National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations)

“The NDIS is a statement of our national values and a measure of our national character. It's up to us as parliamentarians—there are 150 in this chamber, as well as those in the Senate—to provide the necessary leadership in this space. That means coming together to pass this legislation. We need to protect the future of the NDIS. We need to strengthen the tough laws the government has passed and send a very clear message: the NDIS is critical, and you should not steal from people with disability, or we'll find you and we'll throw the book at you. It's absolutely crucial. We want to support people to do the right thing and support people living on the NDIS.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“It does indeed! I rise today in support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. Labor created the NDIS. This was nation-building reform. It was essential for the community, and it had strong community support. We are incredibly proud of the NDIS and its intentions, and we are determined to secure its future and cement the community support that people with disability deserve. I have a long history of advocating hard for the rights of people with disability in our community for over three decades and ensuring that they have a voice at the very highest levels. I've seen what happens when that support is not adequate or is not properly targeted, and I know how important it is for this to be right.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“I am proud that Labor built the NDIS, and I'm also proud that we are taking responsibility for securing its future. I'm deeply committed to this work, and I will continue to be a passionate advocate for people with disability in this place. This bill is needed to restore the NDIS to its original intent of supporting people with permanent and significant disability, to stabilise the growth of the scheme and make the NDIS available and secure for those who need it most for generations to come. That is why I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“These are the faces and the stories that give us the human perspective on the importance of the NDIS and this bill. This bill is about securing the future of the NDIS so that Australians with significant disability have a future with an institution they can trust and rely on for support for the rest of their lives. I had, as I said, a conversation about this with former prime minister Julia Gillard around 2008, at a meeting with the then member for Werriwa, Chris Hayes, and she understood well the importance of the NDIS being sustainable for the future. Whilst the NDIS is a Labor initiative—and it's thanks to Julia Gillard and, later, Bill Shorten—I know that many on the opposition benches have supported it and continue to support it, and it is very important that it is bipartisan.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“Through this bill here today, we are securing this foundational support for future generations. While the NDIS remains one of our country's most important social programs, it's growing faster than any other similar program, reaching unsustainable levels. It's riddled with fraud, rorts and unclear eligibility requirements. Through fighting fraud and stopping rorts, slowing rapid cost increases, providing clearer eligibility requirements and delivering quality services and support to participants, we are returning the NDIS to its original intent—providing lifetime support for Australians with permanent and significant disability—and ensuring that the NDIS remains a functioning and viable support system. This is so the next generation of Aussie families, carers and people living with permanent and significant disability can count on its promise for decades to come. For that reason, I'm proud to rise in support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“This bill is about ensuring the NDIS remains strong, sustainable and participant focused into the future. We know participants want a scheme that is fair. They want a scheme that is safe. They want a scheme that delivers quality supports, and they want a scheme that will still be there for future generations. This is exactly what this legislation seeks to secure. (Time expired)”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“This bill is not necessarily about participants. They're not the ones at fault here, but they are the centre of what we're trying to achieve. I know that the uncertainty of change is keeping people awake at night. This is not even necessarily about providers, the majority of whom do good work and go about their work with integrity. It is about creating a fair, safe and sustainable system that serves the interests of its participants, a system that is fit for purpose and will remain fit for purpose for the foreseeable future. The bill reclaims the narrative that first inspired the creation of the NDIS: giving a hand to our vulnerable Australians who need it the most. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“The NDIS remains one of the most important social reforms in Australian history. Labor created it because we believe Australians with disability deserve opportunity, dignity and inclusion, and Labor are reforming it because we believe future generations deserve that same promise. Securing the NDIS means making difficult decisions now to ensure the scheme remains strong into the future. It means tackling fraud, improving quality and safeguards and restoring sustainability. This bill ensures support continues to go to Australians with permanent and significant disability—as originally intended.