Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

As citizens of a democracy, it's reasonable to expect a high level of transparency around the decisions that govern our lives. It should go without saying that disabled people deserve no different. NDIS participants deserve to know the full details of the financial sustainability framework that all state premiers, chief ministers and the Prime Minister agreed to. This reeks of a captain's call designed to serve the narrative of politicians by using 4.4 million disabled people across this country as political footballs.

Let's recap how we got here. In April, state premiers, chief ministers and the Prime Minister met and secretly agreed to the NDIS Financial Sustainability Framework, which would map out the financial future of the NDIS. They are refusing to release this document. In May the Senate formally requested that the Albanese government table the framework. The government's response was that the document didn't exist. To put it in more meaningful terms, the government admitted to having no long-term financial basis for their May decision to impose budget cuts on the NDIS. For all we know, they plucked the eight per cent figure out of the sky. In June the Senate again ordered the government to table the framework. It is, after all, supposedly the document upon which the government's plan to slash billions from the NDIS originated. This time we were informed that the National Cabinet made a commitment to establish this framework but that it would remain under wraps.

Folks, one of these things is not like the other. How can the same demand one month apart yield such different responses? A few days later, the Senate again ordered the Minister representing the Treasurer to produce the framework. Still the government refused to comply. And just last week it was revealed that a freedom-of-information request for the framework by an Australian media outlet was rejected. It was rejected by the Treasury, rejected by the Department of Social Services and rejected by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The purpose of the NDIS is to serve the interests of disabled people who need and want to access it. It is not to protect the interests of government. Major party politics pales in comparison to the right of every disabled person and their family to understand the decisions that affect them. They deserve to know how the Labor government came to its decision to cut around $59 billion from the NDIS over a decade. Recently, Labor and the Liberals teamed up to push the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill through this parliament. We are seeing those harms materialise now, with participants' plans being cut and their supports defunded. My inbox is bulging with concerned constituents. They're stressed and feeling anxious about what these cuts mean to their plans and their ability to live a decent life. The changes set out in the NDIS bill are intended to cut $14.4 billion from the NDIS, which can only be achieved by removing supports for participants.

The financial sustainability document and the NDIS bill are two examples of Labor putting their bottom line before the welfare of disabled people. I urge the Labor government to listen to the constituents who are reaching out and expressing their deep sorrow, anxiety, stress and uncertainty about what the future holds for them and about what is potentially coming down the pipeline. If these sorts of cuts can be made without genuine, meaningful input from the disabled community, then what's to stop further erosion of this critical piece of social policy in the future? I implore the government to honour its commitment to building trust with the disability community and to release the NDIS Financial Sustainability Framework so we can have the full picture of what their intentions are for this scheme.

Question agreed to.