‘No one will care’: Senator Hughes’ teary break down amid talks of NDIS cuts

Senator Hollie Hughes has broken down in the Senate while talking about struggles with the ‘flawed design’ of the NDIS and its impact on her child, who lives with a disability.

Senator Hollie Hughes has broken down in the Senate while talking about the “flawed design” of the NDIS and its impact on her family.

Speaking at the Senate on Tuesday, the senator, who is the deputy chair of the joint standing committee for the NDIS, recalled the “lack of clarity” for families applying for the NDIS service and the threat of getting continuously knocked back for not providing enough evidence to seek approval.

Senator Hughes said she was ‘frightened beyond belief’ of her son’s future when she is “no longer around”. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“When I’m no longer around, when his father is no longer around, my son will need life on support,” she told the Senate.

“He has a significant permanent lifelong disability and so I need it to be sustainable.”

Ms Hughes’ son lives with autism.

She told the senate that she is “frightened beyond words” that once she leaves her role in the Senate, “no one will care”.

The NSW senator argued that the NDIS, to those who “are not part of it”, will see the NDIS as “something that is costing too much money”.

She accused the Labor government of cutting support to families who need it most. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The comment came after Coalition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the spending growth on goods and services shouldn’t outpace GDP growth and indicated the NDIS had “run out of control”, with more cuts possible.

“We think that there’s more that can be done,” she said on Sunday.

“We would hope that when Labor goes into Opposition, that they would work with us to try and reign in … those runaway programs that have gotten out of control under this government.”

On Tuesday, Senator Hughes also accused the Labor government of lying about cuts to plans for those who need it the most, indicating her son’s plans was also on the chopping block.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re joint standing assistant minister for the NDIS,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter how well you know the scheme and understand the scheme.

“Participants who need support, participants with permanent and significant and lifelong disabilities, are having their supports cut.”

Senator Hughes said the original NDIS legislation was ‘deeply flawed’. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

She argued the Labor government was failing to be “transparent” enough with its allocation of funding and efficiency, which was causing families stress as they wait for a tribunal.

“Four years ago, as the minister for the NDIS, it was very clear to me that this was a scheme that needed significant reforms, because the original legislation was deeply flawed,” she said.

“So what have they done?

“They have, instead of reforming the scheme, they have just taken huge, extraordinary, arbitrary parts of people’s plans.

“They are no further along in dealing with states and territories in terms of the intergovernmental agreements.”

Originally published as ‘No one will care’: Senator Hughes’ teary break down amid talks of NDIS cuts