Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to urge the Albanese Labor government to get a move on with reining in the out-of-control National Disability Insurance Scheme. Since announcing a reboot of the NDIS, this government has done little to nothing to rein in the exploding cost of the scheme.

I support the NDIS in principle. It was sold to me on the basis that parents of disabled Australians would have assurance that their children would be cared for when they could no longer do it themselves. I was never told it would be used to fund kids with ADHD, which, let's face it, is sometimes a convenient diagnosis excusing poor parenting. I was never told it was going to be used to pay sex workers or fund music lessons as part of care plans costing more than $600,000 per year. And what about corporate box football tickets at $42,000 or alcohol and Christmas presents? It's all absolutely disgusting!

The government could start by reining in rates of pay for specialists, which are up to three times those for specialists in other sectors like public health and aged care. These sectors are struggling to retain skilled workers and are struggling with staff shortages, whereas the NDIS snaps workers up at unsustainable rates. Across the forward estimates, the NDIS is anticipated to cost taxpayers more than $56 billion a year. It is not means tested, and that's a big problem that we have.

Instead of putting at risk more than $10 billion of vital infrastructure funding in Queensland, especially urgent safety upgrades to the notorious Bruce Highway, the government needs to prioritise a reboot of the NDIS. Don't cut important infrastructure. Rein in the scams and waste within the NDIS. As I explained, we've even got someone on the scheme on up to $300,000 who is taking cooking lessons. They get a chef to come out and give them cooking lessons. They get holidays away. These are things that the average Australian can't afford, and we're paying for it. It's a scam.