Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation.

In this budget week, I am reminded of the budget just two years ago that slashed billions from the NDIS. This was the Labor government's very first full budget, and the first thing that they did was cut the agency responsible for disability support. They did all of this under the guise of the message headlined 'We'll fix the NDIS'. I asked for the financial sustainability framework in May 2023, only to be told by this government that it did not exist and then that it did exist but we still couldn't have it. Two years later, this is the 19th time that I am again asking Labor to disclose the financial sustainability framework that underpinned, and still underpins, the government's cuts to the scheme.

Why is this so important? It's because that sustainability framework was the reason for the existence of the legislation passed by this government against the express wishes of the disability community, our families and our allies in July of last year and that legislation has resulted in over 26,000 reassessments of participants' eligibility. Following these reassessments, over 10,200 participant have lost access to the scheme. These cuts have seen participants and their families thrown unceremoniously into absolute chaos.

I'll give you one example: a participant was kicked off the scheme because the NDIS did not believe they had enough evidence of a permanent disability, despite the agency having received 25 pieces of evidence from the participant's file to make that decision. That was 25 pieces of individual reporting, including from psychiatrists, clinical psychs, behavioural support practitioners, occupational therapists, clinical nurses and social workers. It was not good enough, though, for this Labor government. This participant was kicked off the scheme with no supports available, even though the state and territory supports that they're now meant to access do not exist yet. In fact, there isn't even a definition, an agreed idea between the states and territories and the Commonwealth, as to what those supports should be. Without supports, disabled people and our families face very real, very significant risks to our safety, our health and our quality of life.

So we have this situation where the states, the territories and the Commonwealth have teamed up to cut the NDIS to save themselves some money. This Labor government refuses to be transparent about that decision. Disabled people lose supports, and there is nothing for us to turn to. While we're at it, let's just recap Labor's track record since being in government in these last few years. Billions of dollars have been cut from the NDIS. They have refused to disclose basic documentation to justify their decisions. There has been no transparency in relation to legislative changes and there has been a completely botched IT system that is creating so much havoc in the lives of so many people. And now, of course, we see coming down the track towards us the implementation of a so-called 'supports needs assessment' that sounds a heck of a lot like the failed independent assessments that the Liberals tried to force on us. And this is just the shortened version of the betrayal, of the underhanded gaslighting from this Labor government that they have perpetrated upon so many disabled people and their families.

Well, we're not going to take it anymore. We have tried 19 times to get this information out of you. You're not going to give it to us, so the next thing that we do together is go out to the ballot box and vote for a parliament that will deliver the actual information that is demanded and the transparency and support needed for disabled people and our families.