Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is one of Australia's most significant social reforms. It exists because Australians believe that people with significant and permanent disability deserve dignity, independence and the opportunity to live full lives. This view is entirely shared by the coalition. But today we're seeing that families across the country are deeply anxious. This isn't because they oppose reform but because they fear that this government is asking them to carry the cost of its failure to properly manage the scheme. On the other side, there's also the anxiety of the Australian taxpayer who has no issue with providing support to those who are in genuine need but who right now feels that they're being ripped off and rorted. We've seen this across the country. We've seen it on social media. We've seen it playing out across the media as well.

There are a few different points I'd like to make in the course of my contribution on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. Firstly, it is that the coalition is a supporter of the NDIS. It is that sustainability matters. It is that fraud and waste must be tackled, that participants and families must not pay the price for government incompetence and that reform must be careful, transparent and compassionate.

When I speak to people across my electorate, we hear about their views on the NDIS. At a time when Australians are really hurting due to this cost-of-living crisis, it's not unexpected that people raise with me their concerns about the areas of government expenditure, and one of those that I hear about is the NDIS. The NDIS was originally expected to cost $13.6 billion, but we've seen that the NDIS bill is approximately $50 billion each year, and it's projected to increase towards the $70 billion mark by the end of the decade. We have 761,426 participants nationally, with around 3,790 participants in my electorate of McPherson, and we have a growth rate of around 10.3 per cent.

The issue is not—and this is not what we're discussing—whether the NDIS should exist or not. The issue is whether the government is able to make it sustainable without leaving Australians with a disability worse off, and that is something that is very important in the context of this debate. At the end of the day, it's about people. It's about the parents, the carers, the siblings, the support workers and the people who are doing their best to try and live independently. It's about people who have gone through an experience or who have been born with or developed certain conditions or issues that, through no fault of their own, have put them in a difficult situation. These people are not the problem. The problem is that, as with many different forms of government expenditure, there are people who can misuse the system. There is fraud, waste, weak oversight, poor administration and a lack of clarity. That is exactly what the government must address.

This is, I'll point out, Labor's third attempt to slow NDIS growth, and that's quite concerning. We have seen this gradual increase. It's gradual, but it's a persistent increase in the cost of the NDIS. Conversely, in the conversations that I've had with people across my electorate and with people who have written to me from across the country, we've also seen a reduction in the public confidence in the NDIS. Without that public confidence, there is no public licence for it. This is where the integrity of the system becomes so critically important.

In 2023, Labor promised a growth cap of eight per cent, and then they moved that target to 5.6 per cent, but we're still seeing growth sitting at the 10.3 per cent mark. The government is now trying to aim it at two per cent, which, as you can see, based on the record, doesn't really instil a sense of confidence.

The government has announced savings before it has properly explained the human consequences. As I said at the outset, most people I speak to—in fact, most Australians—say to me that they have absolutely no issue in putting out money to support Australians in genuine need. The issue comes where it is not used effectively or where those people do not actually get the benefit of the funds that are being used. This bill creates a new eligibility framework, new assessments and reassessments of existing participants, but it doesn't clearly explain how those assessments work, who conducts them, what thresholds apply and where people go if they are removed from the program. Families are being asked to trust a system that the government itself has not fully outlined or designed, and this is at a time where the level of trust not only in politics and government but in the NDIS is not very high.

I'd like to speak to a particular example, because this, I think, gives the human element and the human aspect of the NDIS. In my electorate, I've had many people who are involved in the NDIS reach out to me, whether they're participants or they're providers. Since I was elected, they've persistently spoken about a system that is broken. They've spoken about a system that doesn't actually do what it is or was intended to do. The casualties of those inefficiencies and of a broken system are people such as 12-year-old Levi. Michelle, who's the mother of 12-year-old Levi, reached out to my office towards the end of last year. Levi has cerebral palsy. He's a terrific, energetic and enlightening young man. Towards the end of last year, I had the opportunity to meet Levi at one of the end-of-year school awards. Levi's smile absolutely lit up the stage.

