Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) | Hansard source

I'm not sure whether the member was suggesting the government was seeking to demonise this scheme. The government certainly is not seeking to demonise the scheme that, as the builders of the scheme, we're very proud of, and everything we are doing here is directed at securing the future of this scheme for the long term. Members might reasonably disagree on details about that, but, frankly, I quite clearly object to any suggestion that we are demonising a scheme which we see as a proud legacy of the Labor Party and of this parliament. I wholeheartedly reject that.

In relation to amendments dealing with support determinations, we don't support the amendments put forward by the member. There are other amendments from the crossbench around support determinations that we will be supporting.

As to amendment (1) of the four amendments moved by the member, around unscheduled reassessments, we have very carefully set out the circumstances where a participant or their nominee or their guardian is able to request a reassessment. We think that covers the circumstances, whether they relate to the person's functional capacity or general circumstances, that would justify an unscheduled reassessment.

There is also effectively a safety net of the NDIA chief executive being able to request a reassessment if the CEO or the agency is concerned that a participant might be at risk. We think that that very much deals with the circumstances that are reasonable to ground an unscheduled reassessment, so we won't be supporting these amendments.

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