Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is one of the most important social reforms in modern Australian history. It has changed Australia for the better. Before the NDIS, too many Australians with disability and their families were left to navigate a fragmented, crisis driven system that depended far too heavily on luck, postcode and personal circumstance. Families were forced to fight endlessly for support. Parents carried enormous burdens alone. Too many Australians with disability were excluded from opportunities that many of us take for granted.

The creation of the NDIS changed that. It represented a fundamental shift in how our nation understood disability, not through a lens of charity or limitation but through a belief in dignity, capability, inclusion and rights. For the first time, Australians with disability were placed at the centre of decisions about their own lives. Labor created the NDIS based on a simple but powerful principle: disability should never be a barrier to living a full and meaningful life. Over the past decade we've seen the extraordinary impact of that Labor vision.

The NDIS has helped Australians with disability access therapies, equipment, care and supports that have transformed lives. It has enabled children to participate more fully at school. It has helped young people build confidence and independence. It has supported pathways into employment, education, sport, the arts and community life. It has allowed people to live more independently and with greater choice and control over their futures. And it has provided reassurance and support to families and carers who for too long carried overwhelming responsibilities alone.

The NDIS has not only changed lives; it has changed our country. It's one of Australia's great human rights achievements. It has strengthened our understanding of inclusion, it has challenged outdated assumptions about disability and it has reaffirmed something fundamental about Australia: every person deserves the opportunity to participate fully in society. That's why the NDIS should be a point of enormous national pride. It reflects the very best of the Australian character: fairness, compassion and the belief that no-one should be left behind. In my community of Newcastle, we understand that better than most.

Newcastle was one of the original NDIS trial sites. Our region helped shape the national rollout of the scheme. More than 10,000 people were participating in our region. Long before the NDIS became a national institution, people in Newcastle were helping demonstrate what was possible when Australians with disability were given the support they deserved, and that is something our city is deeply proud of. Today, thousands of Novocastrians rely on the NDIS directly, whether it's participants, families, carers or advocates. Thousands more rely on the jobs and the economic opportunities created through the disability care sector.

In Newcastle this is not an abstract policy debate; this is personal. It's about real people, real families and real lives. I've met parents whose children are thriving because they finally have access to therapies and supports that allow them to participate at school and in the community. I've spoken with young people with disability who have gained confidence, independence and pathways into employment because the NDIS gave them opportunities that simply did not exist before. I've met carers who tell me that for the first time in years they no longer feel completely alone in carrying the burden of care. They love their kids, but it's hard work. I've heard stories of people being able to move into more independent living arrangements, to reconnect with communities and to participate in local sporting clubs, pursue creative passions and build friendships and social connections that many of us take for granted.

These stories matter because, when we talk about the NDIS, we are talking about human dignity. We are talking about people having the opportunity to live with greater independence, confidence and security. We are talking about inclusion. We are talking about fairness. That's why maintaining public confidence in, and the social licence of, the NDIS is important. Australians overwhelmingly support the NDIS because they understand its values. They understand that supporting Australians with disability is not only the right thing to do; it strengthens all of us as a nation. The NDIS represents a promise between Australians, a promise that we will look after one another, a promise that disability should never mean exclusion and a promise that every Australian deserves the chance to live a full and meaningful life. Maintaining that social licence also means ensuring the scheme remains strong, trusted and sustainable for generations to come. Supporting the NDIS means being honest about the challenges it faces. Protecting the NDIS means ensuring it remains sustainable, fair and focused on delivering the best outcomes for participants, and that's why reform matters.

I want to say very clearly that people with disability are not to blame for the pressures facing this scheme. The overwhelming majority of people who rely on the NDIS are simply seeking the supports they need to live their lives with dignity and independence. That should never be forgotten in this debate. We must reject any narrative that seeks to stigmatise Australians with disability or portray participants as responsible for broader challenges within the system, because that would fundamentally betray the values on which the NDIS was built. The challenges facing the scheme have far more to do with rapid growth, inconsistencies in administration, gaps in oversight, poor planning processes and, in some cases, exploitation and fraud by unscrupulous operators seeking to profit from vulnerable people. That's where our attention must be focused because every dollar lost to fraud or poor-quality providers is a dollar diverted away from Australians who genuinely need support. If public confidence in the integrity and sustainability of the scheme is undermined over time, that places the long-term future of the NDIS at risk, and none of us should want to see that.