But Levi and his mum have been going through some challenges with the NDIS, and Levi's mum, Michelle, contacted my office seeking some urgent assistance regarding significant delays in the processing of Levi's NDIS plan. Those issues had been pending since July 2025. They came to my office because Levi hadn't had an updated plan in nearly five years, despite the fact that he requires critical supports, including a communication device to assist with his transition to high school. As well, Levi is in a mechanical wheelchair. Michelle said to me that her experience was of ongoing difficulties obtaining clear information from the NDIS. She received inconsistent updates and faced communication barriers with staff, and that situation was particularly worsened because of Michelle's own health issues. Michelle had a lung cancer diagnosis and surgery, which then limited her ability to act as a carer for Levi.

Once we reached out to the NDIS, the NDIS confirmed that contact was made with Michelle towards the end of November in 2025, and that matter was referred to the appropriate team for action. It was able to be addressed and there was an outcome that was favourable for Levi. But the point is that the situation shouldn't take the mother, who's obviously going through a lot herself, having to reach out to their federal member of parliament to then make representations on her behalf because a system that was designed to protect people exactly like 12-year-old Levi is not working and is broken. That is fundamentally what we need to be addressing here today.

There is, indeed, a story behind each and every one of the names of the people who are involved in the NDIS, and there are many people on both sides—people who are providers and people who are participants in the system—who have their experiences and their stories. But the other side of this debate that I will talk to is a part that has gained a lot of national attention, and that is the fraud issues with the NDIS. That, ultimately, pierces the integrity of the system. This is where we on the opposition side of this chamber can absolutely support reform, because reform is needed and is well and truly overdue. It's only reform that will ensure that funds are preserved to go to the right place and to make sure that people like Levi are able to get the support that they need.

But we don't think this proposed legislation is going to fix the NDIS. We don't think this goes far enough. We don't think it will do what it needs to do in order to restore integrity to the NDIS. I implore the government to reconsider its approach to the NDIS more broadly to make sure that we are actually going to address the issues that we are seeing in the NDIS. The fact that 94 per cent of providers are currently unregistered is something that, prior to entering politics, I had absolutely no idea about. It is absolutely shocking that, while across various industries, various sectors and professional bodies, if you want to practise in certain fields, you need to be registered, in the NDIS there's a different standard.

We are also seeing the value of the fraudulent activity, which goes to the integrity of the NDIS. Six to 10 per cent of claim outlays, according to the ANAO's estimates, are potentially fraudulent, incorrect or non-compliant. Based on 2025 spending, that's estimated to be between $2.9 billion and $4.8 billion of leakage annually, which could rise to $8 billion by the end of the decade. This is at a time when Australians are really struggling to keep up with their own payments, when Australians who have disabilities aren't able to access the care that they need and when people like Levi are not able to get immediate access to the support that they need. Every dollar that is lost to fraud is a dollar that's taken away from Australians with a disability.

On the fraud side, taxpayers deserve accountability, participants deserve protection and whistleblowers deserve support, not silence. We need to make sure that we build a system that Australians can be proud of, not a system that Australians are concerned about. Ultimately, if we don't do that, the future of the NDIS and everybody that it supports is in jeopardy. When I speak to people across my electorate, they talk to me about their needs, and there is no doubt that there is a considerable need on the Gold Coast, as there is, I'm sure, across the country. There is no shortage of funds in this space. What there is a shortage of is efficiency. We on this side of the House will strongly support and work with the government in doing whatever it takes to ensure we get through this and we're able to create a system that is going to instil confidence in the public.

The government can't continue to claim that it's protecting the NDIS while billions are leaking out through fraud and exploitation. We need to make sure we see reform that doesn't overburden those who are doing the right thing, those who are legitimate providers and those who are legitimate participants. We can't drive allied health workers out, and we're seeing that happen. I'm seeing it time and time again. A number of people who work in that space have reached out to me to say that they are overburdened with reporting, with paperwork. They're forced to complete paperwork that they feel—and I hear this time and time again—is never read by people. We need to have a system that gets past the bureaucracy and goes directly to the needs of the participants. It needs to put the participants first, and it needs to support those who are doing the right thing, support participants and work with them to help them get ahead. At the end of the day, restoring integrity in the NDIS is going to be the only way we can ensure it remains a long-term solution to supporting Australians with disabilities.

The NDIS belongs to Australians and to Australians with disabilities, not to governments who are balancing budgets. Reform is necessary, and fraud must be stopped because we must secure the future of the NDIS, but we must do it without abandoning Australians who depend on it every single day.

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