If ministers wanted a calmer conversation, they needed to write a clearer bill, explain it better, consult more widely and give people more time. Instead they chose speed.
For three days this week we watched participants, parents, advocates and providers come before the Senate inquiry into the proposed NDIS reform legislation and screw their courage to the sticking place.
Through tears and anger and frustration they have repeatedly told the Senators, and through them, federal health minister Mark Butler, the government and DoHDA officials, one consistent message:
“We are terrified.”
Not “we’re annoyed” or “disappointed”. Terrified.
They have good reasons for their feelings. I’m not talking about the contents of the legislation, though we’ll get to that.
I’m talking about decades of bad experiences with governments, a long collective memory of what life was like before the NDIS, and the constant battle with an imperfect system that nonetheless gives them support that many cannot contemplate living without.
In fact, every day of the inquiry has included several instances of participants explicitly saying that if they lose their NDIS support they will actively consider ending their lives.
Are they right to be so scared of this legislation? Is it as filled with landmines as participants and their advocates believe it to be?
It doesn’t matter. The emotions and the trauma are real.
The question is no longer whether participants have misunderstood the legislation. The question is why so many people believed the worst.
And that is what this government – specifically health minister Mark Butler and NDIS minister Senator Jenny McAllister – have consistently failed to understand.
The bill is badly drafted, is missing vital detail that participants and providers (and state governments) need before any understanding can be reached of the consequences, and – crucially – has been so badly communicated to the disability community that fear and distrust have been allowed to build unchecked.
The government’s response to the community’s reaction has largely been: Trust us. The problem is that trust is exactly what many people in the disability community no longer have.
Mr Butler has been downright dismissive. In a press conference on Thursday afternoon he was asked about the inquiry and the testimony of NDIS participants. Here’s what he had to say:
“Well, we’re not going to provide a daily commentary on submissions that have been made to the NDIS Inquiry. Obviously, we’re watching it very closely.
“We’ll wait to see the conclusion of the Inquiry before we reach any particular view about submissions that are being made.
“I do want to stress though that the plan that I announced many weeks ago now at the Press Club … was a very well-developed plan that thought carefully about the way in which we could get the NDIS back on track, secure it for the long term, but very much still with people with disability at its centre.”
So much so, Mr Butler, that the “consultation” you did with the disability community before your NPC speech announcing the reforms amounted to a few phone calls on the morning of your speech.
Would he consider extending the inquiry timeline, he was asked. (The committee has had three days of hearings and must report on Tuesday after wading through testimony and almost 5000 written submissions).
“No, that’s not our intention,” said Mr Butler.
The government was engaging with the disability community, he maintained, including “regular meetings” with the DROs, and the state and territory ministers.
“We’re confident that the timeline that we’ve set out the need to get this bill through the Parliament as quickly as possible before the winter break is the right plan, a plan that will ensure that we start down the path of getting this enormously important scheme back on track while also, obviously, considering the views of the disability community.”
Obviously.
Governments don’t get to complain about fear when they’ve spent years creating the conditions for it.
On top of the ingrained trauma and fear and mistrust that the disability community has, now add these ingredients:
- A 109-page bill and a 272-page explanatory memorandum, with at best, a month to read, understand, digest and form an argument;
- Huge policy changes deferred to future rules;
- Modelling that even officials conceded on Thursday is based on nothing but “high-level assumptions”;
- States and territories saying they haven’t been consulted, haven’t agreed to anything and don’t have the resources to provide the supports that the NDIS will no longer provide;
- No statutory review;
- A Senate inquiry running at breakneck speed; and,
- A minister insisting the timetable won’t change.
Then the disability community reacts with alarm. What did you expect, Mr Butler?
When every state and territory disability minister says: “We are not in a position, and have made no agreement, to deliver like-for-like services to people who are exited from the NDIS”, that doesn’t calm people down.
It tells them governments themselves are worried.
The people most affected by these reforms spent three days telling their stories to officials.
The public servants fronted up to listen. The participants fronted up to tell their truth. The providers fronted up to tell theirs. The states were honest about their position.
But the political architects of the reforms remained largely absent from the room.
Related
Just to remind us, the timeline laid out in the legislation and in Mr Butler’s public pronouncements is this:
- Pass Parliament by 30 June 2026;
- Royal Assent: Administrative and transitional provisions (Sections 1-3 and Schedule 5) commence;
- Seven days post RA: First tranche of substantive reforms starts: Schedule 1 Parts 1-3; Schedule 2 Parts 1-4; Schedule 3; Schedule 4;
- 1 October 2026: Support-determination powers (Part 4) and plan-suspension powers (Part 7) commence;
- 1 December 2026: New 90-day claims deadline for providers begins;
- 1 February 2027: Plan-renewal framework and revised “reasonable and necessary” planning rules commence;
- 1 January 2028: Access reforms commence: permanence test and alternative-service-system eligibility rules;
- By about October 2027 or later (proclamation): New plan-management procurement model commences. Government expects this around October 2027 but left flexibility.
Mr Butler says “the need to get this bill through the Parliament as quickly as possible before the winter break is the right plan”.
The obvious question is: Why? Why must it pass before the winter break?
The access changes don’t start until 2028. Many of the rules don’t exist yet. The states are asking for more time. Participants are asking for more time. Providers are asking for more time.
So what is gained by moving this fast?
Fear is not evidence. It is entirely possible some of the claims made about this legislation will prove exaggerated or wrong.
But fear is still a political fact. Thousands of Australians with disability are telling the government they are frightened about what comes next.
If ministers wanted a calmer conversation, they needed to write a clearer bill, explain it better, consult more widely and give people more time.
Instead they chose speed. Now they seem surprised by the anxiety they have created.