The Albanese Labor government supports the NDIS unequivocally. We believe in it, we defend it and we are determined to ensure it survives and thrives for future generations. That means ensuring the scheme remains sustainable not only financially but also socially and politically. The long-term success of the NDIS depends on maintaining the trust and confidence of the Australian people. It's about ensuring we honour the contract and agreement between all our citizens. Australians want to know that the scheme is fair. They want to know that the supports are going to those who need them the most. They want to know that the safeguards are strong, and they want to know that the system is focused on delivering meaningful outcomes for participants.

Of course, the NDIS participants themselves want the scheme to be the very best it can be. They are literally depending on it. Responsible reform is not about walking away from the NDIS. It's about ensuring we protect it way into the future. It's about strengthening it. It's about preserving one of the greatest social reforms our nation has ever seen.

Importantly, these reforms build on the recommendations of the independent NDIS Review and the disability royal commission. Both processes made it clear that, if we want the NDIS to remain strong into the future, improvements are necessary. That includes strengthening governance, improving consistency, rebuilding trust and ensuring participants remain at the centre of decision-making.

In Newcastle, I know many people in the disability community are anxious about the proposed changes. I have met with participants, advocates and organisations, including the Community Disability Alliance Hunter, about their concerns. They've sat and spoken to me and the minister on these issues. People do want assurance, they want clarity, and they want confidence that reforms will not come at the expense of support—that these reforms will prioritise participant wellbeing, choice and uncompromised access to care.

These are not unreasonable asks, because, for many Australians, the NDIS is not just a government program; it's an essential part of everyday life. Families rely on it. Communities rely on it. Participants rely on it. That's why the consultation matters, that's why implementation matters, and that's why the voices of Australians with disability must remain central to every stage of reform. We cannot talk about people with disability without listening to people with disability, and learning to listen in respectful ways is important. I hope that is a lesson that all of us in the chamber learn as we debate these reforms going forward. Words matter, and respectful debate is always encouraged.

We cannot, we don't get to, preserve the social licence of the NDIS—and that's a collective task of everybody in this parliament—unless Australians continue to see the scheme as fair, compassionate and effective. Labor understands that because Labor has always believed in the NDIS. Labor created it, Labor built it, and Labor is taking responsibility to ensure it remains strong not just for today but for all those generations into the future. That's what responsible government looks like; it's the task before us, because the greatest threat to the NDIS right now is no reform. Despite the anxiety that some participants are feeling about change—understandably so, as I just said—there is no greater threat to the NDIS scheme that they're relying upon than a zero-reform agenda. That would be a diabolical outcome right now.

Participants know that, because they want this scheme to be the very best it can be, and they want to ensure that the services being delivered are absolutely focused on their leading full, meaningful, purposeful lives. So I say the greatest threat would be ignoring the problems that we know are in place for the NDIS. You don't get to ignore those problems until confidence is so badly eroded in the public arena that we don't have an opportunity to do meaningful reform work. The greatest threat, as I said, would be allowing waste, fraud or poor governance to undermine that public confidence and support. The public does support the NDIS. It is one of Australia's proudest social achievements, and the greatest betrayal would be failing to preserve the scheme for future generations of Australians with disability.

I know there are going to be temptations to make political comments across this chamber, but I really do urge people to be thoughtful and respectful in the contributions they make in this debate—both in this House and in the other place, when it happens there. The NDIS is bigger than politics. It must be bigger than politics. It represents our national values. It reflects the kind of country we want Australia to be—a country where people are included and not excluded, a country where dignity matters, a country where fairness matters, a country where every Australian has the opportunity to participate fully in community life. That's what is at stake—protecting inclusion, protecting dignity, protecting opportunity and protecting the future of the NDIS itself—and that is why we must work together to protect and strengthen it for today and for those generations to come.

I think Australia is a compassionate society. I think they want to see this parliament come together in ways that ensure that the NDIS delivers on the promise it makes to the people—to Australians that live with disability each and every day, no matter where they live.

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