NDIS bill on hold, but not Brazil trip for senators

Bill Shorten has accused Liberal and Greens senators of hitting taxpayers with a $1.1bn bill after joining forces and threatening to delay a vote on reforms.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has accused Liberal and Greens senators of hitting taxpayers with a $1.1bn bill after joining forces and threatening to delay a vote on government reforms to the scheme until after they return from a South American junket during parliament’s winter break.

The two-month delay being sought by the Coalition and Greens, in an amendment tabled in the Senate, would stall reforms that were meant to close loop­holes at the heart of an unsustainable growth rate to the $42bn-a-year scheme.

Mr Shorten accused the ­Liberal and Greens senators of ­deliberately delaying a vote on the scheme, despite having signed off on a committee report into the bill, until they return from holidays in Brazil and the Americas during the winter break.

The Liberal amendment in the Senate on Monday afternoon sought a two-month delay, until August 5, on the basis that the senators wanted further consultation on a bill which had already been subjected to a 12-week committee review.

There are still two weeks left before parliament breaks for the winter break. The opposition claims the process has been too rushed.

Mr Shorten said a two-month delay had cost implications, which the opposition was aware of.

“The Liberal-Green Senate ­alliance will have a seismic $1.1bn financial cost to the scheme, but, most importantly, it will also have a human cost, allowing people with disability across Australia to continue to be exploited by dodgy providers and criminals,” Mr Shorten said.

“At the same time as the costly delay, Liberal and Greens members of the Senate community ­affairs legislation committee have also made plans to visit ­Brazil and the Americas on a two-week junket.

“Delaying this critical legislation will be of significant detriment to the NDIS and, most importantly, the Australians who need it.” Mr Shorten said the delay would stop the government from using NDIS legislation to close loopholes in the operation of the scheme, including $330m in savings from reforms to automatic top-ups, as well as $733m in savings from a new budget model.

Opposition NDIS spokesman Michael Sukkar said the senators had “expressed widespread concerns” about the current legislation, and that Coalition offices had been inundated with complaints about the proposed changes.

“The government has botched the consultative process for these important NDIS reforms – having not even covered every jurisdiction for its hearings and allocating insufficient time for proper consultation with the disability community,” Mr Sukkar said.

“There has been a lack of a co-design approach to developing the bill.

“It’s unclear who has been consulted in its development. Some disability representative organisations were apparently consulted.

“However, nondisclosure agreements were in place.”

Mr Sukkar said the bill made “multiple references to co-design” but was not open for public consultation.

“The opportunity to properly engage with the sector is important in bringing the NDIS back onto sustainable footing in a manner that does not disadvantage or impact negatively on participants most in need,” he said.

“The 2½ days of hearings conducted by the ­Senate community affairs committee pointed to significant concerns from the disability community about the lack of detail and potential unintended consequences of the current legislation without significant amendment.”

Mr Sukkar said it was “disappointing the government opted to reject a reasonable request for an extension to the reporting date and for a meaningful hearing day with the NDIA”.

“The government has had more than two years to get this legislation and consultation process right, and has failed,” he said.

“The NDIS is far too important to rush, and participants, providers, stakeholders and carers must have their say.”