Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges increasing reports from participants, families and service providers that the Government's mismanagement of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is resulting in reduced support packages, particularly for those with complex and high needs;

(2) notes evidence provided through National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) answers to Questions on Notice from Supplementary Budget Estimates showing that:

(a) eligibility reassessments increased from 12,366 in the fourth quarter of 2024-25 to 21,189 in the first quarter of 2025-26;

(b) reassessments resulting in revoked eligibility surged from 389 to 10,202 over the same period; and

(c) plan reviews led to a reduction of $436 million from participant plans in the first quarter of 2025-26;

(3) recognises the reports that these changes are often occurring behind the scenes, with limited explanation or transparency provided to participants and their families;

(4) condemns any approach to scheme sustainability that prioritises cutting participant supports over addressing systemic issues such as waste, red tape and fraud; and

(5) calls on the Government to restore transparency, consistency and accountability in decision making, including clear communication of reasons for funding changes and a renewed focus on fixing inefficiency and safeguarding the integrity of the scheme.

It's important that we recognise how significant the National Disability Insurance Scheme is and what a game changer it has been for so many across the communities that we represent in this place. We talk a lot about the big reforms that have happened over the course of the Australian federation. I don't think there are many that have had the sort of game-changing impact that we have seen from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and both sides of parliament should be proud of the progress that we've made to try to ensure that those who are the most vulnerable in our communities are looked after in a way that we would expect them to be. It's often said that the true measure of a society is how we treat our most vulnerable. If that is the true measure of a society, then Australia should be very proud of how well we do treat our most vulnerable, with this really world-leading reform that has been put into place over recent years.

But, of course, with that important reform and with this institution that we've created and the very, very complex regulations and legislation that underpin it, it is so critical that we have good stewardship of the NDIS, that we ensure that every dollar that is invested from the taxpayer is going where it is intended and that we ensure that no-one is slipping through the cracks. This is a scheme that is reaching maturity now. It's in its 13th year. It's a bit like a teenager, if you like. It's reaching that point now where it needs to make a call as to which direction it's going to go in. It could very easily slip into an overly bureaucratic, centrally controlled, grey, soulless bureaucracy that doesn't get the results we want. Similarly, it could become an absolute free-for-all, Wild-West-style enterprise, where people are rorting it left, right and centre. What we want to try to do is find that gap, that happy medium where people are getting the outcomes that they want—getting the outcomes that we want to see them want—but we're making sure that all the regulations are in place that are going to make sure that it is sustainable and achieving all those outcomes.

But what we are unfortunately seeing is growth that is unsustainable. What we are seeing is growth at about 10.3 per cent per annum. That was from the last quarterly update. The government, of course, has had a strategy. They've had a goal of trying to get it to eight per cent. Now the National Cabinet is trying to set a target of five to six per cent. Unfortunately, what we're seeing in the press over recent days, as we head towards the budget the month after next, is speculation that the government's going to try to budget that five to six per cent aspirational target as what they're going to use as their forward projection. That concerns us. It worries us about whether the government have got a serious plan about how they're going to actually try to achieve that five to six per cent.

I'm sure that every MP here, including the member for Forde, would appreciate that a huge amount of our casework that we're seeing in our electorate offices consists of people who are having their plans cut. They're being cut because this government is delivering very poor stewardship of this scheme. I had a 78-year-old mother called Jan reach out to me. She's providing palliative care to her son, who's got Huntington's disease. He requires constant one-on-one support. He can't communicate, can't feed himself and is constantly at risk of choking. Jan's providing all that care herself at 78. Her son's plan includes $18,000 for behavioural consultations, which of course he won't be using because he's heading, unfortunately, to palliative care. He's had a significant cut in his funding. Julie, another woman who lives down the road from me in Wellington Point, is a 61-year-old living with advanced symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer's disease and requires 24/7 care. She's had an unannounced 43 per cent cut. I'm sure I'm not the only MP who's hearing these sorts of stories.

