House of Representatives

Second Reading Speech

Mr Shorten (Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Government Services)

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I'm genuinely pleased on behalf of the Albanese government to be introducing legislation into the parliament today aimed at securing the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

I'd like to commence my remarks by putting some context for this bill.

Before the National Disability Insurance Scheme was rolled out about a decade ago, Australians with disability were too often unseen and unheard - living in the shadows.

Australians with disability suffered what was called by some 'the misery lottery' - that is, the disability support was patchy across the country.

Depending on your postcode, you might be lucky enough to get some funding to help you and your family, or otherwise you might live a life of uncertainty and, quite often, disadvantage and poverty.

I remember it was in 2009, the then Labor government, under Prime Minister Rudd and minister for social services Macklin and me as parliamentary secretary for disabilities, commissioned a report to help us move the analysis and debate about people with disability in this country.

That report was titled Shut out.

What was uncovered through the consultation phase was 'intensely moving and profoundly shocking'.

It painted a picture then of people with disability isolated and alone, their lives a constant struggle for resources and support.

An article written about this groundbreaking report at the time said:

Where once they were shut in, now people with a disability find themselves shut out. Shut out of housing, employment, education, health care, recreation and sport. Shut out of kindergartens, schools, shopping centres and community groups. Shut out of our way of life. This segregation is a national disgrace.

It was clear then that Australia needed a whole system of disability support, and the NDIS for people with the most complex support needs.

The nation and the parliament at that time made a decision that we would no longer let a person's postcode or financial situation dictate whether they won the disability support lottery.

Now, in its 10 year history, the National Disability Insurance Scheme has fundamentally changed Australia.

The NDIS represents the best about our country.

It fulfills a sense of collective responsibility - the essence of the fair go.

It's integral to our national identity.

Its value is measured in human terms, not just economic.

People with disability should have the support they need to participate in the community.

Every Australian deserves the peace of mind of knowing that if they or someone they love acquires a significant and permanent disability the NDIS will be there for them.

And all of us benefit from building a more inclusive and accessible society.

This is a 21st century story of successful political change driven by Australians with disability who demanded more control over their destiny.

We can never - must never - return to the days before the NDIS.

Through the NDIS, Australians have changed the way we view ourselves.

It reflects the nation that we want to see in the mirror.

Australians do not see people with a disability as 'the other'.

They're family, friends, work mates, school mates, our neighbours - any one of us, to be honest, or someone we love.

Treating our fellow Australians who have disabilities as second-class citizens - too hard, too costly, someone else's responsibility - reflects an image of ourselves that I don't believe that we should recognise or like.

However, despite its life-changing impact, the NDIS is in danger of losing its way.

It has not fully delivered on the original vision.

When I became Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme in June 2022, I warned that 'the promise of the NDIS has been betrayed - not yet fatally, but still substantially'.

While the NDIS has absolutely changed hundreds of thousands of lives for the better, it is not working well for everyone. Participants have spoken about how every interaction with the NDIS can become a battle.

They've voiced their frustration at having to prove, year after year, that they still are blind or they still have Down syndrome or Prader-Willi or quadriplegia or motor neurone disease.

This was a scheme that, along with thousands of passionate champions of the cause, I've worked tirelessly to help establish.

As I've said, too often before our NDIS people with disability were treated as second-class citizens - out of sight, out of mind.

We said, 'Never again' - never again would Australians with disability be forgotten.

Labor has now been in government for about 676 days.

I can proudly say that this government and myself have worked every day with the disability sector to do everything we can to make life on the NDIS and life for people with disability in Australia better.

We promised to make the NDIS a priority and not penalise people with disability for wanting to live fulfilled lives.

We promised to put more people with disability on the NDIS board and conduct a root-and-branch review of the scheme.

We promised to make the scheme sustainable so that future generations of Australians with disability have an NDIS to access.

We made a promise to ensure that every dollar was going to the people for whom it was intended - NDIS participants.

