Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers and participants will be significantly impacted and hold grave concern regarding changes to the transport allowance arrangements that have been announced in the recent annual price review, at very short notice without consultation by the Government; and

(b) the feasibility for NDIS providers and participants to make the necessary adjustments to service delivery arrangements in such a short time period is not achievable and will be at the detriment of the participant;

(2) condemns the Government for failing to consult with the NDIS sector and failing to understand the needs of participants and providers; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) defer these changes for at least three months to allow for consultation and planning around the changes to service delivery that may result from these changes; and

(b) explain how it expects community-based service providers in particular to adapt to these new pricing arrangements.

There is nothing more important that we can do in this place as parliamentarians than to look after our most vulnerable—to make sure that they are supported and have the services they need to live their best life.

As a member of the coalition, I sit with two minds when I talk about the NDIS, one being that it definitely needs reform—absolutely. I also sit with a heavy heart and great anxiety, because my daughter Emery, five years old, is on the NDIS. She has level 3 autism, and changes that get made quickly, changes that get made without consultation or with minimal consultation, terrify me as a father—terrify me for my daughter's future. And I'm not the only person in this parliament or this country that is looking at the changes to the NDIS with lots of fear.

I know that reform is needed. I get that. I understand it. But it must be done in a way where participants aren't waking up in the morning to find that things have changed; with providers being told, 'You have 10 working days to change your whole model because there will be a change to your pricing' due to the annual pricing review; with people in the regions not knowing if their services are going to be able to continue; and with travel being cut in half. What about for places like Magnetic Island, where you have to travel by boat to get there, or Palm Island? Regional Australia is going to feel this more than anywhere else.

The minister said that no-one will fall through the cracks and that there won't be any changes to people's services or their funding and support through the NDIS. Well, that hasn't been the case, because places like AEIOU, which provides support for children with autism, has seen closures, and Autism Queensland has had a reduction in hours. People who were diagnosed by a paediatrician or doctor as needing more support from the NDIS have had their packages and supports reduced. Those are significant changes.

In Townsville just recently I was speaking to a woman who shared with me that her daughter, born without enough muscle strength to move and play, relies on constant physiotherapy to grow. This young girl has been receiving physio support since birth, and it's her lifeline to getting stronger. She's learning to move, walk and play, like every child should. When changes happened through the annual pricing review, they slashed funding for her local physio provider. There are a few alternatives, but there shouldn't need to be an alternative to where this family gets the support that they need. Her mother is worried sick that her progress is going to end. It pains me, pains me to my heart, that families feel like their children are an inconvenient dollar figure on a government's budget bottom line.

We must do things differently. We must do things better. We need reform, but we have to work with the participants and with the providers, to ensure that no-one fall through the cracks. I understand why the government is making changes, but I can't understand that in regional Australia, such as in Townsville, participants are waking up in the morning to find that things have changed, and providers are being given only 10 working days to provide any sort of response. This risks our participants losing the support they need, and, without early interventions and without interventions now, they will not be able to live their best lives into the future. That's why it's so important that we bring on this debate and speak about our most vulnerable.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ali France (Dickson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

FRANCE () (): The NDIS is a lifeline for so many. It can be the difference between isolation, loneliness and intermittent human contact and regular time in the community with people and with support at home. It has also enabled carers to work and re-engage with community and take care of their mental health. Many participants and carers remember what it was like before the NDIS. I stayed in the house all day—just awful. I don't know how we survived. Every time we in this place talk about making change to the NDIS, their fears rise up. They struggle to sleep at night. I struggle. It is a reasonable reaction to the trauma of a severe lack of support before the NDIS. That is why Labor established the NDIS and why we will always work to protect it and ensure it delivers for those it was set up to support: people with significant and permanent care and support needs. It is also why we are making structural changes to the system—changes that must be made to ensure the system is equitable, safe and sustainable.

