Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move the amendment circulated in the chamber standing in the name of Senator McKim:

At the end of the motion, add:

"and, in respect of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, the provisions of the bill be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 6 August 2026".

Let's be really clear about what is happening here. Labor is proposing to send the NDIS bill to inquiry. It's the most significant change to the National Disability Insurance Scheme in its history. It's legislation that will enable $185 billion to be ripped out of the scheme over a decade. It's the largest cut made by a government to a government program in the history of the Commonwealth. That's what this legislation will do, and they are seeking to send it to an inquiry that will report by 16 June. That is ridiculous.

Let me be really clear about what that will mean for the people who will be affected by this legislation. It means that there will be 20 working days to review this piece of legislation. Let's be real. Out of those 20 days, only 11 are non-parliamentary workdays for this Senate to review this legislation. And now I hear that we may not even get a meeting of the committee to set out the agenda for this inquiry for another week, which would scrub another three days off the potential period of time that people would have to scrutinise this legislation, to understand what it may mean for them and to be able to share their view on the legislation that will shape their lives. This is outrageous and it is wrong. Fellow senators, this is wrong. These cuts are immoral. This is not what you were elected to do—to cause this harm, to cause this pain, to put these lives at risk, to leave the community in the dark without the answers that they need or the time to get those answers.

I would be happy if this bill went to an inquiry permanently and never passed this chamber. However, we put forward this amendment today as a compromise that would see the inquiry report in August, giving at least some sensible amount of time to engage disabled people, to enable proper hearings and to enable people to make submissions to the inquiry so that we can understand the legislation that we will then be asked to pass. This is a basic expectation of the community. This amendment is reasonable, and in this situation you'd better believe it is necessary. I urge you to support this amendment today.

Many in this place may not have a lived experience of disability, but I do hope that the majority of us have not lost our capacity for empathy and our commitment to curiosity and a belief that we should understand the laws that we are passing and the impacts that they will have on people. One hundred and sixty thousand people now face removal from the NDIS, with $185 billion ripped from this scheme by a government that cannot bring itself to ask the big gas exporters or wealthy end of town to pay a cent more.

This legislation dumped today at the end of a parliamentary sitting week is already proving to be the vessel for terrifying changes for disabled people, for the redefinition of what disability itself means in the eyes of the government, and the provision to the minister of vast new powers that will give government control over the lives of disabled people and our families, that will strip agency from our hands, that will reduce our choices. I urge you to put aside your party affiliations in this moment, connect with your humanity and vote for this amendment.