National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (18:27): I'm going to start my contribution on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 by quickly thanking a wonderful person called Ruth Doyle, who works in my office and handles most of our NDIS issues. I'm sure that every person in this place has someone in their office who knows exactly who to call when we get those inquiries in from constituents who are having trouble getting onto the NDIS or working with a provider or finding the support that they need or just asking the first questions that one starts to ask when they realise there are issues that they need to face.

Ruth has done a great job for my community over a long period of time, and I want to thank her for that. I hope she hears it. We often don't thank the ones at the front line in our offices.

I am going to, however, change my tone a little bit. I'm going to ignore the advice of both Gallagher brothers and look back in anger because we have in front of us a program that has massive design issues. Its budget has spiralled out of control, and I think it has lost the confidence of many people across Australia.

If this were a rail project, like Inland Rail, the government would cut it and run. I actually commend them for taking on the hard work of this project of trying to address reform. I wish they had the same vigour on Inland Rail.

A lot of hard work has to be done. There was a time when you couldn't talk about the problems with the NDIS. You could not mention that this was a program that had massive funding issues and that was blowing out month on month.

You couldn't talk about this. If you did, you were shouted down. You were told that you were scaremongering, that you were trying to cut funds from disabled kids and that you were all about cutting services.

That's what those opposite said. They said exactly that. I'm going to give two cases of this.

There were certainly times when I was on the backbench that I enjoyed a frolic and I said what was on my mind, and I thought very strongly that I had to make a contribution to the national conversation about the NDIS because I was seeing it week in, week out. This program was blowing out, money was being wasted around Australia and, sadly, I saw evidence of it in my local community.

Those who needed the support were not getting it, yet the money was still flowing. In 2024 I pointed out that the growth of the NDIS was unsustainable. I pointed out that we needed to do something to it, not just from a pure economic sense but because this was such an important project that both sides of politics had embarked upon that we could not risk losing confidence in it.

I was told by the Treasurer that I was engaging in heartless slash and burn politics in the Australian of the day. A year later, in 2025, I returned to my criticisms and I pointed out two things. One was that the program at that stage was growing at around 12, 16 or maybe 18 per cent, that this was an extraordinary rate of growth and that both sides of politics should come together and find a way to limit its growth to somewhere around four per cent, just above inflation.

If the growth was just above inflation, we'd know that no-one would be left behind, and then we could go through a broader reform structure. I also pointed out in July 2025 that, at that point in time, 15 per cent of six-year-old boys across Australia were on the NDIS. I made the point that clearly 15 per cent of young boys are not disabled.

For daring to say that, the minister of the day slammed me as being reckless and heartless—for daring to talk about reforming the NDIS. I'm not raising this just to flatter myself. I do that far too often anyway, and I have the member for Page to help me on occasion.

I'm doing it because this is an important program and what we're dealing with at the moment, unfortunately, is a battle. I'm going to acknowledge the member for New England, who joined me in my criticisms of the NDIS in July 2025 in that particular article. What we have now, sadly, appallingly, in Australia is a battle for funding among NDIS, health, aged care and even veteran support.

When I talk to people in health, aged care and veteran support, they have the very strong feeling that in that battle the NDIS is winning and they are losing. I sat with a gentleman, Scott May, in my office, and he said: 'Watch this. I'm going to show you the most heartbreaking trick ever.' He called up an occupational therapist and said, 'I'm a veteran; I need to see you.' I sat listening in on the conversation.

The occupational therapist said: 'You're on veterans coverage. I've got a six-month waiting list. Call me in six months.' We then went outside and he bought me a coffee, and we sat and had a coffee for five or 10 minutes.

Mr Hogan: You should have bought the coffee. Mr HAMILTON: I should have bought the coffee. You're right.

The member for Page is right. He scolds me appropriately. We had a coffee and came back in, and he calls the same occupational therapist.

He says, 'I'm on the NDIS and I'd like to talk to you.' They say, 'Come in next week.' That's a true story. The gentleman's name is Scott May. We did it.

