Varun Ghosh (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will start by outlining the purpose of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024. It's designed to moderate the growth in the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the medium and longer term for the purposes of improving the sustainability of the scheme and to improve the experience of those using the scheme and to restore the original intent of the NDIS.

The bill was designed to do the necessary repair work in the NDIS in order to ensure that this vital scheme can be maintained for the long-term. There has been significant anxiety in the community around the passage of this bill, and we would acknowledge that. But the passage of this bill will offer some measure of certainty and begin that repair work that is necessary. It will also ensure that unscrupulous service providers do not take advantage of this vital system.

The opposition to the amendment in this context is based on the need for that certainty and the need to avoid further cost. A two-month delay in the passage of this bill—this vital bill—means approximately a $1.06 billion increase in NDIS expenditure across the budget forward estimates. Delays in the amendments to this legislation mean delays to the improvements that it will bring to the system, and delays in this legislation will delay the essential scaffolding that is needed to develop a new budget model with NDIS participants and the disability community that will result in a $730 million increase in NDIS expenditure across the forward estimates. A delay in implementing the new budget model could jeopardise the achievement of the eight per cent scheme growth target, with the result of lower estimated savings for 2026-27 and 2027-28. Also, the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee has conducted an extensive—

Debate interrupted.