And we promised to restore trust in the scheme.

The work began in earnest within days of the election.

We now have more people with lived experience on the NDIS board than in the entire history of the scheme.

We have our first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander board member.

We're getting more people with disability who are eligible for the NDIS and fit for discharge discharged from hospital rather than waiting in beds when they are medically fit to go home.

We've slashed the 4½ thousand legacy appeal cases that were languishing in long queues at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

We've established a partnership between the National Disability Insurance Agency and the First Peoples Disability Network to collaborate on the new First Nations NDIS strategy and action plan.

We've established the Inklings pilot with the Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia to help families of children who are showing early signs of autism with evidence based interventions.

Early intervention is one of the key principles of the NDIS, and the world-leading Inklings program takes us from a 'wait and see' approach to an 'identify and act' approach.

Neurodivergent babies will still be neurodivergent and they will require support.

But early intervention is crucial for a life with less reliance on supports later on and the chance for a child to flourish.

We also promised to make the scheme safer for people with disability, and to tackle fraud, waste and overcharging so that every dollar goes towards a better outcome for the participant, not someone trying to make a quick, dirty buck.

We're coming at this challenge from a number of angles.

In its first year, the Fraud Fusion Taskforce that we established has investigated more than a hundred cases involving more than $1 billion of NDIS funding.

Mr Michael Phelan, a former director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, and decorated former police officer, is now the Acting Commissioner of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

The commission will feature in a new taskforce alongside the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the NDIA to weed out those charging more for equipment and services simply because you have an NDIS funding package.

This is wrong and it's a breach of federal law and we've upgraded the NDIS rules to make it clear that an NDIS 'wedding tax' is not on. That is when people approach a service provider and say, 'I'm on the NDIS,' and the price miraculously goes up for an identical service.

I do say to service providers who are complaining about my campaign on price gouging: putting unfair treatment - by, admittedly, a small minority of service providers - in the too-hard basket undermines the reputation of the many very good, dedicated service providers, and ignoring price gouging and unethical conduct is a betrayal of NDIS participants and Aussie taxpayers and jeopardises the credibility and social licence of the scheme.

Further legal changes are coming to more strongly prohibit and punish such unethical practices.

But while this government has achieved an enormous amount in a short period of time, there is much more to do.

The independent NDIS Review panel undertook some of the most extensive consultation with the Australian community in the history of the Commonwealth, to set a new course for the NDIS.

The review's final report, released publicly on 7 December 2023, made 26 recommendations and 139 supporting actions to government, all based on what the panel heard from more than 10,000 people and organisations, and what they read in almost 4,000 submissions.

National Cabinet considered the final report and, as part of the initial response, agreed that the Commonwealth would work with state and territory governments to implement legislative and other changes.

I do acknowledge the remarkable goodwill of state premiers and territory chief ministers in agreeing to work as one for Australians with disability.

I certainly applaud their commitment last December to finance additional disability services outside the NDIS program - the 'foundational supports' that we speak of - and I also acknowledge that they have agreed to contribute more to the NDIS from 1 July 2028.

Australians with disability are relying on us to make good on our promises.

There is, though, an urgency about making change.

We've had almost 10 years of delay on the NDIS working for Australians with disability and the review panel also tells us that any changes we make will take years - the process of reform will take years.

Australians with a disability shouldn't wait a day longer than they have to for governments at all levels to work together with people with disability to improve the scheme.

The Albanese government is committed to engaging and consulting with people with disability, their families, carers, representative organisations, service providers, unions, and the broader community.

The bill which I present will enable new and expanded rule- and instrument-making powers.

The legislative approach taken is that we seek to establish an enabling architecture for rules and future reforms to restore the original intent, integrity, consistency and transparency of the scheme.

These rules, together with all legislative instruments provided for in the bill, will be developed with all states and territories following genuine consultation with the disability community.

Collaboration with the disability sector on design is essential.

This was the clarion call from the NDIS Review panel.

