Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

It's on the internet, Senator Hughes. I'm not sure I can assist you with that. The screen lock has happened; it's gone! I just say this in relation to your claim about obstruction. This bill has been here for quite some time. The government needs to get on with the job here. I am not in a position to provide you with—nor could I reasonably be expected to provide you with—numbers to either sustain or contradict your claim about the number of people. I am advised that, since late 2023, the volume of requests from participants asking for a change to their NDIS plan has significantly increased. That significant increase has occurred all the way up to recently. But it's suspicious timing that the increase in requests from participants matches exactly the commencement of the Liberal Party's scare campaign about what the government's reforms to the scheme would mean. Reform, as Senator Hughes said, does involves putting on, as she said 'big boy pants'—they're big pants, anyway—and tackling tough issues.

I was trying to provide a gender-neutral pants option there, Senator Allman-Payne.

Honourable senators interjecting—

I was trying to work with Senator Hughes's expression. I think that embarking on a scare campaign and trying to claim that the sky is going to fall in for participants does have an impact on ordinary people—