Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

The beauty of the NDIS is the scheme started in a bipartisan way and it's continued that way, to everyone's credit. And I think the parliament as a whole should be proud of what we've achieved together with the NDIS.

It is an extraordinary world-first. It's a scheme that no other country in the world has tried to put together in the time frame and in the way that, collectively, we have. There are over 470,000 participants with permanent and significant disability on the NDIS. It's a social insurance scheme that every Australian can rely on, a scheme that enjoys the support of everyone in the House, a scheme whereby, if Australians find themselves in difficulty, they know there is a social insurance policy there to assist them.

The issues of this particular case will certainly be looked into by the minister and the department, because, with over 470,000 Australians being cared for in the insurance scheme, there are always opportunities to improve and to look at particular matters. But this is something we should be proud of. It is something the Morrison government is leaning into, and we're leaning into it heavily. There is no other program that has seen the sheer amount of resources that have gone into the NDIS to assist so many Australians, and that's something we should applaud. The Morrison government has always stood behind the NDIS. The Morrison government has built the NDIS. The Morrison government finalised all the agreements with the states and continues to work cooperatively and collaboratively towards this world-first. It's something we collectively should be proud of.

See this speech in context