I'm going to run out of time, but all I can say is that cutting from the most vulnerable is the easy way out. That's not the way that any government should be trying to handle their stewardship of this scheme. These are the people the scheme was designed to support, and we cannot let them down.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against this motion. I've got to say that the one thing that I really expected when I got here was that there'd be a lot more bipartisanship behind the scenes. I've been disappointed to see that, actually, this opposition is focused on scoring political points and making division where there really should be cooperation on so many things. We've seen it all week over fuel, and we see it on the NDIS as well. I guess it's that working together doesn't encourage Facebook clicks. The other thing that I think that the opposition and the member for Bowman should be—

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm a little bit gobsmacked. I'm happy to respond to interjections, but what's the interjection? Are you interjecting about me interjecting?

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If I could address what the member for Bowman is concerned about, he was talking about, on one hand, the scheme continuing to blow out while, on the other hand, cuts are being made. I'd like to make the point that I did have a life outside of politics—I had a life in construction and in farming—but for the last few years I was working for a senator. In 2018, we saw the NDIS grow under the former government. All of the problems that we saw in 2018 and beyond, when the scheme was small and manageable, just scaled up and got bigger as the former government took their eye off the road, took their hand off the wheel and let the NDIS career completely out of control. He mentions the growth of 10 per cent. It was more than double that when we came to government. It was 22 per cent when we came to government—totally unsustainable. Either it was deliberate negligence or it was incompetence. Either way, it has totally undermined the scheme and undermined public support for the scheme.

For the opposition to come up in here and say that they actually support the scheme really does make me wonder what their motivation is. They talk about fraud as a sort of way to get at it, but the most stunning number that I've come to learn recently is that this government conducts more inquiries and reviews more claims every single day than the former government did in an entire year. You talk about fraud in the scheme and you talk about mismanaging the scheme, but unless you're prepared to put those resources into rebuilding the Public Service--which this government has done—that fraud is going to go completely unchecked and you're going to see it grow at 22 per cent.

The problems around this scheme were evident in 2018, when they chose to do nothing about it. It has taken a lot of guts by this government, because the stories that the member for Bowman mentioned are heart-wrenching stories. They are stories that, as MPs, we deal with all the time, but they have only happened because problems have been allowed to fester.

The one thing that I think needs to be made clear is that if we get this right, if we maintain public support for the NDIS, then it is going to grow. This isn't about throwing people off. It's not about cutting the NDIS. Ultimately, in the medium term, if we can grow it at about eight per cent, but get it to start to grow around that four or five per cent, then it is going to be sustainable. There are a couple of other things that do need to be stated as fact here: over the two-year period to September 2025, average plan budgets actually increased by 4.7 per cent per annum and the average payment per participant also increased, by 3.3 per cent.

These are the sorts of increases which are sustainable and which are in line with inflation. These are the sorts of increases that, if we can get this right and if we can keep it sustainable, will maintain that community support. But, for the opposition to come in here and move this motion—it's an exercise in total incredulity. The hypocrisy to come in here and move a motion really deserves to be condemned by the Australian people, just as their mishandling of the NDIS for so many years also deserves to be condemned.

It is without doubt the single biggest issue that we, as MPs, see when it comes to that constituent work. In Forde, I think we have one of the single biggest cohorts—we've got about 7,000 people—on the NDIS. We need to get it right. But the opposition's way of playing politics and playing division—and not looking at what they did—is not the way to handle this.

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

The NDIS is a system that was built to provide dignity, fairness and support for Australians living with disabilities. But, across Australia, we're seeing the exact opposite. We're seeing this in my electorate on the southern Gold Coast. We're seeing a system where participants are losing support, honest providers are under pressure and fraudulent operators are thriving. This goes to the heart of the problem. We are targeting the wrong people.

Something is wrong when people who are doing the right thing—the physiotherapists I speak to, the OTs and various other professionals who are doing the right thing by working with and for participants—are not given the support that they need from this government, and those who are rorting the system are. There have been so many examples of this recently, but I'd say this: Australia is waking up, and Australians are waking up.

This motion calls on the government to restore transparency, consistency and accountability and calls for a renewed focus on fixing inefficiency and safeguarding the integrity of this scheme. Anybody who has social media in this country will really question the integrity of the NDIS at the moment, and they'll question it for good reason because, time and time again, we are seeing the hard earned money of Australian taxpayers being absolutely used and abused not by participants but by the people who are running some of these facilities and some of these services. The data in the motion is distressing and deeply alarming. We're seeing that eligibility reassessments have nearly doubled, revoked eligibility has skyrocketed from 389 to over 10,000 and $436 million has been cut from participant plans in just one quarter.