That was heartbreaking to watch. We have created a scheme that has lost the confidence of Australians. I sat there looking a veteran in the eye, someone who has served this nation, someone who'd come back with injuries, and in his eyes he was being neglected and the battle for funding was being lost.

What a terrible thing to do—to lose confidence in a project as important as this. There is no-one I talk to who doesn't agree with the point that part of the tax that we pay should go towards helping Australians with significant disabilities and with significant vulnerabilities. We're proud to do that.

That's what makes us a good nation. We like doing that. It's something that we should always continue to do, and the NDIS was set up as a conduit for achieving that.

But, sadly, because we've been too timid to talk about reforming the NDIS, we've got to a point where that scheme no longer holds the esteem of the nation. I've talked about the eligibility concerns we've seen. Clearly at that point in time 15 per cent of young boys being on a disability scheme—I can't imagine the impact that has on a young boy's life.

He's going through maybe learning difficulties and being told that he has a disability. I think that would have a profound impact on someone. But we've seen so many unfortunate stories about where the money that is being poured into NDIS has gone.

We've heard stories about it being used for holidays. We've heard about it previously being used for sex work. We've heard about fraud and organised crime.

I saw the figure that about 10 per cent of claims raise concern for fraud. It's important now that I don't do what those opposite did when we engaged with them in a conversation on reform. It's important that I say quite clearly: I want to be part of this.

I'm open to a conversation about reforming the NDIS, and I'm willing to work with the government on this. It's important that we do it. It's going to be very difficult work because we've got ourselves into a very bad way.

This scheme, which should be about doing some of the best things that we can do as a nation, sadly, has been designed in one of the worst possible ways. I hate to think what happens if we aren't able to do this and if we find ourselves creating a situation where we don't have confidence and we stop funding something like this. A future where the NDIS loses out is where Australia loses out.

I'm very much of the view that for many of the cases I've talked about with misuse of funds through the NDIS we should be taking a very strong law-and-order-style approach. We should be looking for every opportunity to track down those who are taking this money, which should be used for good purposes, and pocketing it themselves. I think we should be taking a law-and-order approach.

We should be cracking down on those who are defrauding the scheme. We should be doing that. That would be appropriate.

I note the concerns of many previous speakers. I'm not going to repeat their concerns. Clearly there is an issue of uncertainty that these changes have made.

What the changes to eligibility will do—I've heard from many local constituents who've reached out and raised their concerns. Mostly, it's parents raising their concerns about their kids and how their kids will continue to have the service they've had. So there is an issue here that the government needs to address very quickly.

Again, I'm happy to work as closely as possible with the government to address those concerns and to hopefully come up with a solution to the anxiety that people in my electorate and around Australia are facing. I'll finish on this. One of the problems, I think, in this place is that we get to a point in a debate where we refuse to acknowledge the truth that's in front of us, and the longer we find ourselves in that situation the worse the situation gets.

Sadly, if we ignore a problem for long enough, it has a huge impact. At over $50 billion a year now on NDIS, we are seeing a huge weight on the Australian economy, and we are not seeing an equal and opposite benefit being given to those who most need it. That's the sad truth.

If I could stand here, hand on heart, and say that that $50 billion was making the lives of people with disabilities better, that'd be a different conversation. But that's not where we are. We can't ignore these things.

We should be able to speak out about them. I think that's an important part of being in this place. I'm very grateful that the government is listening—mostly to solutions that we put on the table years prior, in some cases, which they wouldn't support back then.

Mr Hogan: We will be a responsible opposition, unlike them. Mr HAMILTON: Absolutely. Bipartisanship, sadly, in this place often goes one way.

It often goes one way, and this is a great example of that. It's a great example of that. When we needed help to get these sort of changes through, Labor wasn't there.

But this is too important a program, too important an issue, certainly for me and definitely for those on this side, to play politics with. I hope that we can have a day here where we've made sufficient changes to make this a program that is sustainable, that does what Australians want and that fulfils that desire for Australians to look after those of us who need support and who need help.

I look forward to that day, and I think there is enough in here that starts us down that pathway. I think there is a start here, and that's why I'm very willing to work with the government on this. But there is a long way to go here.