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“This bill represents an important step forward in meeting that responsibility. It gives effect to key elements of a broader plan to restore the scheme's integrity, to bring it back to its original intent and to ensure that it continues to deliver meaningful outcomes for those that it was designed to support. When I read those words, it brings back memories of a forum in Glenelg where members of the disability sector were asking the then government to design something to give people support. I think of those people in that room who have turned their lives around since then because of the NDIS and have benefited from it. The bill introduces reforms that focus on the core foundations of the scheme—access, eligibility and planning—ensuring that decisions are clear, consistent and grounded in the needs of participants.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“We cannot, we don't get to, preserve the social licence of the NDIS—and that's a collective task of everybody in this parliament—unless Australians continue to see the scheme as fair, compassionate and effective. Labor understands that because Labor has always believed in the NDIS. Labor created it, Labor built it, and Labor is taking responsibility to ensure it remains strong not just for today but for all those generations into the future. That's what responsible government looks like; it's the task before us, because the greatest threat to the NDIS right now is no reform. Despite the anxiety that some participants are feeling about change—understandably so, as I just said—there is no greater threat to the NDIS scheme that they're relying upon than a zero-reform agenda. That would be a diabolical outcome right now.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“That's what this particular legislation will hopefully do. It will ensure that the people that are providing services and managing the cases for the individual recipients are registered and know what they're doing. The registration process alone, I believe, will weed out a lot of the bad operators. I'm hoping it will, but I've got no doubt that it will. One of the things that is contained within this legislation, which I also very strongly support, is the ability for the National Disability Insurance Agency to have much stronger investigative powers. It seems to me that right now the powers they have do not allow them to go in and perhaps review cases, get the information they need and then determine whether there is any malpractice going on. We need to give them those powers. That will happen with the information-gathering powers that we're giving them, as well as the civil penalties that they will be allowed to apply as part of their enforcement procedure.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“Labor built the NDIS. We built it because we believe in a country where the circumstances of your birth, including the presence of disability, should not determine or limit your life. We built it because we believe in an Australia that is grounded in fairness and kindness, and we are reforming the NDIS now, with this bill, because that belief carries with it responsibility not just to build something good but also to protect it, to make sure it lasts, to make sure it is still there, stronger, better and fairer for the next generation of Australians who will need it. The coalition had their chance to be stewards of this scheme. They squandered it. This government will not make the same mistake. We are making the tough decisions that the moment demands and with the care that Australians with disability deserve. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“If we want the NDIS to be the system it was intended to be—to truly provide security and dignity for people with disability—the NDIS needs the structural change proposed in this bill. I know these changes are going to be hard, I know these changes are fuelling anxiety and I know constantly advocating for your needs is so exhausting. For many this reform is a hard pill to swallow. But for others it is hope that help is on the way to their local town, to their community. We can no longer have a two-tier NDIS where, if you live in the cities and you have a package and you can access services and you have the health literacy to make applications for those services, you have a completely different experience than if you don't have health literacy or if you live in a regional or rural town and there are very limited providers where the market has failed. We can no longer have a system where some people with disability and significant disability are in and some people with significant disability are out.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 gives effect to elements of our plan to restore the NDIS to its original intent of supporting people with permanent and significant disability and to secure the NDIS for future generations. These aren't changes to its purpose but to protect it, to strengthen it and to secure it for future generations who will rely on it long after us. It's changed lives, it's opened doors and it's given people with permanent and significant disability the opportunity to participate fully in their communities. It's one of Australia's most important social programs. It's a national institution built on fairness, dignity and inclusion.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The NDIS was built on the idea that Australians with significant and permanent disability deserve to live with dignity, independence and genuine choice. That's a noble idea, and our responsibility is to protect a scheme like this from those who'd seek to exploit it. The coalition will support this bill through this House. We do so not as a blank cheque to government but as a commitment to the principle of a sustainable and well-governed scheme. We will scrutinise the rules framework carefully. We will push for proper consultation. We will call out broken promises.”

