Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to continue my contribution from earlier today on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024. After the initial comments that I made just before lunchtime today about the need for the Senate to properly scrutinise this bill, for the Senate to be able to consult with the community that is impacted by this bill and to consult fully with NDIS participants to understand the impact on them, I do stand here tonight knowing that the coalition will support some of the sensible measures in this bill because some of them were measures which the coalition itself sought to implement but which the government at the time actively campaigned against. It is very clear—and even this Labor Albanese government has finally been forced to admit—that the NDIS is not on a sustainable path. Huge amounts of taxpayer money are not being spent responsibly and the result of that is that there is less money available in the NDIS to those who need it most and to those who most need the support that the NDIS is able to provide.

Those on the government benches for a long time refused to admit that this was a reality. In opposition, Labor stood in the way of the coalition's attempts to put the NDIS on a more sustainable footing. The now minister, Mr Shorten, when he was in opposition accused the coalition of 'pearl clutching Kabuki theatre', claiming the NDIS was 'tracking just as predicted' and that the coalition was 'hyping fictional cost blowouts'. While he was the shadow minister for the NDIS, Mr Shorten said:

You can't move around the corridors of parliament in Canberra without tripping over a coalition minister whispering the scheme is unsustainable. I'm here to tell you today that is a lie.

In reality, as this government has now been forced to concede, the scheme is absolutely not on sustainable footing.

Mr Shorten and those on the government benches and the Prime Minister went to the election promising that no plans would go backwards and that the scheme was sustainable as it is. Now we have the claim from the government that the scheme is growing its cost base too quickly. But, like I say, there is absolutely no doubt that the NDIS needs sensible reform. As the ABC recently reported, this financial year alone 'at least $8 billion worth of funding intended for people with disability is allegedly being abused by crime syndicates'. That is a disgraceful situation. I don't think any taxpayer in this country would be happy to hear that taxpayer money that should be rightly going towards supporting those in our community with disabilities is ending up in the hands of crime syndicates. Australians and those on the NDIS have every right to be angry about that.

Recently we have seen countless media reports highlighting stories where serial sexual abusers, rapists and paedophiles are receiving substantial support from the NDIS—sometimes worth more than a million dollars—to live under supervision in the community after their release from detention. Urgent review is needed to disclose how many individuals with serious criminal convictions are receiving NDIS funding and how many of those are on self managed plans. During a Senate estimates hearing in March we heard that 2½ thousand NDIA participants have interacted with the justice system. The minister needs to come clean about just how many NDIS participants have serious criminal convictions and how many of them are on self managed plans. This is vitally important to not only protect the safety of carers and providers but to also preserve the integrity of the scheme. This isn't a standalone case, it's not an isolated occurrence and Australians have every right to be concerned.

Sadly, this legislation we are debating this evening goes nowhere near addressing this incredibly important issue. At the appropriate stage the coalition will move amendments that we believe will improve the scheme, preserve the scheme's integrity and ensure the sustainability of the scheme to allow it to continue improving the lives of some of the most vulnerable individuals within our community.

But, as I said in my initial remarks earlier today, insufficient time has been provided for proper consultation with the sector and the community on this bill that we're debating here this evening, and we know that there are those within the sector and within the broader community who have expressed widespread misgivings about the current legislation. The opportunity for a thorough consultation is important in bringing the NDIS back onto a sustainable footing in a manner that does not disadvantage or impact negatively on participants most in need, and, as I said earlier, it is incredibly concerning that the Community Affairs Legislation Committee wasn't given the opportunity to consult the sector as fully as committee members would have liked on government amendments which were tabled on the day of a public hearing. This in itself shows the need for further consultation on this legislation that we are debating here this evening.

The coalition notes that legislative instruments and rules are still under development and that the Senate and the disability community have not been provided with substantial detail on these instruments and rules to date. The 2½ days of hearings that were conducted by the Community Affairs Legislation Committee pointed to significant concerns from the disability community about the lack of detail and potential unintended consequences of the current legislation without significant amendment.

I don't mean to bang on about this, but we have to remember that we are a chamber of scrutiny. When those in the broader community, through that Senate committee process, are raising concerns with a piece of legislation that is before this chamber, I think that we all need to do a bit of due diligence here and ask ourselves whether it is right for us to be passing this legislation through this place in a situation where those concerns are still being raised and where a more extensive committee inquiry process could have given the opportunity for that committee to report to this place, say, 'Concerns are being raised,' and request that the government go back to the drawing board, look at some potential amendments or think about how those concerns raised by members of the community might have been allayed.

Given the broad consensus on the need for greater consideration and the coalition's willingness to work constructively with the government, it is, frankly, disappointing that this government has opted to object to a reasonable request for an extension to the reporting date for this legislation and for a meaningful hearing day with the NDIA. Frankly, without further time for proper consultation, at this stage my hope would be that this bill would be referred back to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee for further inquiry.