It will be complemented by design and development of foundational supports to assist people with a disability, including those outside the NDIS.

This principle has also been agreed by all governments.

This bill today is only the first step in this process of reform outlined by the review. There does remain an enormous amount of work to do together to implement the reforms.

The government will work with state and territory partners, and across the political divide with the opposition, to deliver a common vision for the NDIS. Simply put, we wish to put the NDIS above the day-to-day political debate between levels of government and between political parties, because Australians with disability and their families deserve nothing less.

We will absolutely continue to engage with participants, their families, carers and disability representative organisations to ensure that this blueprint for the future reflects their experience and contributions.

The bill that I presented today is the next part of our journey towards an improved NDIS.

I've said it's a first step in responding to the NDIS review findings, and to the disability community who so generously of themselves gave their experiences and insights.

But I'd like to take a moment to talk directly to the 660,000 Australians who are NDIS participants, to the 400,000 people who work in NDIS related occupations, to families, carers and guardians.

I know that much needed - and indeed much wanted - change can produce anxiety.

Talk of any change to a family battling to make ends meet can sound like a problem, not an opportunity, and I can respect nervousness which might be caused by this discussion. I just want to reassure these people who've battled hard to create an NDIS and to get their packages of support: we will work with you to make sure that people are getting the right support in the right way.

Under this government this scheme will continue to grow.

Changes will be for the best interests of the participant.

A critical element of design and development following passage of the bill will be a person-centred model for needs assessment.

This will deliver consistency and equity for planning decisions.

Access to the NDIS should not depend on how rich you are or who you know or the reports that you are able to procure.

This change that we're talking about will not take effect until design is done and new rules are made - transition will take time, and we don't seek to rush that.

Importantly, agreement by all state and federal governments means the NDIS will become one part of a larger ecosystem of supports rather than being in danger of being the only lifeboat in the ocean.

Before I talk about some of the technical parts of the bill, I do want to flag that some of the following part of this presentation will have some technical discussion.

I'm here to explain its intent in plain language so that people with disability and their families, and disability organisations understand what is changing and when it will be changing.

What we have to do is reform the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act of 2013 (the NDIS Act) and we have four goals:

1)

that the NDIS provide a better experience for participants

2)

that the scheme be restored to its original intent to support people with significant and permanent disability

3)

that the scheme be equitable, and

4)

that the scheme be sustainable.

The bill has two parts.

One section lays the foundations for implementing key review recommendations, particularly those around planning and budget setting.

I want to go through some of that with you.

Once you're in the scheme, you will get a plan based on your support needs.

What we all want is a more dignified, person-centred process that assesses needs to determine a consistent, accurate and fair budget.

And that that budget can be spent flexibly.

This starts with a needs assessment that we'll work on with the disability sector to make sure we get it right.

I want to be clear. 'Reasonable and necessary' remains the core basis on which your support needs are met through the scheme.

This bill proposes no changes to the 'reasonable and necessary' core operating principle of the NDIS.

But your needs assessment will look at your support needs as a whole - and we won't distinguish between primary and secondary disabilities any longer.

If over time your support needs change, because of a significant change in your function, your information can be updated with a new support needs assessment.

The result will be a budget for disability supports that are fit for you; that reflect the support needs for your disability.

You can spend this budget flexibly in line with your own support needs - because you know them best.

But everyone will need to manage their NDIS budget, just as we do with our household budgets.

We will be clear about what supports can and can't be funded by the NDIS to help you make informed choices and have confidence that you're using your NDIS funds within what is allowed.

However, the changes to be implemented will be developed with people with disability and the disability sector. This will take time to get right. The legislation is starting to deliver our vision for a future NDIS. This legislation is not an end in itself. Until the rules and subsequent legislative instruments are made, the current planning rules will continue to apply so there is no change. Flexible budgets and a whole-of-person approach will increase the ability of participants to exercise real, true choice and control and to best realise their full social and economic participation in Australian society.

