Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to indicate to the House that the government proposes that it may suit the convenience of the House to consider the amendments in the following two groups. The first group is amendments (1) and (2), (4) to (48), (50) to (67), (69) and (70). The other group is amendments (3), (49) and (68). I move:

That Senate amendments (1) and (2), (4) to (48), (50) to (67), (69) and (70) be agreed to.

I'll briefly talk about the amendments. This is landmark legislation, and I am grateful for the effort of the Senate in voting it through today. It's fulfilling a commitment by the Australian government to legislate important changes called for by the independent review of the NDIS and following much engagement with the disability community, stakeholders and state and territory governments. The government has made a number of amendments to strengthen this important legislation. They're in response to the feedback, and we'll continue to listen once the legislation is passed, if it's passed, as the reforms are co-designed.

Specifically referring to a range of the amendments, in June the government took the bill to the Senate. We proposed 18 amendments to reflect the recommendations of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee. The amendments respond to recommendations made by the committee, including governance, whereby first ministers are also recognised as ministers for the purpose of category A rule making; consultation, whereby a consultation statement will be tabled accompanying the legislative instrument that sets out consultations undertaken on the instrument; and safeguards, whereby government will clarify the circumstances under which the additional powers granted to the NDIS CEO through the bill will be used. The final amendment headed off concerns about the ability of the assessment to deliver a whole-of-person budget deemed a benefit of the legislation for participants and government alike. In addition government introduced further amendments to the Senate last week. These amendments are a combination of strengthening scheme integrity and responding to feedback on the bill from the disability community.

The integrity amendments are adding integrity as a statutory function of the NDIA. This gives the NDIA the focus and authority to support more fraud and payment integrity work in the future. They're setting minimum requirements for payment claims. Basically, this is a form to be completed for a claim to be valid and paid. This will help discourage fraud. They're also setting a maximum time for a payment claim. A claim needs to be made within two years of being provided. It stops a loophole that we have detected where claims are made from so long ago no-one can actually verify if the support was delivered or not. Also, we want to ensure that a debt can be waived if a participant unintentionally or unknowingly breaches the acts or the rules. At the moment in the current legislation your disability isn't a special circumstance to waive a debt, yet clearly in some cases we have seen where debts have been incurred the participant has, by virtue of their disability, erred and for no other reason. So this prevents debts being made in the circumstance where a person's disability triggered the mistake.

The amendments that respond to feedback require participants to be notified which impairment or impairments they've met to access the NDIS for and be transparent about whether the participant has an intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory and/or physical impairment that meets the access requirements to the scheme. They will also allow it to be reviewed. I would like to acknowledge Senator David Pocock's contribution in developing these particular amendments to impairment notices and for engaging in good faith with the government and the community to deliver a good outcome for people with disability.

We are also going to seek to create an exceptional circumstance clause to the list of banned supports. This would allow a participant to buy another otherwise banned support where it's just more appropriate and cost-effective than a disability support. As a brief example, a vision impaired participant could purchase a Samsung Galaxy watch for $500 to use voice assistance to read writing. It's cheaper than using a support worker for $73 an hour to walk around with a participant. However, not every person should be buying Samsung watches with NDIS funding. It's about looking at the person.

There are further amendments following discussions with the states and territories this week to enhance co-governance arrangements of the scheme. These additional amendments were introduced into the Senate to contemporise the co-governance arrangements for the scheme. The arrangements that are being adopted reflect the significant number of forms required to the NDIS over the next two terms of parliament. These changes are overdue. Since co-governance arrangements have not been changed since the inception of the scheme, they modernise the approval process.

The NDIS bill will implement a number of key changes that will need unanimous agreement as the majority of changes will be made through category A rules. The states will need to agree with these changes to enable implementation across the country. These amendments include a newly defined category A rule that's subject to a dispute resolution process which includes an escalation model to bring disagreements to the attention of the Prime Minister and first ministers for resolution. Once escalated, the approval can be achieved not from a veto requiring the acceptance of every state but from just a majority agreement by states. There are also strict timeframes introduced for the prompt consideration of category A rules under the new process. There is a conversion of ministerial legislative instrument-making powers in the bill to newly defined category A rules, with exceptions for instruments that are required from commencement, which will remain instruments until the rules are agreed. There is an abbreviated process for making changes to needs assessed in budget-setting tools where there are no substantial policy financial implications.

The bill will also include scheme sustainability in the short to medium term and support the National Cabinet decision to achieve the eight per cent growth target. I acknowledge particularly the work of Premiers Rockliff and Malinauskas on this. The amendments mean the states will be required to develop a co-designed reform with participants, the disability community and the Commonwealth to give effect to NDIS reforms and foundational supports. I also wish to put on record the constructive negotiations I have had with the shadow minister, the member for Deakin, in trying to get a good outcome for people with a disability.

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