The NDIS is a lifeline for many and has been a cash cow for many others. Participants know this, providers know this and the general public knows this. Despite knowing this we still fear the change. Most participants and carers are genuinely distressed by the rorting and fraud that was allowed to enter the system by the previous coalition government. They have tainted our lifeline. We feel the scepticism from others. We see the buzzards circling. A few weeks ago a local mum, Carol, who has an adult child with cerebral palsy, came to the office distressed and upset over the bill a new service provider had sent them for two trips down the road to and from the Endeavour Foundation. The trip was no more than five minutes; their car had broken down. The bill was $1,000. She was embarrassed and angry and didn't know what to do with it. I seek leave to table a copy of Carol's bill and her email.

Leave granted.

We know, those opposite know and good providers, which are the majority, know that many bad actors were rorting the travel subsidy. We are listening to the vast majority of providers, who do the right thing, particularly those who travel to areas with no local services. But let's be clear: we need pricing discipline. People on the NDIS should not be paying a cent more than those in the aged care and health sectors. Change is needed not just because of bad actors but because the NDIS is not doing what it set out to do. It has left many with no support while others are overserviced. The other side talk about recent changes to rectify some of this, but they often talk knowing that nine years of turning a blind eye and a general lack of interest in the lives of disabled people allowed the problems of today to fester, run rampant and set in.

As soon as we came into government in 2022 we ordered a review, and what I heard was worse than I had ever anticipated. There were no basic fraud or compliance controls in the nine long years the coalition were running the NDIS—zero. That's on the coalition; that's your record. The fact that the vast majority of providers, 15 out of 16, are unregistered and unregulated is a disgrace. We are fixing it. The fact that the states and territories were given the green light to step away, under the coalition, from being the provider of last resort and delivering support where no other provider was willing to set up in a country town has left a deep hole in our mainstream systems of support. We are throwing the sink at that.

We also know that children with autism wait too long for diagnosis and early intervention and that while kids in our cities can mostly get access to early intervention supports, kids in regional and remote areas and those from disadvantaged backgrounds really struggle for the basics. That is why foundational supports and Thriving Kids is so important. We cannot have a system for our kids where the biggest spender wins.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Herbert for this motion. I too have grave concerns about the reduction in professional fees and funding for travel costs outlined in NDIS pricing arrangements and price limits 2025-26. The issues I have are with the substance of the changes but also their timing. I've been told that providers were only given a few weeks notice, despite the significant impact these pricing changes will have.

In regional Australia, these providers are small businesses and, on the whole, they're striving to provide important services to NDIS participants. They're not in the big city, where services are abundant and delivery is a lot simpler. It's a theme of mine—coming into this place to explain that things in regional and rural Australia are quite different from things in the city. I've said this in relation to industrial relations. I've said it in relation to agriculture and business. I've said it in relation to transport. I've said it in relation to aged care. But sometimes you've got to put a different lens over things in relation to regional and rural Australia. The businesses that service clients in rural and remote areas—clients are not spoiled for choice, and the practitioners must travel to reach clients. The reality is that in the bush you often don't have the services you need where you live. Either you travel, or the service provider travels to you. Under these changes, the compensation that providers can claim for that necessary travel has been cut.

We all agree that the NDIS needs to be financially sustainable; however, we need to be cautious that changes do not have a disproportionate impact on regional Australians simply because of where they choose to live. The Albanese government has some form in this area with changes made to registered nurse minutes in aged care. Regional aged care does not have the same access to qualified nurses, and meeting the requirements has meant employing agency staff, which means labour costs have soared and the viability of services has decreased. Again, it's that lack of understanding that things are very different in regional Australia.

We're concerned that, with these NDIS changes, once again the Albanese government has failed to consult with the sector and failed to understand the needs of business and service recipients. It's a disappointing move. The member for Herbert has written to the Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, calling on the government to defer these changes for at least three months to allow for consultation and planning around changes to service delivery, and I support that deferral.

The NDIS supports independence and social and economic participation of people with a disability. It was developed so as to have a nationally consistent approach to access to, and the planning and funding of, supports for people with a disability. I think people all around this chamber agree with the intent of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and it received bipartisan support when it was brought to this parliament. But, if we make changes to it, we've got to carefully examine the impact of those changes—sometimes they might be unintended. This might affect the ability of rural and regional service practitioners to do what they do and therefore provide the service that is so sorely needed.

