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

The PRESIDENT (12:25): I will now deal with the amendments circulated by the Australian Greens. The question is that the amendments on sheets 3974, 3975, 3976, 3977, 3978, 3979, 3980 and 3981 be agreed to. Greens' circulated amendments— SHEET 3974 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people face significant barriers to accessing and navigating the NDIS, (ii) CALD people are already significantly underrepresented in the NDIS, comprising less than 10% of participants nationally, (iii) evidence provided by the National Ethnic Disability Alliance to the bill inquiry warned that the Government's changes risk exacerbating inequality for CALD NDIS participants, and (iv) culturally safe Foundational Supports are not currently available outside the NDIS, and despite this, the Government intends to remove 241,000 participants from the NDIS by 2031 before appropriate alternative supports are established; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill". _____ SHEET 3975 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) the 2026-27 Federal Budget cuts $37.8 billion from the NDIS over 4 years, while only raising $3.6 billion in taxes from wealthy property investors in the same time period, (ii) the Government continues to spend billions of dollars each year on tax concessions that overwhelmingly benefit wealthy property investors, and (iii) budgets are about choices, and the Government should be prioritising NDIS supports for disabled people over providing concessions to wealthy property investors; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill". _____ SHEET 3976 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) this Labor Government has rolled out the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), which uses an algorithm to assess eligibility and determine funding levels for aged care supports, with limited ability for a human assessor to alter the decision, (ii) this bill expands automated decision-making within the NDIS, including whether a person receives funding, and whether their claims for supports are approved or rejected, (iii) the NDIA will begin using a largely automated support needs assessment in 2027 and there will be no ability for NDIA staff or the Administrative Review Tribunal to change the outcome, (iv) the former Government's Robodebt Scheme had disastrous consequences, demonstrating that serious harm can occur when automated decision-making systems are used without proper safeguards or human oversight, and (v) the move towards greater automation is deeply concerning and NDIS and aged care supports should not be determined by a computer algorithm because every person's individual circumstances need to be reviewed by a human decision-maker; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill". _____ SHEET 3977 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) numerous witnesses to the inquiry into this bill expressed concerns that the changes will shift care responsibility onto families, forcing parents and informal carers to reduce their work hours, or leave the workforce, (ii) the Senate Select Committee into Work and Care found that unpaid care work in Australia is worth an estimated $650.1 billion each year, and (iii) the impact of these changes will be highly gendered and will disproportionately impact women, noting that women are more likely to undertake unpaid care work, and more likely to experience lost income, reduced workforce participation, and carer burnout as a result; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill". _____ SHEET 3978 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) this bill will enable the removal of 241,000 people from the NDIS by 2031, including many children with developmental delay and disability who are expected to be transitioned to Thriving Kids, (ii) the committee inquiry heard significant concerns about gaps between the NDIS and foundational supports, including uncertainty about whether Thriving Kids will provide consistent, quality, like-for-like supports across all states and territories, (iii) State and Territory Disability Ministers warned that "significant projected participant exits by 2031 are not accompanied by clearly defined alternative supports, creating risk of unmet need and cost-shifting to state and territory systems (including health, education and justice), which are not equipped for increased demand and cannot deliver like-for-like services with the NDIS", and (iv) the changes to the NDIS and creation of Thriving Kids are sitting alongside increasing uncertainty in the early childhood education and care sector, noting that educators are more stretched and stressed than ever as they try to meet the needs of children who all have the right to attend, participate and benefit from quality early childhood education and care; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill". _____ SHEET 3979 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) there are serious concerns that this bill undermines the rights of disabled people, (ii) the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights warned that 'the cumulative impact of the measures in the bill may constitute a significant interference with the rights of persons with disability, the rights of the child and the rights to an adequate standard of living, equality and non-discrimination, health, privacy and social security', (iii) the Australian Human Rights Commission's submission to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee inquiry expressed that 'this bill is regressive in the protection and realisation of the rights of people with disability, which is contrary to Australia's obligation regarding the principle of non-retrogression' under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and (iv) this bill also grants sweeping new powers to the Minister, reducing parliamentary oversight of key NDIS changes and limiting the ability of individuals to challenge or change decisions that affect them; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill". _____ SHEET 3980 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) the Per Capita report titled 'False Economy: the economic benefits of the NDIS and the consequences of government cost-cutting' estimated that every $1 spent on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) generates $2.25 in economic activity, (ii) the Government has not undertaken comprehensive economic modelling of the NDIS, nor has it provided comprehensive modelling of the economic implications of the changes proposed in this bill, (iii) the Government was unable to provide the inquiry into this bill with adequate modelling of the likely impacts of the proposed reforms on hospital admissions, schools, workforce participation, service-provider viability, or the impact on economic activity, (iv) the Government has not developed the reforms in this bill through genuine and meaningful consultation with disabled people or disability representative organisations, and (v) governments have repeatedly committed to the principle of 'nothing done to us without us', yet disabled people have raised concerns that these changes have been developed without their meaningful involvement and without adequately listening to their experiences and expertise; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill". _____ SHEET 3981 Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate rejects the bill and: (a) notes that: (i) cuts to social and community participation funding made through this bill will reduce the capacity for women with disability to access support services, (ii) Women with Disabilities Australia have warned that, for women with disability, who already experience higher rates of violence, these cuts 'risk deepening isolation and worsening conditions where violence, abuse, neglect and exploration are hidden', (iii) First Nations women with disability are particularly vulnerable to domestic, family and sexual violence, and (iv) increased care and support demands on family members following cuts to social and community participation funding will disproportionately impact women; and (b) calls on the Government to withdraw the bill".