Matters of Urgency — National Disability Insurance Scheme

Matt O'Sullivan

Senator McKim has submitted a proposal, under standing order 75, today, which has been circulated and is shown on the Dynamic Red:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the government to invest in the services and supports disabled people need instead of handing over hundreds of billions of dollars to Trump for AUKUS, at a time when disabled people are fighting for the NDIS supports they need and families are facing increasing cost of living pressures.

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Jordon Steele-John

At the request of Senator McKim, I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the government to invest in the services and supports disabled people need instead of handing over hundreds of billions of dollars to Trump for AUKUS, at a time when disabled people are fighting for the NDIS supports they need and families are facing increasing cost of living pressures.

In this motion, the Greens ask the parliament to join with us in supporting two key propositions. First is that Australia and the Australian community should not be drawn into an ever-closer relationship with the Trump administration, one that makes us dependent on Donald Trump, locked in to the United States for our so-called defence and security. Whatever you may think of the concept of us funding defence and security in our region by shackling ourselves to the United States, nobody can seriously argue that it is a good idea for us to be guided in our foreign and defence policy by Donald Trump.

The Australian taxpayer, the Australian public, should not be asked to spend over $368 billion buying what seems to be, among other things, a bunch of used nuclear submarines from Donald Trump. I've heard of the art of the deal. This government is a bunch of suckers. They are allowing themselves to be ripped off by one of the world's most prolific con artists. What else could we do with that money? We could fund the NDIS. Scrap AUKUS, and there is no need in the world for these cuts. Tax the gas companies, and we'd have even more to provide to the community. Let us choose disabled people and our families. Let us put disabled folks and our needs first. Let's chuck AUKUS in the bin and fund the NDIS.

Anne Ruston

I seek leave to move an amendment to the urgency motion moved by the Greens. (Quorum formed)

Leave not granted.

Per the notice standing in the name of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving an amendment to the motion.

We saw yesterday another example of how easily the Greens, at the other end of the chamber, can be bought, and I genuinely feel sorry for Senator Steele-John, who has been working so hard on this NDIS issue, as he actually got rolled. Quite frankly, the decision yesterday to do a dirty deal of which the Leader of the Government in the Senate said 'the terms of the agreement'—they're quite happy to admit that there was an agreement between the Labor Party and the Greens to move some of the most substantial and egregious tax increases to Australians. The Greens were prepared to provide their support for that in return for an extension to a committee inquiry into the NDIS bill that they know that they are still going to vote against.

While we're standing here today under a guillotine that has been conjured up in the terms of the agreement between the Labor Party and the Greens to do a dirty deal on these tax changes that are going to see Australians paying more and more tax, we have got a situation where the NDIS bill, which we know the Greens have said they will not be supporting—let's be clear here. Nothing will change between now and when this bill comes back in a couple of months time. Why can't this bill be dealt with now? We have sought, through many means, to have this bill dealt with simply because why can't certainty be provided to Australians in relation to this bill?

If I thought that the Greens decision to have this bill, the NDIS bill, further investigated was going to change anything, then we would have a completely different situation, but nothing is going to change. You're still going to vote against this bill, so why don't you just give some certainty to all of the Australians who, right now, do not know what is going on? Force the government to actually go into committee on this bill—going to committee on a bill, that would be a novel thing!—that actually matters to the Australian public and actually tell Australians what you are intending to do on the NDIS bill.

Today, we have a motion here that's been put forward by Senator McKim in relation to the NDIS. If you are so concerned about this particular issue, why didn't you put it in your dirty deal that you did with the Labor Party yesterday? You're not particularly good negotiators if all you got out of your deal with the government in relation to this were these absolutely egregious tax changes that they told the Australian public, over 50 times before the last election, they weren't going to bring in. Why didn't you get it negotiated? It just goes to show how incredibly poor your negotiation skills are, and poor Senator Steele-John is the one who has to wear it.

