Source : Perth Now news
The government has cleared a major hurdle in its NDIS overhaul, with a Senate committee recommending the amended bill pass despite warnings it could cut essential supports, deepen isolation and miss the real fraud problem.
The Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee has backed the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, handing Labor an important win ahead of a decisive Senate vote next week.
The battle is over a scheme supporting more than 774,000 people and costing more than $50 billion a year.
Introduced by Health Minister Mark Butler in May, the bill passed the House of Representatives on July 2 after the government accepted 30 amendments negotiated with crossbench MPs and other parties.
Ministers said the reforms are needed to protect the long-term sustainability of the NDIS and crack down on fraud, with the Australian National Audit Office estimating up to 10 per cent of claims, or about $5 billion this year, may be fraudulent.
But there was a deep divide over how that should be done.
The Labor-majority committee said the amended bill “strikes the right balance between ensuring the sustainability of the Scheme and maintaining safeguards for participants”.
Even so, the final report also drew a forceful dissent from the Greens, critical additional comments from Coalition senators and warning notes from independent ACT senator David Pocock.
Key safeguards added
Among the most significant amendments were tighter limits on when the NDIA can suspend or revoke plans if a participant cannot be contacted.
The changes require at least five direct attempts using a person’s preferred communication method over three to four months, and those attempts cannot count if the participant is in hospital, institutionalised or experiencing homelessness.
Other changes narrowed the meaning of “appropriate treatment” for permanent impairment, after disability advocates warned people could be pushed towards unwanted or invasive procedures.
The bill now makes clear that treatment must be publicly funded through Medicare, the PBS or the public health system, and excludes restrictive practices such as forced medication.
The final package also eased proposed rules around plan managers and protected a range of essential support categories from ministerial funding determinations.
It also introduced new transparency requirements for automated decision-making tools, set up an independent review after 5 September 2029, and required greater parliamentary visibility over NDIA pricing advice.
Fraud concerns remain
For the Coalition, though, the bill still falls well short on fraud. Coalition senators said Treasury modelling showed the anti-fraud measures would save only $300 million a year, with no budget impact until 2027–28.
They also pointed to what they described as a weak enforcement record, noting the Fraud Fusion Taskforce had made only 45 referrals to the AFP in four years.
“Ongoing reports of fraud and misuse of taxpayer funds remain largely unaddressed,” Coalition senators wrote.
Greens push to block bill
The Greens went further, urging parliament to reject the bill outright.
In their dissenting report, they said the legislation “goes too far, too fast, and should not pass the parliament”, and warned that “these reforms will cause serious harm to NDIS participants, their families and loved ones, their carers and the wider community”.
The inquiry heard repeated evidence that reductions in support would be absorbed by families and communities already carrying heavy responsibilities.
The Greens also cited Australia Institute modelling which found cuts to social and community participation supports could cost 51,641 full-time equivalent jobs, representing almost 94 million hours of care work.
After the report was released on Friday, Greens NDIS spokesperson Jordon Steele-John argued the cuts would shift support needs on to disabled people, families, support workers and the broader community, while also putting jobs at risk and increasing unpaid care in the home.
He also accused the government of choosing to cut essential supports instead of pursuing other revenue options, including taxing gas exports.
Pocock warns on isolation and automation
Mr Pocock raised similar concerns, warning against “blunt, indiscriminate reductions” to Social, Civic and Community Participation supports, arguing community connection can be a safeguard against violence, abuse and neglect.
He also said the proposed cuts were not necessary to bring NDIS growth into the government’s 5 to 6 per cent target range, citing Grattan Institute analysis.
He urged the government to pause automated decision-making where evaluative judgments are involved until wider Robodebt royal commission safeguards are in place, and warned there was too little time to build the promised “foundational supports” outside the NDIS before tighter access rules begin in 2028.
The coming vote will decide whether Labor’s sweeping NDIS reforms become law, or whether concerns about funding cuts, automation and the shifting of care on to families are enough to stop them.
