Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

After 13 years, Australia's universal health and support system would be inconceivable now without the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The scheme has become an important part of Australian life. It's part of our national identity, it's part of our national story and it's one of the greatest social achievements. It is part of what makes Australia the envy of the world.

The scheme is the fruit of years of hard work by people with a disability, disability advocates and carers who recognised that Australia was falling short of its human rights obligations to protect and care for some of the more vulnerable people in our community. It was a Labor government who answered that call—their call that people with disability should be given choice and control in the matter of their own care. Labor is the party that does the big innovations that make life better for Australians—Medicare, the superannuation guarantee, paid parental leave, the NBN—and it was a Labor government that conceived of the NDIS. The Albanese Labor government is committed to maintaining this promise. We are committed to seeing the NDIS succeed well into the future.

But, after 13 years, the NDIS risks running afoul of its original charter. After a decade of poor implementation and management under those opposite, the NDIS ballooned beyond all recognisable proportions in terms of costs and numbers of participants. While most providers are doing the right thing for the right reasons, we know that there are also fraudsters, grifters and rorters in the system taking advantage of those whom the system is there to ostensibly protect. Sadly, whenever there is a bucket of government funding, the sharks circle. Hence, the quality of care and support has also been compromised.

These issues are perhaps not entirely unexpected. When the NDIS was established by a Labor government in 2013, it was the coalition that oversaw the initial period of its implementation. In 2022, the Albanese Labor government inherited from the coalition an NDIS that was growing at 22 per cent year on year—unsustainable. Since coming into government, we have sought to make the NDIS better, more reliable and fit for purpose in the long-term—sustainable. We have sought to make it safe, effective and ethical. Labor has brought down the growth rate to 10 per cent, but, unfortunately, this is still well in excess of what was originally contemplated when the NDIS was set up and is still too high if we want the NDIS to remain viable.

Under the changes that are proposed, the NDIS will continue to grow. But, rather than costing taxpayers more than Medicare and the PBS combined and rather than a total expenditure of more than $70 billion and participant numbers of 900,000 by 2030, compared to the Productivity Commission's recommended 550,000 benchmark, the NDIS funding will be $55 billion in 2030 and will provide for 600,000 people by 2030, bringing it back to its original purpose of providing services for people with enduring and significant disability.

Many Australians rely on the NDIS for their care needs and know that they can rely on the NDIS for their care. I hear from so many Boothby constituents about the life-changing experiences with NDIS, but I also hear stories about where it isn't working, and these can be catastrophic. The social guarantee risks being jeopardised if the shortcomings in the system aren't urgently and comprehensively addressed, and we are determined to make sure that the NDIS does not fail. We want it to be sustainable and to last for future generations. To this end, reform is not negotiable.

The reality is that many Australians have lost confidence in the NDIS. Increasingly, Australians believe it has become unwieldy, providers are untrustworthy and that changes therefore need to be made. Activists, advocates, carers, people with disability themselves—everyone wants to see the NDIS doing better, because the reality is that the NDIS cannot survive if it loses the confidence of the Australian taxpayer.

It was a Labor government that proudly established the NDIS, and it will be a Labor government that takes responsibility for ensuring that the NDIS truly works for Australians with disability. Be in no doubt: people with disability are not the problem and they will be the centre of these changes. Their voices cannot be divorced from this process of reform. The problem lies with the system that has long failed people with disability and will continue to fail them if changes are not made.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 will restore the NDIS to its original intent, supporting people with permanent and significant disability. To this end, it will make access and eligibility requirements fairer, clearer and more consistent. Assessments will be standardised and evidence-based, and this means that a person's eligibility for NDIS will depend on an assessment of functional capacity. What do they actually need in terms of support? Under the old assessment model, eligibility was determined on the basis of a diagnosis alone. It did not require a judgement of functional capacity. In the early days of NDIS, these diagnoses or access lists were intended to be provisional, and it facilitated faster access to the NDIS. But it was always meant to eventually make way for an objective assessment tool.

The new assessment tool will be developed through co-design with people with disability and the sector. The diagnosis gateway has put people on the NDIS who don't need to be because this was the only option for service provision for them, and so the government is developing the Thriving Kids program which children under eight with developmental delay or autism with low to moderate support needs will be able to access appropriate services in the future. Importantly, they'll be able to access the supports they need even while they are trying to find a diagnosis which can be difficult with young children. This enables them to access early intervention, which can make all the difference. The government will also invest $6 billion in foundational supports for people who require less significant support. I hear from people with disability and carers the fear that these services don't exist, and they're correct. They don't. They do not currently exist, but they will, and, again, they will be made with co-design.

