely on it.

The bill addresses five key areas. The first is access and eligibility. The bill clarifies the criteria by which Australians can access the NDIS, restoring the scheme to its original purpose: supporting people with permanent and significant disability. This is not about restricting the scheme; it is about ensuring that the people who need it most can always access it, and that the scheme is not drawn into areas better served by other parts of our health and social services system. Clearer eligibility means fairer outcomes.

The second is tackling fraud and rorting. The bill strengthens provider registration requirements, increases compliance powers and establishes stronger accountability frameworks across the market. We are sending a clear message here: if you are in the NDIS to exploit vulnerable people and extract public money, this government will find you, and you will face the consequences. The fraud and rorting that flourished under those opposite ends here.

The third is planning. The bill introduces new framework planning arrangements that put participants at the centre of their own plans—plans that are more responsive and more focused on outcomes. Planning should not be an ordeal; it should be a genuine conversation about what a person needs to live a good life. My office has heard from people in my community on the NDIS that often contact us because the red tape is just too much to juggle along with caring arrangements, and, for many, they just reach their limit. This bill seeks to make their lives easier.

The fourth is governance and pricing. The bill improves the governance arrangements around pricing decisions within the scheme, ensuring that pricing is transparent, fair and drives quality. Providers who deliver excellent support should be rewarded; providers who deliver poor support at inflated prices should not be.

The fifth is transitional arrangements. The bill includes careful provisions to manage the transition to a new framework, protecting existing participants and ensuring no-one falls through the cracks as reforms are implemented. Despite what others have said, we are not pulling the rug out from under anyone. We are building a stronger floor.

I want to return to where I began—to the royal commission, to more than 8,000 people who gave their testimony, often at great personal cost, because they wanted to make a difference. That commission found systemic failures across governance, across institutions and across decades, but it also found something else: Australians with disability are not asking for sympathy, they are simply asking for a system that works, one that is there when they need it, with support that is real, not promised, and a future that they can plan for.

Labor built the NDIS. We built it because we believe in a country where the circumstances of your birth, including the presence of disability, should not determine or limit your life. We built it because we believe in an Australia that is grounded in fairness and kindness, and we are reforming the NDIS now, with this bill, because that belief carries with it responsibility not just to build something good but also to protect it, to make sure it lasts, to make sure it is still there, stronger, better and fairer for the next generation of Australians who will need it. The coalition had their chance to be stewards of this scheme. They squandered it. This government will not make the same mistake. We are making the tough decisions that the moment demands and with the care that Australians with disability deserve. I commend the bill to the House.

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