Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a pleasure to follow my colleague the member for Dunkley. In approaching my broader remarks on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, I want to say some things upfront about carers and, particularly, unpaid carers. I've had a number of conversations recently with unpaid carers, who are, in my view, the unsung heroes of our community. I think it's worth reflecting on the fact that one in nine Australians is an unpaid carer. They're often sons, daughters, parents, grandparents or siblings. There are 400,000 children and young people in Australia who are unpaid carers, often caring for a parent or a grandparent.

I also want to recognise the around 21,000 carers in my electorate of Monash, many of whom I speak to regularly. They include grandparents in their 80s, caring for grandchildren with a disability, and parents in their 80s, caring for adult children with significant disabilities. They put all of themselves into that role. They do it because they love their family, and they deserve more thanks, more recognition and more support than I think society and our broader community give them. So I want to place on record my sincere acknowledgement of what they do, day in and day out.

The coalition remains steadfast in our support for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and for Australians who rely on it every day. I think it's a fundamental principle that Australians living with a significant and permanent disability, wherever they are and whatever their postcode, should have access to the support that they need to live with dignity, with independence and with opportunity. The NDIS is one of the most significant social reforms this nation has ever undertaken. For many Australians, including many Australians in my electorate of Monash, it has transformed their life. It has provided support where, previously, there was uncertainty, crisis and barriers. It has offered many families hope and confidence about their future. It has offered independence for many who, previously, could not see a path through. For carers, it's often provided relief from an overwhelming burden. For parents, it's offered reassurance that their children can access support and opportunities. For participants, it's meant greater choice and greater independence over how they choose to live their lives. Because of that, all of us in this place should approach discussions about changes to the NDIS with deep care.

Supporting the NDIS does not mean simply defending the scheme as it exists today; it means ensuring that it stays strong and sustainable for generations yet to come. If we want the scheme to be able to continue supporting Australians well into the future, we also have a responsibility to ensure it remains fit for purpose. The reality is that the scheme has grown substantially since its establishment. Originally, the NDIS was expected to support around 410,000 participants. Today, it supports more than 760,000 Australians. Annual expenditure has grown from original projections of approximately $13.6 billion to around $50 billion, and that is projected to continue increasing significantly in the years ahead. That growth presents real challenges.

However, while the need for reform may be broadly accepted, the question before us now is not whether reform is necessary in itself. The question before us is whether reform is being undertaken in a way that gives all Australians confidence. For Australians living with a disability and for the families and carers who support them, these discussions should not be viewed through the lens of legislation or budget papers alone. They need to be viewed through the lens of everyday life. They are about whether support will continue, whether therapies remain available, whether routines can be maintained and whether families can continue managing the extraordinary responsibilities they already carry.

In a region like mine, the great Gippsland region—we're not a CBD region like Ballarat, Bendigo or Geelong, where you've got one central area of population; we have many smaller towns and many smaller communities. Forty per cent of our region is towns with under a couple of thousand people. That lack of market density sometimes makes accessing allied health professionals and therapists in very small or more remote communities quite difficult. I've had some things to say previously on the revised travel allowance component of the NDIS to ensure that your postcode doesn't determine your potential in respect of the NDIS and that if you live in a small remote community and you need the NDIS and you need to access an allied health professional, you can continue to do so.

One of the stronger actions required is around fraud and integrity within the scheme. Australians rightly expect taxpayer dollars intended for participants to support participants—not criminal networks, dishonest providers or individuals exploiting weaknesses in the scheme. Every dollar lost through fraud is a dollar unavailable to Australians with disability who genuinely rely on support. When reports are made to the NDIS and evidence provided, far too often there appears to be no response, no follow up and no visible action. In one case, a detailed report regarding a fraudulent operator was submitted with supporting evidence. It took two years for a response. That is simply not good enough. Australians with disability deserve better, and providers acting in good faith deserve better as well. Systems designed to protect vulnerable Australians must be capable of responding swiftly and decisively.

Families also regularly raise concerns about dramatically different pricing for identical services once providers become aware funding is being accessed through the NDIS—the same service, the same work but a dramatically different price. That is unacceptable. Participants deserve protection, taxpayers deserve accountability and the scheme itself deserves integrity—and that will ensure its long-term sustainability.

