David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to endorse the work of my colleague Senator Steele-John in opposing the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 for the reasons that were explored at length in the Senate inquiry, which exposed just what a significant change to the scheme has been proposed by the government with this bill—not a tweaking or a little tuck and trim but some fundamental changes to some of the most important core elements of the scheme. These are changes that have been rushed through and that the government have been so embarrassed about that they tried to consult with parts of the sector and disability advocates under confidentiality agreements, and we're here today after this government, the Albanese Labor government, shut down the Senate inquiry, which still had more essential work to do to explore the real ramifications of this bill. Is it any wonder that the Greens will be opposing this bill?

There has been significant community backlash to this bill, with organisations and disabled people and their families trying to tell this chamber, the Albanese Labor government and the coalition opposition about the harms this bill will do, but nobody seems to be listening. The government has not even pretended to make the kind of effort needed to address those criticisms and instead has engaged in what can only be described as a bad-faith, amateurish campaign to attack the scheme—its own scheme. As recently as tonight, it whacked out a media release suggesting that some random committee is going off to Brazil, not attached to this inquiry. Does nobody in the Labor Senate team talk to the minister's office about how the Senate works? Before the minister's office whacked out the media release tonight, apparently attacking the committee that reviewed this bill and saying they want to go off on a jaunt to Brazil, did nobody check and find that it wasn't that committee? Has nobody got the minister's phone number to say: 'Hang on, mate. You got it wrong—wrong committee, wrong country. What are you doing?' No, because they're so keen to trash-talk the scheme—so keen to trash-talk anybody who's not willing to just buckle under the government's agenda here—that they're even putting out these farcical amateur media releases as we're speaking. I mean, who's in charge on this stuff?

We know why the government's so keen to do the trash-talking and talk down the scheme. It's because they want to cut $14.4 billion from the scheme. That's what we saw in the budget: $14.4 billion cut from people who most need it in this country, in a cost-of-living crisis—choosing to take $14.4 billion from the NDIS that will lead to disabled people not getting the support they need. That was one of the most significant measures in the Albanese budget. Instead, they're committing to $368 billion on nuclear submarines—and a $14.4 billion cut to people with disability. They're proposing $45 billion plus on a bunch of Hunter frigates, a bunch of warships that people think might even capsize because they're so badly designed—if they ever get launched. So, $45 billion for frigates, and a $14.4 billion cut for people with disability. And $5 billion on a bunch of attack class helicopters that nobody thinks will survive 15 minutes—15 seconds, probably, even on a modern battlefield—to their mates in US arms manufacturing—and a $14.4 billion cut to people with disability. There's $5 billion for US jobs for their nuclear submarine industry, and $5 billion for UK jobs, for those struggling people at Rolls-Royce, for their nuclear submarine industry—and a $14.4 billion cut for people with disability.

Those are the Albanese government's priorities. That's what we saw in this budget—and shame on you for doing that. And then to run this disingenuous attack against the scheme, through highly paid spin doctors, including a $600,000 per annum salary, I think it was, for Shorten's chief spin doctor, his speechwriter? And a—