Everybody in this Chamber would have experiences of speaking to the parents, to families and to loved ones who have actually borne the brunt of these cuts. The government's own budget papers show that the NDIS is going to cost the Australian taxpayer $63.4 billion by 2028-29.

It's absolutely telling. It's telling where this government's priorities are. Recently we had a situation in the Senate where the government was presented with the opportunity to participate in a review of the NDIS. In particular, it was a review into fraudulent behaviour in the NDIS scheme. And what did they do? They voted against it. Can you imagine that?

Government Member:

A government member interjecting—

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

I'll take the interjection by the member opposite that we've already got an inquiry. I think Australians are seeing. They're waking up to what this government's doing. They're waking up to the fact that it's asleep at the wheel while Australian taxpayers are footing the bill, something that those opposite care absolutely nothing about. What is happening is that the people who really need the NDIS support are not getting it. And that's the problem.

I think there's no-one in this Chamber who would object to people who have a genuine need, and I've met many of these in my electorate as well. There are people who have a genuine need and who have suffered a disadvantage, through no fault of their own, using the NDIS. We have absolutely no concern as to them being afforded the respect, the dignity and the support that they need. However, what we should never stand for in this place is the fact that the system is being abused. We've got evidence that that is the case, and every single member of this parliament was sent details of that earlier in the year. Every single member of parliament should be aware of that. And, where we see examples of that being abused, somebody needs to stand up and say something about it because the Australian taxpayer deserves nothing less. And it's not just the Australian taxpayer; it is also every single one of those men, women and children that I and members across this Chamber speak to who actually rely on the NDIS because of genuine need. That is something that this government should hang their heads in shame about, because we're seeing a system—and it goes to the heart of this motion—that doesn't have integrity. And if the public doesn't have confidence in this system, buy-in is very, very hard. I say to the government: Australians are waking up. Do something now. Restore integrity to the NDIS because, frankly, the Australian taxpayer deserves better.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a paediatrician, I believe in the NDIS. I believe it's one of Australia's most important social reforms. It's a proud Labor reform. I spoke to Julia Gillard about it and its importance long before I came into politics. It was introduced by Prime Minister Gillard in 2013 following crucial advocacy from disability groups. As a paediatrician, I saw that the one thing that families worried about, about their kids with disabilities, was who would care for them in the long term when the families weren't there. The NDIS provided that certainty, and it has been revolutionary. It does great things.

The intention of the Gillard government was for the NDIS to support Australians living with severe and permanent disability with dignity, independence and opportunity. These were kids with severe intellectual disability, non-verbal autism, severe physical disability or chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome. These families needed to be supported. They hadn't been for a long time, and it was revolutionary legislation by the Gillard government that brought this in. I was very proud to be a member of Labor when we introduced this, long before I entered parliament.

Unfortunately, under the coalition, the scheme was set up without proper safeguards. It was set up in such a way that it could be manipulated by unscrupulous people. And we saw that happen time and time again. I went to Stuart Robert, who was the minister for the NDIS when I first entered parliament, to try and get some change in that regard. He ignored my advice and my pleas.

The dysfunction in the scheme was built upon the very poor way it was administered by the coalition government from those times. The scheme drifted from its founding principles, as costs skyrocketed, without proper oversight or accountability. We saw exploitation by private providers who saw it as a cash cow for their own personal wealth growth rather than the personal growth and development of the recipients with a severe disability. We saw it become all things to all people. As a paediatrician, I was often coerced into making diagnoses to try and get kids into the NDIS who didn't have a severe disability. The rise of NDIS rorting was a blight on the coalition, and they should be the ones that hang their heads in shame about it. Too many bad actors made a good living off taxpayers' money whilst recipients were seen not as people but as profits. For too long, the coalition failed to act decisively. However, when we came to government, Bill Shorten, as the NDIS minister, started to put in place ways of screening providers and screening recipients. The scheme was being brought back to its roots, if you like.