Providers are saying to us that cutting travel supports will reduce access for regional clients, and that's something that we've got to be really careful about analysing. Once again, it's the same old story: where you live dictates what support is available, and that's just not good enough. It's inconsistent with the goal of equitable access across Australia, and it should be reviewed. I hope that the Albanese government can look at this, take the three-month deferral, consult with the industry and see whether there are better ways that we can do this. If this is the way forward, at least inform providers and recipients that this is what's going to happen and how it will affect them into the future.

Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The National Disability Insurance Agency released its annual pricing review earlier this year, making recommendations designed to help refocus the National Disability Insurance Scheme on its primary purpose, which is to provide funding and support services to Australians with a permanent and significant disability.

The provision of funding and support services is targeted towards helping those with disability live as independently and autonomously as possible, helping them to be able to spend more time with family and friends. It's also directed at helping people with a permanent and significant disability access new skills, access meaningful work or access a community volunteering opportunity. It is firmly aimed at delivering an improved quality of life.

The NDIS currently supports over 700,000 Australians with disability to access the services and support they need. This includes approximately 80,000 children with developmental delay, ensuring they receive supports early so that they achieve the best outcomes throughout their lives. To be clear again, the services and support facilitated by the scheme are directed at persons with a permanent and significant disability. Supporting those persons is the purpose; it is the entire point. The Albanese Labor government is focused on making the National Disability Insurance Scheme the best and fairest it can be.

The National Disability Insurance Agency's annual pricing review contained new recommendations with respect to the way travel is charged by those providing support and services to persons with a permanent and significant disability. The updated travel-claiming rules create clear cost expectations for those persons, helping them to get increased value and efficiency from the funding provided to them. The new rules also encourage providers to implement more efficient scheduling and to seek to ensure that travel costs are proportionate to the services being provided. Travel costs must be itemised separately on invoices so that participants can clearly understand where the funding provided to them, pursuant to the NDIS, is being used.

The National Disability Insurance Agency learned during the annual pricing review that participants were finding that therapy travel costs were exhausting their funding faster than expected. In this respect, participants, whose needs the National Disability Insurance Scheme is designed to fulfil, were listened to and heard. What this means is that the updated travel-claiming rules encourage more efficient scheduling by providers and provide clear cost expectations for participants, to help them get better value from their funding.

A similar motivation exists for the changes to increment recording by providers. Displaying therapy price limits in 10-minute increments is intended to increase flexibility in billing and in service delivery. It aims to clarify that one hour is not a default or expected service length and that the length of service can vary, depending on the agreement between the participant and provider based on individual needs and circumstances, which may evolve.

What changed following the National Disability Insurance Agency's annual pricing review is that, from 1 July 2025, therapy providers, not disability support workers or other types of support providers, can claim half of the relevant price limit for their time spent travelling, which equates to around $90 per hour, up to the usual time-limit caps, depending on location. Other travel rules did not change, which means all providers may continue to claim non-labour travel costs, such as vehicle-running costs, parking costs and road tolls. It is also open to providers to negotiate with participants to include costs and accommodation associated with travel to remote and/or very remote and regional locations. Travel in remote and very remote locations, as determined by the Modified Monash Model—which is the model used by the NDIA to classify the remoteness of a location—has price limits and is not subject to time caps. Additionally, remote loadings of 40 per cent and 50 per cent for remote and very remote locations, respectively, remain unchanged. This government will continue to work with regional, remote and rural communities to trial different ways of delivering services to make it easier for people in remote communities to receive the services they need.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Behind every policy decision, there are real people. When the NDIS was created, it carried a promise that every Australian with disability, no matter their postcode, would be supported with dignity, fairness and opportunity. For those in regional, rural and remote communities, that promise was meant to close the gap, ensuring access to quality care, even hundreds of kilometres from the nearest major city. But that promise has now been broken. Without consultation, the NDIA pushed through changes in its annual pricing review. Hidden deep within recommendation 12 was a devastating cut that unduly punishes regional Australians. Providers have been left scrambling, unsure if they can continue travelling to the communities that rely on them. Participants are frightened, wondering if the care they have depended on for years will suddenly disappear.

