A Senate inquiry into the Australian government's proposed changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme has wrapped up after three days of hearings. The inquiry examined draft amendments to the NDIS Act, which have drawn sharp criticism from across the disability sector. Over the course of the hearings, senators heard repeated warnings about the potential impact of the bill on people with disability and their families. The process has now placed the legislation, and the disagreements around it, firmly in the spotlight.
At the centre of the concern is the number of people who could lose access to support. According to the evidence presented, the proposals would see about 300,000 people removed or blocked from accessing the scheme by 2031. That figure has become a focal point for opponents of the bill, who argue it represents a fundamental narrowing of the scheme. For those who rely on the NDIS, the prospect of being pushed off it has driven much of the alarm heard during the inquiry.
The most pointed criticism came from other levels of government. State and territory governments published a stinging joint submission accusing the federal government of breaking commitments made at National Cabinet in January. In that submission, they said the bill goes too far in shifting much of the decision-making to the Commonwealth Minister and in prioritising cost reductions. The intervention turned what had been a sector debate into a direct dispute between Canberra and the states and territories.
Their core worry is what happens to people who are removed from the scheme. The states and territories warned that the federal government is pushing people off the NDIS before alternative supports have been put in place. They questioned where the hundreds of thousands of affected participants would go, and called for the process to stop and slow down. One of their representatives said the analysis carried out over the past couple of weeks remained inadequate.
Disability advocates delivered some of the most emotional testimony of the inquiry. Actress Hannah Diveny told the inquiry the reforms would lead to deaths, saying that when disabled people die as a direct result of the bill, their blood would be on the government's hands. She and others spoke about what the supports funded by the scheme make possible in their daily lives. The Greens echoed those concerns, arguing the bill would cause harm and cost lives.
The government, for its part, has defended both the substance and the pace of the changes. It says all leaders had agreed to cut the scheme's growth and that the states and territories will continue to have a central role in its reform. Officials maintain that the timeline they have set out, which involves getting the bill through parliament as quickly as possible before the winter break, is the right plan. They have framed the reforms as necessary to make the scheme sustainable.
The dispute now moves beyond the inquiry and into the broader politics of the parliament. The government says it expects to eventually win over the coalition when parliament resumes later this month. Advocates and state and territory governments, however, are continuing to press for the changes to be slowed down so that alternative supports can be tested before people are moved off the scheme. With the inquiry concluded, the focus shifts to whether the government can secure the votes it needs and whether the warnings raised will reshape the final legislation.