Yew. I wanted to shine the spotlight once again, as we have many times on afternoons on the NDIS. So when the National Disability Insurance Scheme was launched, it was seen as a once in a generation reform. It was a promise to Australia and Australians that anyone living with a disability would finally get the support that they needed to live a full and independent life. And let me be clear about that promise. When it started in twenty thirteen, it was to provide reasonable and necessary support for people with a significant and permanent disability. Let me repeat that, provide reasonable and necessary support for people with a significant and permanent disability. Twelve years on and I have to say that promise is a little shaky. For years we have been highlighting the poor administration, the ballooning costs, and the growing unfortunate reports of routing. Sadly, what has resulted is that broadly, I think trust in the scheme with taxpayers is wearing thin. The NDIS costs this country last count somewhere in the vicinity of forty eight point five billion dollars a year. It's on track to overtake Medicare when it comes to spending, and there is constant fighting between the state and federal governments as to what should fall under the NDIS and what should be a state responsibility within their health budgets. And I think the issue here beyond the eye watering sum. It comes with the reports that we know exist that providers continue to charge sky high fees for basic services knowing that they're being paid through the NDIS. We know, unfortunately there's been a growing list of dodgy operators who are trying to game the system. But there are also some really alarming statistics that I think that as a nation we need to grapple with and understand a little more. Yesterday I shared with you that one in ten young children are now on some kind of NDIS support. The latest quarterly report revealing that the number of young participants on the scheme has continued to jump, and that ten percent of five to seven year old kids now rely on the NDIS to receiving help for autism and developmental delays. It's difficult, I think, to fathom the sheer number of people who were still joining the scheme despite recent attempts to try and curb the growth. In March of this year, seven hundred and seventeen thousand Australians are approved on NDIS participation plans. That's up from four hundred and sixty one thousand just four years ago. And when Bill Shorten took over as the NDIS Minister three years ago, he promised to clean things up. He said he was going to crack down on the fraud and put people with disability back at the center of the scheme. Sounds like a great idea, he said. The message was clear, he was going to make the system fairer, simpler and more sustainable. Unfortunately, when you fast forward three years to now and he of course having now left government, what we know is that many families are worried that the cleanup is hurting the very people that it was meant to help in the first place. There are tighter rules and tougher eligibility criteria and in some cases it leads to people being denied support or seeing their plans cut back severely. The fear is that those who don't qualify any more are being left with nowhere else to go. The problem we have now is that we're hearing more and more of those people are turning up to hospital emergency departments often in crisis simply because they have no support at home. Here in lies the rub. We know our hospitals are not designed to be a backup plan for a failing disability system, one that people began to rely on. Of course, the rauting has to stop, of course, the scheme has to be financially sustainable. But cutting support without also fixing the growing cracks in our mainstream services like health, like housing, like education. All it does is shift the problem from one place and put it somewhere else. So what do you think needs to happen now? Of course, as I said, stop the fraud. Of course, make the system easier to navigate. But I think we need to be continuing to bring people with the disabilities into the room to where the decisions are made. And above all, honor the promise that was originally set to Australia. The NDIS supposed to keep and provide reasonable and necessary support for people with significant and permanent disabilities. I will say, and I did mention yesterday when we closed the show, we have now requested both the Health Minister, the Minister of Health Aged Care and NDIS I should say, Federal Minister Mark Butler, and also Senator Jenny McAllister, because she's also the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. They sort of share the portfolio. It would appear neither unfortunately were available today. We have left that invitation open for any day, any time between twelve and three will work around their availability to come and give us an explanation as to what happens next and how you continue to look after the people who've come to rely on the NDIS, Whether or not you need to look at all of the kids who are coming onto the NDIS who need developmental support and help with alltism. Perhaps there needs to be a different pot of money put aside for that, and that we get back to what the NDIS was meant to be there for and do it in a way that is sustainable and where the taxpayers of Australia don't feel like all that's happening is that people are allowed to wrought a system and that they're getting led off

