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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission is the only regulatory body that over 700,000 NDIS participants can turn to when they experience abuse, neglect and poor-quality service. Yet the commission itself has been neglected and chronically underfunded, left without the basic tools that it needs to both prevent and address abuse and neglect effectively. The result is a commission that is struggling to meet its mandate. This failure is happening entirely on this government's watch. The National Audit Office report highlighted some alarming issues. It brought razor focus to the reality that the quality and safeguards commission is failing on so many fronts.

Let us take a look at what the auditor found. The commission, it found, has a flawed decision-making process. It lacks a risk based approach to decision-making—something you would hope to find in a safeguarding commission. The commission's record system is noncompliant. The commission did not have an up-to-date statement of expectations from its minister. Since the release of the audit report, they've scrambled to publish one. Here we are, in 2025. We've had the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. We know the harms that disabled people are subjected to in everyday life, and yet the quality and safeguards commission that is supposed to support disabled people is lacking the absolute basics that you should be able to expect from an institution like this. In 2025, more than a decade after the establishment of the NDIS, this should not be happening. We should all be deeply concerned that the quality and safeguards commission is not adequately resourced to do its job.

Participants tell my office that the commission fails in its duty to participants again and again. Participants tell my office that they report to the commission what they are experiencing, and yet there is no consequence. They don't hear back after raising a serious issue. One participant told me they waited 14 months before receiving a response to their complaint. We must do better.

One of the recommendations in this report that I want to highlight is recommendation No. 4, which states that the commission should 'publicly outline its regulatory processes and decision-making criteria to support public understanding of how the Commission regulates the NDIS'. It is absolutely vital that the public understand how the commission makes its decisions, what it takes seriously and what standards it is prepared to uphold.

Another key recommendation, recommendation No. 9, calls on the commission to support its staff to 'apply a consistent approach to compliance' by 'finalising fit-for-purpose policies and procedures for compliance actions and developing guidance to assist staff with selecting the most suitable compliance tool for specific circumstances'. In what world it is not already a reality? It is frankly shocking that the commission does not have in place these basics. Disabled people deserve better. This government must do better. The Australian Greens will push for better.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator, your time has expired.

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

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.