Liberal Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“None of this means reform should not occur. Reform is necessary. The scheme must be sustainable. If costs continue to grow unchecked, future governments will face impossible choices. And, if fraud and waste continue to undermine confidence, the social licence that underpins the NDIS will weaken. But sustainability cannot simply mean reducing expenditure. True sustainability also means maintaining trust that genuine participants will be treated fairly, that vulnerable Australians will not be abandoned, that the system will remain centred on people rather than bureaucracy and that governments are targeting the real causes of waste and exploitation, not simply making it harder for vulnerable people to access support.”

National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The coalition is very keen to potentially amend this legislation in the other place to make sure that we're getting this completely right, because it is a large bit of legislation. There are many components to it, and it is obviously something that has been pushed onto the sector at very short notice. A lot of the measures that are being proposed had previously been championed by the coalition, but they were, I'll note, strongly opposed by Labor at different points. Functional capacity assessments are effectively a repackaged version of the coalition's independent assessments model, which Labor was opposed to. We've been strongly pushing for stronger registration as well, and I note the comments that people have made about the need for greater registration so we can tackle those quality and fraud issues.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“Yes, there's bipartisan support for these NDIS reforms. We strongly support those bipartisan reforms. But let's focus where the rorting is. It's amazing to me that two guys knocking on doors in Western Sydney, armed with nothing more than an iPhone camera, can expose more rorts than I have seen in four years of this government. Australians rightly ask what is going on. Australians with profoundly disabled family members, families who are working, families who are doing exactly what this scheme is intended for, deserve the answers to these questions.”

Liberal Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“This bill goes some way to addressing the rising number of bad actors taking advantage of participants and taxpayers by introducing additional provider registration requirements. Right now, around 94 per cent of providers are unregistered. The controls and fraud protection mechanisms are far too weak, and we see this nearly every day in the papers and on social media. This is absolutely unacceptable. These providers are taking advantage of NDIS participants, and they are taking advantage of the taxpayers who are funding this work. There are a few measures in this bill that stamp out this fraud. The digital payments platform needing to retain receipts and evidence of services and the 90-day claim timeframe will help with some of this, but it will not stamp out the rorts. That's why the coalition has called for a Senate inquiry into this bill. Submissions are currently open to participants, families, carers, providers and advocates right across the country. We must carefully scrutinise these changes. NDIS participants can't be expected to trust reforms that this government can't even explain, and they need more information on what these changes will mean for their future.”

Liberal Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“Supporting the NDIS does not mean simply defending the scheme as it exists today; it means ensuring that it stays strong and sustainable for generations yet to come. If we want the scheme to be able to continue supporting Australians well into the future, we also have a responsibility to ensure it remains fit for purpose. The reality is that the scheme has grown substantially since its establishment. Originally, the NDIS was expected to support around 410,000 participants. Today, it supports more than 760,000 Australians. Annual expenditure has grown from original projections of approximately $13.6 billion to around $50 billion, and that is projected to continue increasing significantly in the years ahead. That growth presents real challenges.”

Liberal Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“After all, the title of this bill is 'Securing the NDIS for Future Generations'. Doesn't that sound sensible? The Miracle Babies NurtureGroup program delivered more than 33,000 parent-support interactions in 2025 and is embedded in more than 65 neonatal units around the country. I'd like to see more of this program in regional Australia. The NDIS review itself called for more support for children with developmental delays both inside and outside the NDIS. If government is serious about securing the NDIS, it should not only stop the rorts and register providers; it should also strengthen the earlier, community based supports that stop families from reaching deeper crisis in the first place. If we identify developmental concerns earlier, support parents earlier and build stronger referral pathways earlier, we can improve outcomes for children and reduce pressure on the NDIS later.”

