Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Before I begin, I want to recognise the work done by my colleague Senator Jordon Steele-John in representing members of the disability community. Along with Senator Steele-John, I met with over 200 people on the weekend with lived experience of disability. I want to recognise the work that they and their advocacy groups have been doing, and I also want to acknowledge the high levels of distress in the disability community as a consequence of this bill. I move the amendment on sheet 2759 that has been circulated in my name:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate calls on the Government to ensure that any methods developed as a part of the implementation of the bill must:

(a) include transparency to participants on the inputs, detail of the method, and outputs;

(b) include transparency to participants and the general public on the procedures, calculations and any other workings of the methods; and

(c) be subject to both internal and external appeal by participants".

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 is a very significant piece of legislation that will make huge changes to the NDIS, resulting in harm for the people who rely on it. One in five Australians now live with a disability. The National Disability Insurance Scheme changes people's lives for the better; however, the getting the NDIS back on track bill before us threatens to derail the NDIS for good. This bill will cut services for disabled people just so that Labor can claim a surplus in a cost-of-living crisis.

The NDIS stands alongside Medicare as some of the most significant health reforms for the community that we have. They are monuments of public good. In tandem, these programs have enabled so many Australians to live healthy and happy lives. Labor's decision to cut the NDIS, to restrict access and to remove people from it should be subjected to the highest degree of scrutiny because the consequences of this are profound. It will be profound for the people who rely on the NDIS.

Choice and control are core concepts of the NDIS, putting disabled people in charge of decisions about their lives. However, Labor's bill flips this relationship, giving the government the power to decide when, where, how and what supports are delivered. The minister can categorise disabled people into groups and classes and then make and apply rules to them. The bill also sets up the framework for moving people off the NDIS to supports provided by states and territories—supports which don't exist. Not only would booting people off a national plan be inconsistent with what the NDIS is designed to protect against; it would inevitably guarantee that disabled people would be worse off in some areas than in others.

The culture that has driven this reform has been paternalistic from the outset. Reforms that empower the minister to classify disabled people into classes are emblematic of this. At every step, we are seeing the fractures that created a royal commission in the first place. As my colleague Senator Shoebridge said earlier, this bill before us has been shrouded in secrecy, from some stakeholders pressured into signing confidentiality agreements to focus groups establishing the best way to launder the cuts. Advocates have raised concerns throughout the inquiry process about the ad hoc and rushed nature of such major reforms. Dr George Taleporos of Every Australian Counts told the inquiry:

What's happened in this situation is that we've been given legislation that says, 'We're going to take away what you've got now and we're going to put in place something different.' But that other thing doesn't exist yet. So it's impossible for us to feel confident that that solution will work for us. The legislation raises many concerns that we have not seen the answers to, and we need to see the answers. This is about our lives. This is about our survival. This is so important to us and we need to be treated in a way that respects how serious this is for our lives, and I don't feel that that has happened, in this case.

The Labor government is treating the community with contempt. By courting the Liberal Party, the party of service slashing, they are stating outright that their interest is not with the disability community.

The expansion of the government's ability to pursue debts against disabled people, their families or guardians is also of significant concern. Throughout the inquiry, legal representatives stated that debts raised under the NDIS Act will not be subject to review, meaning there is no opportunity to dispute an incorrect decision or explain the situation that led to the debt. This arises even in cases where disabled people or their families make a mistake, receive bad advice or are coerced into spending funding incorrectly. A foundational change like this locks in issues of natural justice. The power imbalance between a participant and the government is significant, and all it takes is another minister desperate to drum up savings to recreate a culture of debt recovery at all costs, including human ones.

It is unacceptable for this Labor government to push ahead with legislation that will cause disabled people harm. Instead of engaging properly with the disability community, Labor has attempted to manipulate public sentiment and to undermine the scheme by talking about fraud and noncompliance. Governments of all persuasions are fond of loudly proclaiming that they are constrained by economic reality and forced to make tough choices. Let's be clear about what Labor is choosing to do with this bill. Labor is choosing to cut $14.4 billion out of the NDIS by booting as many people off their NDIS supports as possible. Labor's bill will make disabled people's lives and the lives of their families immediately more difficult. That is why the Greens won't support it in its current form.

It is a deep shame of this government to be pursuing such reckless and heartless slashing of the NDIS just weeks after their response to the disability royal commission. After making the community wait over 11 months for a response, the Labor government declared no intention to end the cycles of segregation that lead to abuse, violence, neglect and exploitation which thousands of disabled people had the courage to share with the commission. No wonder they are devastated. Labor accepted 13 out of 222 recommendations. I'll say that again: 13 out of 222. That's less than six per cent of the recommendations. What a slap in the face. What a gut punch for the disability community. What a sham—after disabled people and their families gave so much to the commission, week after week, month after month.

The only work that Labor is pursuing in disability now is cutting $14.4 billion out of the NDIS. Labor has chosen to allow injustice to fester just so they can claim a balanced budget. The consequences of carve-outs and cuts to the NDIS negatively affect students and parents in our school systems too. The NDIS is meant to foster inclusion, empowerment and self-determination, and yet education has been excluded from the NDIS. This has real-world impacts on students with disabilities and their families—something that we saw clearly in the Senate's inquiry into school refusal.

The Greens established an inquiry into school refusal, or 'school can't', which showed how students are left behind without adequate support. Given the exclusion of education from the NDIS, the government cannot vacate the field for neurodivergent students, who are disproportionately affected by school refusal. School refusal, and a lack of support for families, is causing serious financial stress for households. Responses to a School Can't Australia survey showed that one-third of respondents were coping, for now, but believed their long-term financial security would be impacted by school refusal. Another 15 per cent of respondents were struggling to afford essentials, such as food, housing, transport, health and basic needs. Labor has taken every opportunity to carve groups out and to restrict access to the NDIS, and it is having profound consequences for schoolkids and their families.

As a state school teacher for decades, I saw how inadequate support for students with disabilities rippled out through families and the school community. The financial stress, social isolation and educational outcomes are all linked to inadequate government funding to support students with disabilities.

But, every chance it gets, Labor looks to cut costs by excluding those who need support the most. We've seen it with refusing to raise the rate of JobSeeker and we're seeing it now with cuts to the NDIS. This government has chosen to abandon disabled people, to abandon NDIS workers and to pass the buck to the millions of Australians who undertake informal carer roles. The Labor government has made clear that there is not an essential service that it won't cut in order to fund nuclear submarines and fossil-fuel handouts. Those in this government have betrayed the disability community and should be ashamed of themselves.