Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As most Australians know, a grassroots campaign was at the heart of the creation of the NDIS. People with disability, community organisations, advocates and governments worked hard to make disability reform a reality. They had lived too long in the shadows, segregated from participating in the fullness of our communities' offerings.

The NDIS was legislated in 2013 by the Gillard Labor government with bipartisan support. It moved through trial and transition to full scheme rollout across Australia by 2020. Now, 10 years on, the NDIS supports nearly 650,000 adults and children and employs 325,000 Australians. Many participants are receiving supports for the first time.

As of 31 March this year, there were 2,265 NDIS participants in Higgins—keenly interested, all of them, in the scheme's continuation, efficiency and sustainability. Locally, I have responded by establishing the Higgins NDIS network which holds events for my community. I was fortunate to have Professor Bruce Bonyhady, the architect of the NDIS, present at the first webinar.

To my constituents who are NDIS participants it is inconceivable that we would ever return to the days before the NDIS, when support for those of us living with disability was patchy, leaving people feeling like second class citizens—hidden and forgotten. You have told me this. From Christie, 'The NDIS is the most important issue for me and my family.' Kate said, 'I really appreciated Professor Bonyhady sharing his knowledge, expertise, experience and wisdom with us. I an much reassured by his involvement in the reform. I also greatly appreciate his compassion. I do genuinely support the reform to restore equity and integrity.' But, as he also said, it must be done with people with disabilities and their families enabled to be highly involved in the process. The co-design is incredibly important and something we have committed to. Sarah said, 'Thank you for your ongoing dedication to ensuring the NDIS can meet the needs of participants now and into the future. I know how greatly you value the NDIS, but I also know that you have frustrations with processing delays and the sheer bureaucracy of it.' One constituents said, 'Suffering from debilitating depression, Hannah was accepted as an NDIS participant after an application period of seven months, but has still not had a planning meeting.' Another said: 'After a review in 2021, Dean is on a plan with funding in different buckets. He has had no luck in having the plan changed with his provider, and is consequently not using the services as entitled to. He is increasingly isolated and ill.' Kate is grateful for the NDIS, but summed it up as 'a very challenging system to interact with, and as the review showed, it is inherently traumatising'. Traumatising—that's not part of its mission.

The NDIS is now as important to you and to all of us as Medicare, but your stories indicate that you have issues with how the scheme is being administered. There is also community concern at the mounting costs—projected to be $100 billion by 2030—reports of fraud, overservicing, the cost of add-ons known as 'the wedding tax', as well as, obviously, the scheme sustainability.

The NDIS has become the only lifeboat in the ocean. I worry that participants, particularly children, are potentially spending excessive time at therapists rather than enjoying the full benefits of school with its attendant opportunities for education, socialisation and sport—therapy in the community.

For these reasons, initiating a root-and-branch review of the NDIS was an election promise for this Labor government. The aims of the review were to restore trust and confidence in the NDIS and put you—the NDIS participants, families and carers—at the centre. The review looked at the NDIS design, how it works and how we can make sure it can continue. It considered how the NDIS can work better for people with permanent and significant disability—those whom the NDIS was designed to support. The review started in October 2022 and the report was released on 7 December last year, containing 26 recommendations and 139 actions. I won't go through all these recommendations; suffice to say that it's going to take time to enact these reforms and these changes, and we anticipate it will take approximately five years for that to occur. It recommended that change be carefully implemented over this five year timeframe. The review involved deep engagement with you—NDIS participants—and your communities.

Some sitting opposite have derided the government's decision to spend time on a compressive review. I challenge them to listen to Bruce Bonyhady and read the actual report. They will be inspired by the depth, good sense and optimism of the review. Ten thousand of you spoke to the review, and individuals and organisations provided 4,000 submissions. You also supplied more than 2,000 hours of deeply personal stories of your experiences.

The review team worked with a small group of people to test changes to the current planning and budget-setting processes. The review's panel view is that we can't fix the NDIS without fixing everything around it—the ecosystem, in other words. Recommendations go beyond the NDIS to create a new, connected system of support, including accessible and inclusive mainstream services and a new system of foundational supports as well as reforming the NDIS. Importantly, the review recommends that you—NDIS participants—be at the heart, the centre, of all reform, and that the disability community be consulted on the changes and the timelines for those changes. This is partly why I established the Higgins NDIS Network—to keep our community abreast of these reforms, ensuring that they have access to information rather than misinformation.

The legislation creates the scaffolding needed to start the journey of making the NDIS stronger and better for all people. Firstly, the changes will enable better early intervention pathways for people living with psychosocial disability and children under the age of nine. New participants will enter the NDIS under disability requirements, the new early intervention requirements, or both. Secondly, the legislation will improve how participant budgets are set and provide clearer information on how they can be spent. Budgets would be set at a whole-of-person level rather than as individual line items. More flexibility and participant autonomy will be built in. Thirdly, the changes will bolster the powers of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to protect participants from illegal and unethical conduct, which we know is rife. We are out to catch the crooks and we will get them. Some changes can happen quickly, but others will take time.

The Albanese government is committed to working collaboratively with states and territories and the disability community to progress the required reforms. This is patient but important work. The states are key to providing foundational supports to ensure that the NDIS remains viable and is not regarded as the only option when support is required. This means taking a collaborative rather than a divisive and combative approach with the states. We need to work with them as partners. It was a Labor government that created the NDIS, and it will be a Labor government that gets it back on track. I commend this bill to the House.

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