National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“With that in mind, I think it is very pleasing that the coalition are approaching this with a lens of bipartisan support for important reforms but with some concern and trepidation that the savings from these measures have already been spent. In today's Australian we see that more than the savings from these NDIS changes has already been committed in this budget alone. This is the second in a series of legislative changes that the current government has made in the wake of the 2023 independent review into the NDIS, and it is of great concern to me that already the money's gone.”

Liberal Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“But we don't think this proposed legislation is going to fix the NDIS. We don't think this goes far enough. We don't think it will do what it needs to do in order to restore integrity to the NDIS. I implore the government to reconsider its approach to the NDIS more broadly to make sure that we are actually going to address the issues that we are seeing in the NDIS. The fact that 94 per cent of providers are currently unregistered is something that, prior to entering politics, I had absolutely no idea about. It is absolutely shocking that, while across various industries, various sectors and professional bodies, if you want to practise in certain fields, you need to be registered, in the NDIS there's a different standard.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“We all have different stories, different thoughts, but we all just want the same thing: the treatment for our loved ones, the support for the people that need it, and to make sure that those that are ripping off the taxpayers that are here today and robbing the people with disabilities get the punishments that they deserve. I'll always stand in support of the NDIS, and I'll work with the government to make sure that we are looking after our most vulnerable—people like my daughter.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The coalition will always support measures that improve the integrity of the NDIS. We want genuine safeguards in place to protect participants and to stop the rampant fraud and rorting that is currently undermining the scheme. Right now, a staggering 94 per cent of providers are completely unregistered. With $50 billion in taxpayer funds going out the door, our fraud protection mechanisms are simply too weak. The Albanese government has more than 10,000 people working within the NDIS scheme alone, yet they are completely failing to use these massive resources to get on top of the issue and, more importantly, act. To date, neither the government nor the agency have been able to clearly quantify the scale of the theft. The data we have is deeply concerning. The Australian National Audit Office reported that six to 10 per cent of all claims could be noncompliant, fraudulent or simply incorrect.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The bill before us today seeks to address some of these critical issues. It introduces tighter controls on how funds can be spent. It provides greater powers to the regulatory body to investigate and prosecute fraud. It aims to clarify the definition of 'reasonable and necessary supports', ensuring that funding is directed towards evidence based therapies and interventions. These are necessary steps, and we support the intent of these measures. We believe that we must tighten the rules to protect the very purpose of the scheme. But legislation alone is simply not enough. The government must be committed to implementing these changes effectively. They must provide the resources necessary to ensure that these new rules are enforced. They must work closely with the states and the territories to ensure a consistent approach across the entire country.”

Liberal Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The coalition will support this bill because we recognise that change is necessary. The findings of the NDIS review and the royal commission make clear that reforms cannot be ignored. There must be stronger oversight, there must be stronger protections and there must be greater accountability—all weaknesses of this Albanese Labor government. But our support comes with an expectation that implementation is transparent, that consultation is genuine and that Australians with disability remain at the centre of every decision. The NDIS is one of Australia's most important social reforms. Its future matters, its integrity matters and, most importantly, the people who rely on it matter.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“I hope that we can have a day here where we've made sufficient changes to make this a program that is sustainable, that does what Australians want and that fulfils that desire for Australians to look after those of us who need support and who need help. I look forward to that day, and I think there is enough in here that starts us down that pathway. I think there is a start here, and that's why I'm very willing to work with the government on this. But there is a long way to go here.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“On integrity, the coalition has been clear: we will support measures that crack down on fraud, noncompliance and exploitation. Public confidence in the NDIS depends on knowing the money is going to real supports for real people. When around 94 per cent of providers are unregistered and there are serious concerns about non-compliant or fraudulent claims, every member of this House should be paying attention. Fraud not only wastes taxpayer money; it takes support away from Australians with disability. That is why stronger provider registration, better record retention and tighter claims timeframes matter. But these measures should go after the crooks, not make life harder for honest participants and providers who are doing the right thing. Reform has to be fair as well as firm. But these measures should go after the crooks, not make life harder for honest participants and providers who are doing the right thing. Reform has to be fair as well as firm.”