Why don't you just allow us to get on with it? Why don't you allow us to get on with it and get some scrutiny? Today, we tried to get scrutiny on the bills in relation to the tax changes that you're going to make, but, no, you all ganged up and didn't allow any scrutiny. You wouldn't let us go into committee today on the tax bills. So if you really are genuine about doing what you have all said you came into this place for—which was to provide greater transparency, greater accountability and greater scrutiny—why won't you let the Australian public be able to see what is going on with these two incredibly important bills? 'No, we're much happier to just do dirty deals behind closed doors.'

The reason why it was important for us to suspend on this is that I think that there has to be some sunlight shone on the fact that the two parties that sit on the other side of this chamber are prepared to completely trash the conventions of this chamber that have stood the test of time. You have got no control of the chamber unless you gang up. You deny Australians the opportunity to see what's going on with a bill as important as the NDIS bill and the tax bills. You deny Australians from having the line of sight to hold you accountable for what you're about to do and what you've done in the last two days. You deny Australians the opportunity to have us, on this side of the chamber, scrutinise what you are doing.

The thing that probably is the most laughable about what we have seen happen in the last 24 hours is that the Greens have rolled over on some of the most serious tax increases to the Australian public that we have seen in generations and in the process of doing that have failed to get anything at all for their efforts, apart from an extension on a bill that they're not going to change their position on, no matter how long it stands out there for.

Jordon Steele-John

Folks, let's just take a breath. There's a lot of political noise going on at the moment in this place. Let me step out very clearly what is occurring in this moment. The Liberal Party, for the last six weeks or so, has been engaged with me in a Senate inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. The members of that committee—ably contributed to by Senators Liddle, Askew, Kovacic and others—have heard directly from the disabled community and our families, as well as allied health professionals, service providers, disability experts, legal advocates and the Disability Discrimination Commissioner.

The evidence has been overwhelming; the verdict has been unanimous. The bill in its current form should not pass. The bill in its current form will enable multibillion-dollar cuts not to the fraudsters and the big providers, not to those massive corporations that are ripping people off and not to the criminal CEOs and the abusive service providers that are responsible for so much of the pain that is experienced by disabled people. The bill doesn't really touch them. The bill cuts, over the next four years, nearly $40 billion from the vital supports needed by disabled people and provided under the NDIS. These are the supports that enable you to go outside, go into the sun, help your kids get to school and be part of your community.

This bill grants sweeping powers, we heard, to the minister of the day to take control over a disabled person's life and to dictate what accessible supports they may be able to utilise. It enables the government to subject people to medical interventions before they enter the scheme, regardless of the waitlist for those interventions. Therefore, how long might they be asked to sit in the dark and wait for the supports?

As committee members, we were pretty much of a unanimous view that this bill is something, in its current form, that should be chucked in the bin or shredded and that there should be an additional inquiry. The disabled community and our families very clearly said to this chamber, to this parliament, the bill shouldn't pass in its current form. The Greens and I, with me being the only physically disabled person in this chamber, talked with everybody in this place to achieve the best outcome for the community.

What we saw announced yesterday was an additional two months for the inquiry in order to allow more evidence to be gained and more pressure to be built on this government to chuck their bill in the bin and, if they won't do that, to persuade the Liberal Party—who, up until that point, had been listening with great concern to the experiences of disabled people—to join with us in chucking that bill in the bin.

That's where I thought we were some 48 hours ago, and now we have this motion from the Liberal Party, which asks the chamber to pass these reforms in this sitting fortnight. These reforms, this bill, will put disabled lives at risk. You're now 'team ram it through in the next fortnight', are you? This is not a serious proposal. This is not a serious party in this moment. I am not sure, quite frankly, what's going on here, folks. Some could say that you're a little bit mean in this moment. I reckon some of you, on an individual basis, are better than that. I hope to be proven right in the next few weeks. (Time expired)

Anthony Chisholm

I move:

That the question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Sue Lines

The question is the motion to suspend standing orders be agreed to.