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

Dr RYAN (Kooyong) (17:17): by leave—I move amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 2, as circulated in my name, together: (1) Clause 2, page 2 (table item 1), omit "Sections 1 to 3", substitute "Sections 1 to 4". (2) Page 3 (after line 8), after clause 3, insert: 4 Review of amendments (1) The Minister must cause a review to be conducted of the operation of the amendments made by this Act.

(2) The review must be conducted at the same time as the review under section 4 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Act 2024 of the operation of the amendments made by that Act. (3) The persons conducting the review must be independent of the Agency and of the Department. (4) The review must consider the following matters: (a) access to the NDIS; (b) participant outcomes, including continuity and quality of supports; (c) review and appeal rights under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013; (d) the viability and sustainability of the provider market; (e) service delivery in thin markets; (f) the interaction between the amendments made by this Act and any foundational supports or related systems of support.

(5) The persons conducting the review must give the Minister a written report of the review. (6) The Minister must cause a copy of the report of the review to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the Minister receives the report. This bill as currently drafted contains no mechanism for a review, no trigger for scrutiny and no obligation to return to this parliament and account for what these changes have delivered.

I've moved these amendments today because that omission is not acceptable. The people that this legislation affects can't afford for us to pass reforms and then walk away. This bill could remove as many as 241,000 participants from the scheme.

All of them deserve to know that the parliament will be required to look back, measure and answer for decisions that have been made on their behalf. Amendment (2) creates that obligation. By inserting a statutory review provision that aligns with the review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Act 2024, we will achieve two things simultaneously.

First, we'll establish a legislated moment of accountability—not a discretionary internal evaluation and not a ministerial announcement but a requirement embedded in the law itself. Second, we will align that moment of accountability with the review framework which is already established under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Act 2024.

That alignment means that, when the scrutiny arrives, it will arrive in a coherent and comprehensive way, assessing this bill's amendments alongside the broader reform agenda rather than in isolation. The scope of the review that amendment (2) requires is deliberately prescriptive. It must examine access to the NDIS and whether the pathway into the scheme remains fair and able to be navigated.

It must assess participant outcomes, including the continuity and quality of supports that people are actually receiving. It must look at review and appeal rights, because a scheme without meaningful recourse is a scheme without integrity. It must evaluate the viability and sustainability of the provider market, because good policy cannot be delivered by a sector that is financially stressed and which is shrinking.

It must specifically address service delivery in thin markets—those rural, regional and remote communities where the challenge of accessing support is compounded by geography and isolation. And it must consider how these amendments interact with the emerging foundational supports framework, because the NDIS exists within a broader ecosystem which is still taking shape.

The independence requirement is equally non-negotiable. The review must be conducted by persons entirely independent of both the National Disability Insurance Agency and the department. We're not asking the government to mark its own homework.

We're requiring genuine arms-length scrutiny by people who have no institutional stake in the outcome. This is an improvement on the review already in place under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Act 2024. A bill that reforms the NDIS but has no mechanism to assess the impact of that reform on the people who will be most materially affected would be reform without accountability.

So I'm very glad that the government have signalled to me their support for amendment (2), and I'm grateful for that. I commend the amendments to the House. Question agreed to.