These changes are not a simple policy tweak; they are the difference between a child receiving life-changing therapy or going without. They are the difference between a provider staying in the region and a provider walking away. For many residents in rural communities, the nearest physiotherapist is hours away, making regular therapy all but impossible without providers travelling long distances to deliver care. The NDIA might call the changes 'efficiency', but let's call them what they are: a direct hit on regional Australians living with disability. Yes, there are rorts in the system, and they must be addressed. No-one disputes that. But, instead of targeting the culprits, Labor has swung the axe at the providers who are doing the right thing, the ones who drive thousands of kilometres and invest time and money to reach those left behind and ensure families and participants aren't forgotten—but that is already happening.

My constituent Susan Blackborough was diagnosed with MS at just 12 years old. Susan did not let her disease define her. She was active and independent and once ran a successful business. But, as her disease progressed, she lost her independence and now lives with profound disability. Susan told me that some days she's unable to get out of bed without assistance and that she has lost her ability to walk. But with the help of her physiotherapist, Greg, Susan has slowly regained some strength and independence. Susan's goal is to walk again. With Greg's support, she has gone from dangerous falls and being bedbound to being able to do weight-bearing exercises safely. She said, if she doesn't have access to physio, her progress stops. Susan has a message for this government: 'Rural Australians are just as important as people in the cities. Disabled people already have enough on their plates. If they live rural and can't access these supports, sometimes life just isn't worth living.' Susan's words should haunt every member of this House.

Her physiotherapist, Greg Muller, also spoke to me about the impact of these cuts. His mobile practice was built to reach the people who often get left behind. They deliberately run lean, check every code and do everything possible to keep services viable, but there's only so much they can do. Greg told me that there are people like Susan who simply can't leave their homes. These people deserve the same access to quality care as everyone else. But what the government is saying is 'you just have to take what you can get'. Providers in regional and remote areas already face significant challenges. They drive hundreds of kilometres, often in difficult conditions, paying higher costs for fuel and vehicle maintenance. These policy changes make it financially unsustainable for them to continue serving the people who rely on them. The government's assumption that providers can simply adapt ignores the realities of delivering care in the bush.

And let us not forget the personal toll. Families are left carrying more responsibility when support services are cut. Carers must fill the gaps, sacrificing their own health and wellbeing. Children miss out on therapy that could be life changing. Adults lose independence they have fought so hard to gain. This is not just policy; it is real life, and it is being put at risk by decisions made in offices far from the regions they affect. These changes send a chilling message to all Australians living outside major cities that your postcode determines the quality of care you receive and that your progress, your independence and your dignity are negotiable.

I am calling on the government to defer these changes for at least three months. This time must be used to consult properly with providers, participants and communities. The government must plan how service delivery will be maintained and explain how community based providers are expected to adapt without leaving vulnerable Australians high and dry.

It's not too late for the Australian government to put people first. It's not too late to listen to Susan; her physio, Greg; and every regional Australian who depends on the NDIS for dignity, independence and hope.

Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is one of the great Labor social reforms. It has fundamentally changed the lives of people with a disability for the better, giving people the opportunity to participate in society in a way that they never could before. Quality allied health professionals play an absolutely crucial role in achieving these goals. In my electorate, in the Illawarra, we are incredibly lucky to have a strong, well-established network of quality, passionate and dedicated professionals working hard on this every single day. For them, the work they do is more than just a job. It is a reflection of their compassion, commitment and strong desire to improve the lives of others. I want to start by acknowledging this work and thanking everyone in my community working so hard to improve the lives of others—helping children to walk and talk, helping to reduce pain and discomfort and giving people the tools and the power to engage socially and economically. It is such valuable work.

I also want to give a very special mention to the Illawarra Disability Alliance. The IDA is an incredibly passionate group of local NDIS-registered not-for-profit organisations who want to support the success and inclusion of people with disability in our community. They are experienced professionals who have dedicated their lives to working in this field—true experts. So I was concerned when they and other local providers started voicing objections to the recent NDIA pricing review. These providers work in the system every single day. They understand its unique challenges. And their voices need to be heard in this process.