However, all the changes to budget setting aim to provide participants with greater clarity and transparency and with fairer and more consistent decision-making, and will improve participant satisfaction. Creating this budget framework aligns with the original intent of the NDIS to support people with a permanent, significant disability as part of a larger landscape of supports outside the NDIS. We'll also make sure that we get expert advice on selection and use of any tools so the process is transparent.

These rural areas were highlighted by the NDIS review as critical for improvement. But before we can introduce these things a lot of work needs to be done collaboratively with people with disability, their families, rep organisations, and state and territory governments. Therefore, there are some operational changes that need to be made. This is the second part of the bill. I know that some people feel anxious when we talk about scheme sustainability - what they hear instead is, 'Do I lose something?' There is still some media commentary that unfairly targets people with disability in a way that is stigmatising and deeply unfair, and, of course, we live in the age of social media. To meet some of the rumours head on, I say, (1) psychosocial disability is still included in the NDIS - full stop; (2) autism is still recognised as a disability - full stop; and (3) there are many good service providers in the scheme, but at the same time we need to have an honest conversation about the scheme. It cannot keep growing at the same rate that it is now. It can keep growing, but it just can't keep growing at 16 per cent annually, as it has in the past few years. The Disability Reform Ministerial Council is on record as saying:

Without timely action to improve outcomes for people with disability, the NDIS is projected to grow to more than 1 million participants and cost up to $100 billion a year by 2032.

Costs continue to grow without fairness, rigour and control over this critical investment by the Australian people. We simply have to take steps to get it back on track, and that's what we're doing with this bill. Some operational changes to improve things can happen soon after the legislation if it's passed by the parliament and signed by the Governor-General. One is the definition of 'NDIS supports'. The legislation will, for the first time, link the definition of 'NDIS supports' to the rights of people with disability under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is the first time that parts of the UN convention have been incorporated into NDIS laws.

Another change relates to the provision of information-gathering for eligibility reassessment. We will work with the disability community on operating guidance on this matter. It is important for the CEO of the scheme to have the ability to request and receive information on whether participants meet the access criteria, including residence requirements, disability requirements or early intervention requirements. But let me be very clear - this will not result in people having to reprove their disability, but will allow the CEO to determine if a participant is receiving the most appropriate support. The process will take into account difficulties of participants in accessing information, but participants or their nominee will need to communicate with the agency in a way that works best for the person on the scheme. Not communicating is not an option.

Another change that will be able to happen pretty quickly is with plan management arrangements where there is a risk for that participant, including financial risk. I want to make clear that the agency has responsibilities here too, and will be required to be consistent in its operations with the legislation and the rules.

These are just a few of the things that you may see happen early on. Because this is such an important scheme for so many of our fellow Australians, I want to stress that those directly impacted by key decisions about the scheme continue to play a central role in developing the detail and the implementation of the reforms.

The ideas from the review, on the other hand, will take time, and we respect that it will take time.

There are two reasons for this.

One - and it's a non-negotiable item for me - is that these things have to be done in collaboration with people with disability.

Consultation on the early intervention pathway is crucial and there will be no changes until that work is done together.

And the second is that the review was very clear about the sequence of events, particularly about building the ecosystem of supports.

The NDIS was designed to help the people with the most complex support needs, but it was never designed to be the total scheme for all Australians with disability. We now need to finish the job of building a more inclusive Australia.

It is why we, at the federal level, will need to begin the work of foundational supports with our colleagues at the state and territory level before some of the other elements can be introduced and finalised.

The states and territories will play an important role here, consistent with the two National Cabinet agreements from last year.

This bill also includes amendments to quality and safeguarding, providing greater flexibility for the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner in exercising compliance powers and building on our comprehensive fraud reforms.

These changes will boost the commission's ability to undertake compliance action.

I want to say again that, when we talk about improving the quality of outcomes for people with disability, some service providers feel criticised. I put on the record that the vast majority of providers are good, decent, hardworking people. I wish to record my gratitude for the quality services they supply with care, compassion and professionalism.