National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The integrity measures in this bill deserve support. Stronger record keeping, tighter claims timeframes, improved provider regulation and enhanced fraud prevention powers—I think we'd all agree that they are necessary. The scheme has been subject to misuse, and, of course, that must be addressed. But integrity alone is not enough. Transparency, consultation and careful implementation are critical to give participants confidence, not confusion. In short, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We must also ensure that plan suspensions, eligibility reviews and compliance mechanisms do not inadvertently penalise vulnerable participants due to administrative or communication barriers.”

Liberal Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“The scheme has grown to 760,000 participants at a cost of almost $50 billion. Labor has failed to meet the commitment to reduce the annual growth rate of the scheme to eight per cent. Something does need to be done to ensure the NDIS is sustainable. The costs continue to rise, and we must make sure that the scheme is around for a long time to come to support people with disabilities, but I am deeply concerned about the way in which this is being done. Instead of targeting scammers, these changes will impact people like Joe from Dubbo or a child in Walgett, who will no longer get the support that they need. Instead of shutting down shonky operators, these changes will mean people with a disability in remote areas will not be able to access services. Instead of becoming more efficient, the NDIS services will just be cut, hurting some of the most vulnerable people in my electorate of Parkes and across Australia. For people who are suddenly not eligible, who are told that their challenges are not big enough, what options will there be?”

National Party • MP • 26 May 2026

“On the current trajectory, the NDIS is expected to cost a hundred billion dollars a year within 10 years. If we don't get this right, then, at some point, some future government is going to say: 'That's it. We can't do this anymore. The NDIS is gone.' That would be a disaster for families like the member for Herbert's, mine and those of 760,000-odd Australians around the country. We've got to make this a better system, we've got to make it a fairer system and we've got to crack down on the shonks. Hopefully, this bill will do that, but we'll keep a close eye on it from the opposition.”

Liberal National Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“One person wrote to me and said, 'It's clear there is wastage which needs resolving in the system, but pulling support from those of us who are trying everything we humanly can do to preserve dignity and independence is really a low blow.' It's a really low blow from the Albanese government, because they were unwilling to support and work with the coalition the last time we were in office to actually bring in a lot of the changes that they're now seeking to bring in. But, instead of focusing on the fraud and the corruption, the way they're approaching it is to target the participants.”

Liberal Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“What is the point of that story? On both sides of this chamber, you'd better realise that, if we don't straighten this out, it is over—we will have to close down the NDIS. It is completely and utterly unsustainable. There has to be a bipartisan view. There'll always be the few who scream from the edges, because they never actually have to run the treasury bench. They can say what they like; they don't have to pay the bills. To bring this back under control, it needs a cap on it. It needs to be said: 'This is what you've got.' It was supposed to cost $13.8 billion. Say: 'Let's double it and add a bit, to make, say, $30 billion—that's it. There is no more money beyond that. That is it. So find your most profound disabilities. They have to fit within the budget. And that is it.'”

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party • MP • 27 May 2026

“This reform must also not be the end. There were lots of concerns shared with me in my community surveys which will not be addressed in this stage of reforms. There must be more steps to ensure the integrity, that fraud is countered effectively and that the level of supports provided to participants is proportionate. I support the principles of these reforms. I believe that they are necessary to secure the NDIS for the future. But I do think that the government is being heroic in its assumptions about what it can get done by when. It is absolutely critical for the government now to deliver on what it has promised to the community. I will look most carefully at the rollout of its implementation. I'll be listening to my community and ensuring that the legislation has achieved what it set out to do, because there are 760,000 Australians and family members who rely on this scheme, and they deserve nothing less from this parliament.”

Independent • MP • 27 May 2026

“With those requests in mind and without declining to give this bill a second reading, I commend this bill to the House, and I move:”

Independent • MP • 26 May 2026