Let's be clear. When our Labor government came to office in 2022, we did not inherit a system in good order. We inherited a system that had been neglected, distorted and in some cases exploited from nearly a decade of coalition mismanagement. We are changing things, but change can't occur overnight. The NDIS, believe me, is doing wonderful things. It's providing people with a certainty that their relatives with severe disability will be cared for. We have not allowed the rorting to continue. We have instituted inquiries into the NDIS and mismanagement and criminal activity. We've established a multi-agency taskforce to crack down on fraud and exploitation, and we've introduced stronger powers and reforms to ensure those abusing the NDIS can be held accountable. We've also introduced the Thriving Kids initiative to look at ways that children, particularly young children, with concerns about their development could get access to early intervention. That means early intervention. It's not diagnosis specific, and it doesn't require huge amounts of money to be spent on therapists and paediatricians et cetera to get them the support that they need. This is very important.

We are doing the right thing. We are improving the NDIS, but there's still a long, long, long way to go, and that's because the scheme was set up in a way that it has become all things to all people. That cannot continue. We must make sure that kids with severe disability and all people with severe disability get the support that they need. It's a Labor scheme, and I'm proud of it.

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a deep respect for the member for Macarthur. I knew of him before I came to this place. I respect his service here and before he entered this place for his contribution to medicine and particularly his paediatric experience. But I do take a different view to him on a number of points raised in this debate. It was the Gillard government that set up the NDIS, but it seems that it's all acclaim and no care with Labor when it comes to fronting up to some very significant challenges that the NDIS has right now. My good friend and colleague the member for McPherson raised a number of those points, including that this federal Labor government have been in power for four years now, and so it is important that they take responsibility for parts of the NDIS running very significantly off track. I have to say that, whether it's fuel or the NDIS, this prime minister is allergic to responsibility. He is afraid of accountability.

Right now, there are a number of examples in the NDIS that deserve attention and need responsibility. It's a scheme that supports nearly 800,000 Australians, including 200,000 Victorians and many people in my electorate of Monash. Labor's failure to properly address the structural problems within the NDIS is leaving some of our most vulnerable Australians in limbo. Instead of fixing the system, we're seeing a heavy-handed attempt to rein in costs, and those attempts are hurting the people that this very scheme is designed to protect and support and help.

In my electorate of Monash, I'm hearing this every single week from local families, carers and people with a disability themselves. Families are contacting my office about delayed plans, reduced support, unpaid invoices and a system that is becoming harder and harder to navigate. These are not just administrative inconveniences. They're not just paper deficiencies. These are real-world consequences impacting real people. When the NDIS invoices go unpaid, providers are left with no choice but to act, and it's participants who are bearing the brunt.

I've heard of equipment providers threatening to remove essential mobility equipment because invoices have not been paid. I've seen cases where $100,000 unpaid invoices have forced a care provider to send a participant home—a participant who was stable, supported and safe. That same individual later ended up in hospital following a psychotic episode that put both themselves and their family at risk. Emergency services were called and a hospital bed in an already stretched system was taken up, and all of this could have been avoided. All of this happened because the system failed that person, that family, that provider and our community. I've spoken with a family who had to take out a loan to urgently purchase medical equipment—equipment that was later denied by the NDIS, leaving them $15,000 out of pocket.

These are not isolated stories. These are becoming far too common. I know I'm dealing with those stories in my electorate of Monash. I know my colleague the member for McPherson is dealing with them in his electorate, and I know that members across the chamber and across the parliament are dealing with them every day of the week. I've got constituents who are too afraid to even request a plan review, because they've seen others ask for help only to receive less support in return. I have families who are spending hours—indeed, sometimes days—navigating administrative processes and resubmitting documents that have already been provided not once, not twice, but three times or more. This is not what the NDIS was meant to be about, and it's no surprise the scheme's reputation is at an all-time low. Public confidence is shifting, driven by concerns about rorting, bureaucracy and spiralling costs.

Let's be clear, fraud must be addressed. The government's own Fraud Fusion Taskforce has said that up to 10 per cent of NDIS claims may be inappropriate, mischievous or outright criminal. That should concern every single one of us because every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar taken away from Australians who genuinely rely on this scheme. The answer cannot be to squeeze participants and providers who are doing the right thing. The answer must be to front up and fix this system. What we're seeing instead is red tape exploding, operating costs climbing and a system that's become more complex not less. Australians deserve better. People in my electorate deserve better, and people with a disability deserve far better.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made in order of the day for the next sitting.