As a government, we have not shied away from the fact that the NDIS needs to undergo changes to become fairer and sustainable in a way that works for everyone. There is always going to be debate across the sector about how we achieve this. What is absolutely essential during this process is strong engagement with participants and with providers every step of the way.

As an MP, I have a very firm expectation that the National Disability Insurance Agency undertakes proper and respectful consultation before making decisions that affect the lives of people with a disability and those working hard to support them. It is for this reason that I have engaged in conversation with the NDIA since these changes were announced, to ensure that consultation with groups like the Illawarra Disability Alliance is occurring in a full and frank way. I wrote to the NDIA to express the concerns of my constituents and urged further consultation with local providers as a matter of urgency. Regional areas like mine simply will not have a large enough pool of providers to draw from if some of these long-established organisations exit the scheme.

I would really like to thank the minister's office, and the NDIA's Deputy Chief Executive Officer for partners, providers and home and living, Penelope McKay, for meeting with some of my local providers last week to hear directly from them about the impact of these changes. I also want to thank our amazing local providers who have engaged with me on this issue.

I was reassured to learn that the NDIA will soon be putting out a three-year work plan to help providers better prepare for upcoming changes and engage in consultation more easily. I was also really pleased that the deputy CEO took the time to listen to the feedback that my local providers had, and I hope that this will see engagement with these providers continue into the future. Following the meeting, I have been working hard to ensure that my local providers have a seat at the table when the NDIA is consulting with industry through the agency's quarterly Industry Chief Executive Forum.

The government also last week invested $45 million in pilot programs to support providers and gain valuable data to inform future approaches to therapy pricing. This is welcome news.

The NDIA is an independent agency and decisions are made by the NDIA board. However, this does not mean that the agency has no accountability to its participants and providers or to government. We are all trying to get the best outcomes for people with disability in our community. We want them to thrive and get the vital support that they need in a way that works for them. To achieve this, we absolutely must have real and open dialogue between participants, providers and the NDIA. Being open to feedback and collaboration means better results for participants and the sustainability of the NDIS. Once again, I want to thank everyone who is working hard, across the industry, to improve the lives of people with a disability.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is a complete shambles at the moment, on Labor's watch, and something must be done to restore and fix this broken system. It is one of the most important things that we, as a parliament, do: to look after our most vulnerable people. But we are letting them down. The Labor government stands condemned for its new pricing payment system which came into effect on 1 July. This affects NDIS providers and clients, particularly in regional Australia.

There's no point writing to the Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the member for Hindmarsh. You'll get a letter back from his chief of staff. I should not know his chief of staff's name but he's the only one I ever get a letter from when I write to the minister's office, and that is a disgrace. Write instead, if you are a member of parliament, to Senator Jenny McAllister. She will at least respond, and I've at least got some faith in her ability to fix any issue which I take to her. That is a great shame and it's on the minister's head.

But don't just take my word when I say that the NDIS is in a mess. Take the words from constituents of mine, such as Patricia Veney and her son Michael. He is 34, and they live in Cowra. She says, 'I believe this scheme was introduced to help people who need it, with "choice and control" and "reasonable and necessary". They have taken choice away, leaving us with no control, and it is not reasonable and necessary.' She says that living in rural and remote areas of Australia presents unique challenges, particularly for people with disabilities who rely on the NDIS. But when you've got the travel component being virtually taken away from people who are our most vulnerable, it is going to leave them without allied health help—without podiatry, without speech therapy, without physiotherapy. It's simply not good enough in this day and age.

Take Diana Martin and her son Grant Cain. He's 43. He lives in a group home in Cowra as well. Grant's occupational therapist has contacted Diana to say that they can't work with Grant anymore because the NDIS has cut funding for travel. It's simply not good enough.

These people need our help. These people were getting our help, and these people have been taken off that help by the Labor government—a Labor government which does not care about regional Australia. It's simply not good enough. They should be caring at least for those vulnerable people who live in regional Australia who can't help themselves. These people are suffering. They have disabilities and they've had their help stripped away because of the selfishness of, and the cruel and callous contempt that they have been shown by, this government. It's simply not good enough. Regional people are demanding better. They are demanding that people who have disabilities should be looked after.