But we owe Australians the truth. Some service providers are literally having a lend of the system. This scheme was not designed to put a second-storey verandah on a beach house of a service provider seeking to make a quick buck. We cannot ignore this and the poor outcomes that delivers for NDIS participants.

With the measures we're talking about, this is not the end of the journey or the end of the story.

We will consider more work on quality and safety once we have the report of the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce, led by trusted lawyer and disability advocate Natalie Wade.

Both the NDIS review and the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability made recommendations on the scope and powers of the commission, and these are still being considered by the government.

We need to make sure we understand the various interactions between the recommendations of both reports before we consider taking action. I acknowledge the hard work of my colleague the Minister for Social Services in supporting this work.

What I've outlined today requires a national coordinated effort across all governments and from each and every one of us as members of the community.

These reforms will not happen overnight - there will be a significant piece of work to design this pathway and I again ask for the support and the contributions of the disability sector.

But I do say to my friends in the state and territory governments today as we table this bill: we've tabled the bill today to be transparent. This reform process has been in the making since we commissioned the NDIS review nearly 18 months ago. Some think we're going too fast. Others think we're going too slow. I just want the best for Australians with disability, as I know this parliament does. I acknowledge there are questions and concerns from my colleagues in the states, and we will genuinely work to resolve issues and allay fears. There is no arrogance or hubris with the introduction of this bill. This is, in the government's best judgement, the time to start this stage of our reform journey. It is in line with the National Cabinet agreement to introduce legislation in the first part of this year, and we're delivering on that promise.

As I say, I can only imagine that there will be some anxiety about any talk of changes within the disability sector, but the NDIS, as we all know, is not working quite the way it should and is not working consistently and well enough for many people.

This is our chance to make it right. This is our chance as a parliament to help finish the job. If you have a significant and permanent disability which has quite an impact on your functioning, you will be covered by the NDIS. If you have a developmental delay which can be supported by a means of support other than an individual package, you will get what you need. There is nothing to be afraid of during this transition about your future on the scheme. We are simply seeking to put the best interests of the participants uppermost in the decisions of the scheme.

For me, this is all about what people need. I am tremendously committed to improving the lives of people with disability and working with people with disability to do this.

The NDIS is a marvellous, world-leading Australian experiment. It is changing lives.

We cannot allow people to be excluded from the great life of Australian opportunity because of their impairment.

We should be proud of the NDIS.

I believe that, along with Medicare, there's probably no better use of taxpayers' money.

The NDIS enables Australians regardless of their level of ability to lead the most fulfilling life possible.

I talk of a life of independence and dignity, a life of contribution to the community, a life of improved health and personal safety, a life of connection to others.

The NDIS unlocks the great potential of Australians with disability and their families. It enables them to participate in the life of our country on their own terms.

We should never change in fear, but we should never fear to change.

The NDIS is not perfect, but it's not broken.

We should never have a catastrophe mindset about the NDIS or a complete blue-sky mindset; we should just be truthful.

We can, together, make it fairer, more transparent, more compassionate and more accountable to those it supports.

It's still young - growing and learning.

But it is most certainly here to stay.

The NDIS is, daily, changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians with disability, and their families and the people who work with them.

I want it to keep changing hundreds of thousands of lives, long after we've left this place.

I hope that the parliament can rise to the occasion to help secure the future of the scheme - not just for Australians with disability but for all Australians.

I will leave you as I began - with a quote from the Shut Out report.

This was an anonymous submission:

Disability is characterised by desire for positive change and striving for emancipation and flourishing. It is seen every day amongst people living with disability. It is active hope. We desire a place within the community! This place is not just somewhere to lay down our heads, but a place which brings comfort and support with daily living, friendship, meaningful work, exciting recreation, spiritual renewal, relationships in which we can be ourselves freely with others. And out of this great things may flourish.

I commend this bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.