I can say with confidence that people across my electorate of Monash are paying very close attention to these proposed reforms. Monash is a large and diverse regional community, and regional communities often experience disability support systems differently. Distance matters, access matters, availability matters and workforce shortages have an impact. When local specialists are unavailable, families need to travel. When therapy providers reach capacity, families wait. When support workers cannot be found, parents and carers fill the gap. I've spoken to the parents of a teenager in Moe, in the Latrobe Valley, who having trouble accessing physical therapy. I've spoken to the parents of another young person for whom speech therapy every week makes the difference between being able to communicate how he's feeling—Does he feels safe? Is he in pain?—and whether he's not able to do those things. These things matter. They matter in regional communities, and regional communities matter.

One thing that's become abundantly clear through the work I've done across my community is just how many families in the Monash electorate are seeking help to navigate disability supports and the NDIS. It is not an easy system; it is a complex, cumbersome system for too many people, and unnecessarily so. Almost 30 per cent of constituents who contact my office seeking assistance raise issues connected to the NDIS, disability support or a related service. I've now been in my role for 12 months and have helped over a thousand constituents, and the NDIS makes up a really significant proportion of that. Nearly one in every three people contacting my office is doing so because they are trying to navigate assessments, funding arrangements and increasingly complex support systems. I've spoken to too many people with a disability and too many parents of someone with a disability in my electorate who are in tears, who are distraught, who are in a very emotionally fragile state because they're worried about losing their plan, or being assessed at a lower, different rate that is not sufficient to meet their needs or their disability. That is really wearing on the emotional and mental reserves of many people in my electorate right now who genuinely, absolutely need to rely on a strong and secure and available NDIS.

Before these reforms commence, many families are already navigating systems that feel overwhelming and difficult to understand. For many families, managing support has become almost a full-time responsibility in itself. These are the stories that I hear and my office hears. They may be powerful, but they're not unique. I've heard recently from parents in towns like Warragul and Drouin trying to secure early intervention supports while waiting months for specialist appointments. I hear from families in South Gippsland travelling long distances just to access therapies because local options either don't exist or waiting lists stretch for months. I've had constituents in Venus Bay tell me that they just cannot get providers to their community—full stop. I also hear from carers on Phillip Island attempting to co-ordinate support workers, appointments and transport while balancing work and family responsibilities. I've heard from families in Wonthaggi overwhelmed by paperwork, red-tape requirements and the uncertainty of future arrangements. This is not fair and it's not right.

Increasingly, parents tell me they feel less like parents and more like coordinators, advocates and administrators. These are regular conversations occurring right across regional Australia. Too often discussions in Canberra become focused on fiscal projections and growth trajectories. But for families in my electorate of Monash, this debate is not just about balance sheets; it's about whether the supports they rely on today will still be there tomorrow.

One of the most significant elements of this bill is the proposed change to eligibility and access arrangements. Historically, eligibility has centred largely around diagnosis and established assessment criteria. The government now proposes moving towards a model based around reduced functional capacity. This represents a significant shift and understandably has generated concern because many details on how these assessments will operate still remain unclear. Families are seeking reassurance. Participants are seeking certainty. Communities are seeking confidence that Australians with genuine need will continue receiving the support they require.

There is also understandable concern regarding the proposed reassessment of existing participants. With more than 760,000 participants potentially being reassessed over the coming years, this represents an enormous undertaking for a government department. Communities are quite rightly asking a very reasonable question: if they lose access to supports under the NDIS, where do they go next? There is no answer for them. There is no adequate response, because our broader healthcare systems are already under significant pressure.

In my electorate, in West Gippsland, we've got the West Gippsland Hospital, which predates World War I. Yet Warragul and Drouin are among the fastest growing towns in regional Australia—in fact, in any part of Australia. That infrastructure has not kept pace with the population growth of my West Gippsland community, and that is why I'm fighting for a new West Gippsland hospital. That's why it's important. It's important to local families; it's important to people with a disability. We cannot put additional unnecessary burden on local health services. In the Bass Coast community in my electorate, they're continuing to wait for stages 2 and 3 of the Wonthaggi Hospital redevelopment, because the population there has grown as well.

Australians deserve better. Regional Australians deserve better. People in my electorate of Monash deserve better. That is why I will always stand up for local families. I will speak up for people with a disability who need strong representation in this place, and they deserve nothing less.

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