Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the NDIS, Senator McAllister. Labor created the NDIS and it's a big part of Labor's social policy legacy. We want to make sure it's sustainable for future generations. Why is the Albanese Labor government taking the necessary steps to reform the NDIS, and how will it contribute to a responsible budget that sets Australia up for the future?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Cox. We are taking action to return the NDIS to its original purpose. We're doing this because it is a life-changing piece of policy. It is an enormous human rights achievement. It provides people with disability with genuine choice and control over their own lives. It is not just worth saving; we must save it. Right now, it costs more than anticipated, it is growing too fast and there is too much fraud. The fundamental barrier we face is the design of the scheme itself. There are structural flaws that mean that measures that we have introduced to control spending are not working as intended. The scheme actuary has recently advised the government that spending has blown out by $13 billion over the next four years. This would mean that it would not achieve the eight per cent growth target until the end of the decade instead of this year. Decisions in the courts and the Administrative Review Tribunal have also restricted the NDIA's ability to implement reforms to ensure that the NDIS operates in the way that it was meant to.

So we are going to secure the future of the NDIS by fighting fraud and stopping rorts, by slowing rapid cost increases, by instituting clearer eligibility requirements and by delivering quality services and supports to participants. Under this plan, the NDIS will continue to grow every year. But, instead of costing the budget $70 billion in 2030, taxpayers will spend $55 billion. Over the forward estimates, spending will grow at two per cent on average before returning to five per cent growth from 2030-31. It will still be the largest social program in Australia outside of the age pension, the most comprehensive suite of supports for people with disability anywhere in the world. That is something worth saving. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cox, first supplementary?

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, what steps is the Albanese Labor government taking to implement these reforms which will restore the NDIS to its original intent and to ensure it supports people with permanent and significant disability now and into the future?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are going to bring forward new laws that will put an end to the cost blowouts and plan inflation that are leading to unsustainable spending growth. We will reset the total cost of social and community participation, because, right now, just that aspect of the scheme alone is costing $12 billion a year and that is equivalent to the amount that we are presently spending on the PBS nationally. We will set up an inclusive community fund so people have new options to genuinely participate in their local community. We'll reduce spending on intermediaries, those who are clipping the ticket. We'll reduce by 30 per cent spending on commission plan managers. We'll introduce new measures to crack down on NDIS fraud, including a new digital payment system to see evidence from every single provider and ensure payments are paid directly. We'll be seeking passage of these immediate controls in the budget session and we'll be asking for support for this from across the parliament. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cox, second supplementary?

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government's NDIS reforms are part of a broader commitment to responsible budget management. Why has the government chosen this approach?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have chosen this approach because we saw the alternative on offer. What did that look like? It looked like 22 per cent growth per annum in the NDIS. No social program can be sustainable with that level of spending growth. We have reduced that now to 10 per cent per annum. The growth is now half of what it was under those opposite. But the ANAO said that the system those opposite set up lacked basic prevention controls for fraud and noncompliance. It lacked basic controls. To give you just one example, there are now more NDIS claims reviewed in a single day than were reviewed in a year under those opposite. This is about much more than budget savings; this is about the future of this scheme and the social licence of this scheme. We are determined to secure that future and that social licence so people with disability continue to get the support that they require.