Yew. I wanted to shine the spotlight once again, as we have many times on afternoons on the NDIS. So when the National Disability Insurance Scheme was launched, it was seen as a once in a generation reform. It was a promise to Australia and Australians that anyone living with a disability would finally get the support that they needed to live a full and independent life. And let me be clear about that promise. When it started in twenty thirteen, it was to provide reasonable and necessary support for people with a significant and permanent disability. Let me repeat that, provide reasonable and necessary support for people with a significant and permanent disability. Twelve years on and I have to say that promise is a little shaky. For years we have been highlighting the poor administration, the ballooning costs, and the growing unfortunate reports of routing. Sadly, what has resulted is that broadly, I think trust in the scheme with taxpayers is wearing thin. The NDIS costs this country last count somewhere in the vicinity of forty eight point five billion dollars a year. It's on track to overtake Medicare when it comes to spending, and there is constant fighting between the state and federal governments as to what should fall under the NDIS and what should be a state responsibility within their health budgets. And I think the issue here beyond the eye watering sum. It comes with the reports that we know exist that providers continue to charge sky high fees for basic services knowing that they're being paid through the NDIS. We know, unfortunately there's been a growing list of dodgy operators who are trying to game the system. But there are also some really alarming statistics that I think that as a nation we need to grapple with and understand a little more. Yesterday I shared with you that one in ten young children are now on some kind of NDIS support. The latest quarterly report revealing that the number of young participants on the scheme has continued to jump, and that ten percent of five to seven year old kids now rely on the NDIS to receiving help for autism and developmental delays. It's difficult, I think, to fathom the sheer number of people who were still joining the scheme despite recent attempts to try and curb the growth. In March of this year, seven hundred and seventeen thousand Australians are approved on NDIS participation plans. That's up from four hundred and sixty one thousand just four years ago. And when Bill Shorten took over as the NDIS Minister three years ago, he promised to clean things up. He said he was going to crack down on the fraud and put people with disability back at the center of the scheme. Sounds like a great idea, he said. The message was clear, he was going to make the system fairer, simpler and more sustainable. Unfortunately, when you fast forward three years to now and he of course having now left government, what we know is that many families are worried that the cleanup is hurting the very people that it was meant to help in the first place. There are tighter rules and tougher eligibility criteria and in some cases it leads to people being denied support or seeing their plans cut back severely. The fear is that those who don't qualify any more are being left with nowhere else to go. The problem we have now is that we're hearing more and more of those people are turning up to hospital emergency departments often in crisis simply because they have no support at home. Here in lies the rub. We know our hospitals are not designed to be a backup plan for a failing disability system, one that people began to rely on. Of course, the rauting has to stop, of course, the scheme has to be financially sustainable. But cutting support without also fixing the growing cracks in our mainstream services like health, like housing, like education. All it does is shift the problem from one place and put it somewhere else. So what do you think needs to happen now? Of course, as I said, stop the fraud. Of course, make the system easier to navigate. But I think we need to be continuing to bring people with the disabilities into the room to where the decisions are made. And above all, honor the promise that was originally set to Australia. The NDIS supposed to keep and provide reasonable and necessary support for people with significant and permanent disabilities. I will say, and I did mention yesterday when we closed the show, we have now requested both the Health Minister, the Minister of Health Aged Care and NDIS I should say, Federal Minister Mark Butler, and also Senator Jenny McAllister, because she's also the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. They sort of share the portfolio. It would appear neither unfortunately were available today. We have left that invitation open for any day, any time between twelve and three will work around their availability to come and give us an explanation as to what happens next and how you continue to look after the people who've come to rely on the NDIS, Whether or not you need to look at all of the kids who are coming onto the NDIS who need developmental support and help with alltism. Perhaps there needs to be a different pot of money put aside for that, and that we get back to what the NDIS was meant to be there for and do it in a way that is sustainable and where the taxpayers of Australia don't feel like all that's happening is that people are allowed to wrought a system and that they're getting led off