This bill also introduces planning measures and safeguards. It ensures that supports provided are relevant to the eligible impairments. It will provide clearer guidance and legislation on what reasonable and necessary support means. It will make changes to the circumstances for requesting unscheduled plan assessments by imposing stricter criteria. Currently, one in five plans are subject to unscheduled reassessments. These are often instigated by plan managers who seek to exploit the process for their own personal financial gain because reassessments can result in an average increase of 20 per cent in plan value.

This bill will reset the total costs for social and community participation and capacity building daily activities to where they were last year. These programs are languishing and underperforming in their objectives. While many support workers do a fantastic job, many others are not meeting the basic expectations—expectations of creating connection, encouraging participation, fostering inclusion and treating participants' time with respect and dignity. The cost invested does not justify participants' current experiences of these programs. Four years ago, this stream of the NDIS was worth $4 billion. Today it is more than $12 billion, the same in net terms that we spend on the PBS. And it will be $20 billion at the end of the decade if not addressed. These are sums we simply cannot justify. Instead, the government will establish a $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund, facilitating mainstream disability services and organisations that will rebuild capacity and provide genuine options for participation in the community.

The government will also fight the fraudsters, the grifters and the rorters who maliciously and unashamedly take advantage of not just the system but people with disability. They use scams, cons, fraud and sometimes violence and threats to get their way. They game the system in order to make a quick buck at the taxpayer's expense and at the expense of their clients. There are no words to describe this activity other than criminal. The government has already committed $550 million to tackle these fraudsters in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2025. We now review more claims every day than those opposite did in an entire year. They just let the fraudsters rip.

This bill builds on our existing regulations and safeguards. The bill introduces additional categories of mandatory registration to include higher risk activities, such as personal care, daily living supports and supports in closed settings. Higher risk provider registration improves oversight, maintains safety and protects participants from exploitation, violence, abuse and neglect, and it will reassure participants of the quality of the service delivery. The bill will require providers to enrol in a digital payment system so that they are paid directly with a nominated and validated bank account, undermining criminal cash kickbacks, large cash withdrawals, asset purchases and fraudulent financial transactions on NDIS funds.

The NDIS will also be able to monitor all evidence associated with the claim. Currently, the NDIS has no access whatsoever to 90 per cent of claims made by plan managers and providers directly. Around 600,000 claims are made every day without supporting evidence. This will change that. In addition, the NDIS will now have new powers to investigate criminal activity, including more information-gathering capabilities. Providers, nominees and participants will be obligated to retain records regarding service provision or claims for specified periods of time at the risk of incurring a civil penalty.

The bill also seeks to improve the quality of service provided by plan managers and support coordinators. There are currently 1,400 plan management providers of variable quality—some excellent, some not so. Plan management providers will now need to be members of our commission panel. The panel will set strict quality regulation and monitoring standards for its members, resulting in higher quality services. We will also reduce third-party service providers, who are often not qualified to provide disability services and are much more interested in financial returns. Third parties are much more interested in hoarding as many plans as possible and much less interested in providing the quality of service that participants need and deserve.

The participants will no longer need to pay their support coordinator from the NDIS plan budgets. The government will commission providers to give support coordination from a list of quality and accountable providers funded directly by the government. The proposition is simple: more oversight will mean higher quality services. The return to sensible management will mean the NDIS is projected to grow by two per cent year on year and by five per cent from 2030 onwards. Importantly, it secures the future of the NDIS. The NDIS is sinking under its own weight. The system has outgrown the number of participants it was created to service, and costs have correspondingly become unsustainable. The question of delaying real and substantial change is not one we have the luxury of entertaining—certainly not if we want to preserve the NDIS for future generations.

This bill is not necessarily about participants. They're not the ones at fault here, but they are the centre of what we're trying to achieve. I know that the uncertainty of change is keeping people awake at night. This is not even necessarily about providers, the majority of whom do good work and go about their work with integrity. It is about creating a fair, safe and sustainable system that serves the interests of its participants, a system that is fit for purpose and will remain fit for purpose for the foreseeable future. The bill reclaims the narrative that first inspired the creation of the NDIS: giving a hand to our vulnerable Australians who need it the most. I commend the bill to the House.

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