Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. What do the Albanese Labor government's reforms of the NDIS mean for participants and their families? Are there any other approaches?

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

I thank the member for Pearce for her question. I'm pleased to inform Australians that since the Albanese government was elected the NDIS is getting back on track. In essence, people with disability have been put back at the centre of the scheme and the financial numbers are actually improving whilst the integrity of the scheme is being maintained. Also, a consensus on the best way forward to keep the scheme on track has emerged, other than with the Greens political party and some senators.

I can demonstrate the metrics of how, in the last 30 months, the scheme is getting back on track. Before we were elected, the scheme was growing in investment outlay by 23 per cent. Last financial year it was 18 per cent. This year we're on track for 12 per cent, and next year it will be eight per cent. Participant growth before we were elected was 15 per cent. Now it's at eight per cent, and many categories have stabilised. When we were elected, the NDIS was in danger of being the only lifeboat in the ocean. The states were contributing 25 per cent of the cost of the scheme, while we were contributing 75 per cent. We've been able to persuade the states to lift their contribution each year, from an extra four per cent growth to eight per cent growth. Most pleasingly, the states have agreed with the Commonwealth to start rolling out, in a year's time, foundational support services so that the scheme is not the only lifeboat in the ocean.

When we came to office, there was rampant fraud. There are now 500 investigations being conducted or underway, and 50 people are in front of the courts. Billions of dollars of payments are now being investigated for their integrity, and I'm pleased to announce today that the Albanese government will be spending an extra $110 million to crack down on fraud.

When we were elected, there was no clarity on what money could be used for. We've now clarified what it can be used for. When we were elected, over 90 per cent of the service providers were simply unregistered. We now have a plan to move forward and register the vast bulk of service providers. When we were elected, people could come into the scheme by all sorts of different assessments. We're going to bring the assessment in house so that there's some consistency and transparency. Before we were elected, you could, when you were fit for discharge, spend 160 days in hospital and on the NDIS before you got out of hospital. Now it's down to 22 days on average.

External legal costs have fallen. The wages that are paid to disability support workers have increased. We recognise there is still more to do. Led by my colleague Amanda Rishworth, we've still got to keep working with the states on these foundational supports. We recognise that there are still integrity issues in the scheme. We recognise that decision-making is still inconsistent in parts.

I will finish where I started. The reality is that this nation made a promise to ageing carers who were up at midnight thinking about whether there would be someone to look after their adult child when they no longer could. The good news is that, because of the Albanese government and the reform in this term, we are closer to keeping that promise than we've ever been before.