QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (14:48): Thanks, Senator Payman, for the question. When we talk about sustainability—and there's a lot of commentary about sustainability in relation to the scheme—we're often talking about its fiscal impacts. Of course, when we came to government, under the governance of those opposite, the scheme was growing at over 20 per cent a year.

That had been the case for some years, and nothing had been done to rein that in or deal with that challenge. When we received the independent review undertaken of the scheme, they acknowledged that this was not sustainable and, if we want a scheme that will last for the long term, we need to deal with that. As I indicated in my answer to your primary question, it doesn't mean that we should ignore questions around quality.

One of the things that we have initiated this year—or the board has initiated this year—is a pilot that will work with quality providers of SIL supports and of therapy supports to understand the drivers of quality in their businesses. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Payman, second supplementary?