Georgie Butt, a sole trader, of Teach Me Speech speech pathology, looks after the towns of Cootamundra, Harden and Temora. She says, 'My entire speech pathology service is delivered via mobile therapy, with each client requiring me to travel at least 27 to 67 kilometres, which is between 30 minutes to an hour travel.' And she says: 'Due to recent NDIS travel price cuts, I've had to absorb 50 per cent of travel costs. If I stop travelling to clients, I would have no clients as my service relies entirely on reaching families in their communities.' So either she absorbs the costs, or she doesn't go to help the people who need treatment as she's done in the past. Georgie is very good at what she does.

Then we have Donalee Gregory, a director and physiotherapist at Kids I Can in Wagga Wagga. She too has been left high and dry. 'These changes will have a significant impact in regional areas where providers often travel large distances to support their clients. We value the impact of supporting children in their natural environments and have continued to provide these supports'—that's what she says. But they can't keep providing the supports if it's going to cruel their business. It's not only cruelling their business; it's cruelling those people who rely on the support: Australia's most vulnerable people who live in rural, regional and remote Australia. And it's on Labor's watch. They've turned a blind eye to those people. Shame on them.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What I would say to this House is that it was on Labor's watch when the NDIS became a reality. People facing profound disability had not had the opportunity to seek that support until a Labor government put it into place. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is a critical Australian institution. It's a world-leading piece of public policy reform that, on the individual level, changes the lives of participants for the better, every single day.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet some of those participants at the Kuraby Special School family fun day. It's a day that's put on for kids with disability who do not get the opportunity to go to the Ekka. The principal there, Abby Kilfoy, and their P&C leader, Glen, know how critical that is, because everyone who is a person with disability deserves dignity, deserves support and deserves to participate in our community. That's what they do day in, day out at the Kuraby Special School, and, when it comes to the NDIS, they are some of the participants who make up the 717,000 people who now have the choice to control their own supports. It enables them to access reasonable and necessary services, supports and equipment for the care that they need, for the care that their families need, for the care that they deserve. In particular, they need that care to work towards personal goals and to access their community just as those students did when it came to the Kuraby Special School and the Ekka.

As Minister Butler recently said, Australia's NDIS has gone from a dream of generations of disability activists to an entrenched and beloved institution, and we need to keep it that way. To be able to keep it that way, what the NDIS needs is financial sustainability so that the NDIS remains a reality and remains a critical support for all of those participants who use it day in and day out. It is imperative we ensure the long-term viability of the NDIS so that future generations can access it, and Labor takes this responsibility incredibly seriously. Cost projections showed the annual cost of the NDIS would grow from about $35 billion in the 2022-23 year to more than $50 billion in the 2025-26 year and exceed $90 billion a year within a decade.

The Albanese Labor government is focused on the sustainable growth of the NDIS, and Labor is also determined to ensure that prices are fairer for participants, providers and workers in the sector and that there is a transparency for the Australian taxpayer about that process and outcome. This means ensuring that participants are not overcharged. It also means that our investment in the NDIS has to go to our frontline workers and participants. It means clarity around pricing arrangements. It is the participants and the frontline workers of the NDIS who are the lifeblood of this scheme.

The annual price review is a key part of monitoring the scheme to ensure efficiency, equity and financial viability, and the National Disability Insurance Agency incorporates market data, research and public and industry engagement in its review, considering numerous factors such as changes to the minimum wage and the superannuation guarantee. In the last review, the agency also commissioned an independent report into pricing, focusing on a detailed examination of pricing data and patterns. The review is a rigorous process. It's a rigorous process in which this year more than 10 million therapy transactions were assessed and benchmarked with Medicare, private health insurance and 13 other government schemes. The outcomes of that 2024-25 annual pricing review included recommending new prices for certain therapies where participants were paying more than other consumers, as well as restructuring and clarifying travel charges.

What the NDIS is fundamentally about is making sure that some of the most vulnerable people in our community have the support they need every day, and the only way to do that—the only way to ensure this world-changing critical piece, this great institution introduced by Labor—is to make sure it is financially sustainable.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.