NDIS ‘shrouded in mystery’, Coalition’s Anne Ruston says

As the NDIS clocked over 700,000 participants for the first time in the last quarter, Anne Ruston said the government had ‘a lot to come clean with Australians about’ when it came to its reforms.

Opposition NDIS spokeswoman Anne Ruston. Picture: Martin Ollman / NewsWire

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Newly appointed opposition NDIS spokeswoman Anne Ruston says Labor’s reforms to the $40bn scheme are “shrouded in mystery” and has slammed what she sees as a lack of transparency from the government in the disability, aged care and health sectors that risks Australians facing “catastrophic” outcomes.

As the National Disability Insurance Scheme clocked more than 700,000 participants for the first time in the last quarter, Senator Ruston said the government had “a lot to come clean with Australians about” when it came to the reforms.

And, while not confirming whether the Coalition would seek to rein in the scheme’s growth beyond the annual 8 per cent target, Senator Ruston said she wanted to “get under the bonnet” and investigate the ongoing sustainability of the NDIS.

“I’m looking forward to consulting with the sector and getting across all of the information and details I need in the first instance, but I think the government needs to be very clear with Australians who live with disability, their carers, their friends, their families and their communities about what the NDIS will deliver into the future,” she told The Australian in her first interview in her new role.

Labor has managed to reduce the growth of the scheme from about 15 per cent to 13 by cent by 2024, with the Grattan Institute declaring that reaching the 8 per cent target by next year will be “challenging”.

Senator Ruston, who was elected to parliament more than a decade ago, said her “greatest concern” when it came to the NDIS was the lack of transparency around what was actually going on.

“There seems to be these reforms that have been legislated, but the actual implementation and delivery often seems to be shrouded in great mystery,” she said.

“I would like to work with the government to make sure that we get the best possible outcome … but equally, if the government is going to fail to properly consult, if it’s going to fail with its transparency, if it’s going to fail in terms of its delivery on these important outcomes, I will use my voice to call it out.

“I think (NDIS) Minister (Mark) Butler has been handed a very big job to do, but he cannot continue to ignore the issues of implementation. He really does need to buckle down and get this job done, because the impact on Australians is actually quite catastrophic if he fails.”

Her comments come in the wake of prevailing questions from the disability community around why thousands of “reassessment” letters are suddenly being sent to participants each month, with a significant portion being kicked off the scheme as a result.

Labor and the disability agency has defended the uptick in re-assessments as being a matter of having more resources and staff to complete such a task more quickly.

Uncertainty also remains on the future of “foundational supports”, which refers to a new system of health and education services the commonwealth and state governments agreed in 2023 to fund on a 50/50 basis.

However, there is still no detail on the design of this new system, with Mr Butler last month seeking to distance himself from the original July 1 deadline for the phased rollout of foundational supports to begin.

“The ministers have not actually said in relation to the foundational supports how and when they’re coming into play. The lack of information is very concerning for all of the recipients who are potentially being transferred off the NDIS onto this new foundational supports package,” Senator Ruston said.

“The government must come clean with Australians about what actually is going on.”

The Coalition helped Labor pass its milestone NDIS reforms last year, spearheaded by then-NDIS minister Bill Shorten, which gave the disability agency more power to intervene in participants’ plans and also set out clearly what could and could not be claimed with NDIS funds.

But Senator Ruston said the government had been too focused on the “glory” of the headline announcement and not focused enough on implementation, with the uncertainty over the reassessments and foundational supports raising the lack of adequate transition planning.

“It goes back to the same thing that we saw happen in aged care, where the minister thought that the job was done when the reforms went through the parliament. The reality is that that’s the day when the hard work starts,” Senator Ruston said.

“They have failed the aged care sector, and it appears as if they’re failing the disability sector by not ensuring adequate transition. They have not been transparent, and as a result we have got hundreds of thousands of older Australians who are really concerned at the moment about what’s going to happen with their home care support. And equally, we’ve got a huge number of Australians who have had great uncertainty thrust upon them because they’ve been told that they’re moving on to these foundational supports, but nobody’s told them what they are.”

Labor’s milestone aged care reforms – also passed with the help of the Coalition – will come into effect on July 1, with peak bodies raising alarm over the rushed timeline and lack of clarity on many of the critical details needed to implement the changes.

On the issue of pay rises, which has been a hot debate in the care sector over the last term of parliament, Senator Ruston said the aged care, childcare and disability sectors were being “siloed” and causing people to jump between them as a result.

Instead, Senator Ruston said the sectors needed to be approached as part of one singular workforce plan.