Louise Miller-Frost
Boothby · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“This has been a big week in parliament and a big week for delivery by the Albanese Labor government. The Solar Saver program started—three hours of power in the middle of the day. We expanded paid parental leave to a full six months. We opened the National Environmental Protection Agency and we opened a new veteran wellbeing agency.”
“More recently, we announced that we will strengthen consumer protections for those on Support at Home by empowering the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to be able to order refunds for overcharged services and to be able to report publicly on investigations and enforcement actions; by producing each quarter a national summary of Su…”
“The demographics are not in our favour. Next year, 90,000 additional Australians will turn 80; 15 years ago that number was 15,000. This has an impact on the service offerings we need to provide, specifically in aged care and health.”
“While we listen to those opposite try to throw blame around and cynically, desperately, try to claw back some votes, we should turn to an independent arbiter as to why the aged-care system is where it is right now.”
“The government's plan to expand and improve aged-care services in Australia will also mean an expansion of end-of-life pathway, providing dignified care to older Australians in their final months.”
“We are confronted with this reality and we are confronting the reality with a plan—a plan that will ensure that every older Australian can get affordable and timely access to the quality care they need and deserve, and a plan that will improve and expand the system to make it fit for purpose and sustainable well into the foreseeable futur…”
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“This has been a big week in parliament and a big week for delivery by the Albanese Labor government. The Solar Saver program started—three hours of power in the middle of the day. We expanded paid parental leave to a full six months. We opened the National Environmental Protection Agency and we opened a new veteran wellbeing agency. We're expanding the endo and pelvic pain clinics to include menopause. We got a pay rise for minimum- and award-wage workers, and payday super starts. We're banning price gouging at the supermarket. We're permanently extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off for small business. We're making urgent care clinics— (Time expired)”
“We are confronted with this reality and we are confronting the reality with a plan—a plan that will ensure that every older Australian can get affordable and timely access to the quality care they need and deserve, and a plan that will improve and expand the system to make it fit for purpose and sustainable well into the foreseeable future. Labor have always stood for older Australians, and we will continue to stand for older Australians. When you think about the Liberal-National party commitment to older people, just remember that one word: neglect.”
“The government's plan to expand and improve aged-care services in Australia will also mean an expansion of end-of-life pathway, providing dignified care to older Australians in their final months. It will mean 20 additional specialist dementia care program units and the expansion of the Hospital to Aged Care Dementia Support Program, providing crucial transition support for older Australians going from hospital into residential care. The Albanese Labor government's plan means more aged-care beds, more packages and better care. The Albanese Labor government is for older Australians. The growth of our older population is rapidly outpacing our capacity to provide crucial supports and services, and, unfortunately, we inherited a service system in crisis. The system risks collapsing under its own weight.”
“More recently, we announced that we will strengthen consumer protections for those on Support at Home by empowering the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to be able to order refunds for overcharged services and to be able to report publicly on investigations and enforcement actions; by producing each quarter a national summary of Support at Home prices in order that participants and their families can compare prices across providers; by monitoring prices of personal care as they transition into the clinical care category, on top of the free showering, dressing, continence support and clinical services already provided; by limiting increases to no more than twice per year; by working with the Older Persons Advocacy Network, Council of the Ageing, Ageing Australia and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to establish clear and enforceable definitional guidelines around what constitutes 'reasonable' pricing.”
“It will mean being able to build and maintain quality residential accommodation. It will mean making Support at Home fairer and more affordable and making assessments faster and wait times shorter. In the last two quarters we processed 260,000 assessments.”
“The demographics are not in our favour. Next year, 90,000 additional Australians will turn 80; 15 years ago that number was 15,000. This has an impact on the service offerings we need to provide, specifically in aged care and health. It means that we need to build an aged-care home every three days for the next 20 years in order to accommodate a rapidly growing older population and deal with the backlog of no beds built over the last decade. But the Albanese Labor government has a plan that will tackle the issues head on and provide older Australians with the quality of care that they need and they deserve, and that will be sustainable for generations to come. That's why we're putting $47 billion in the coming year into expanding and improving the provision of aged-care services in Australia. This means 5,000 more beds year on year.”
“While we listen to those opposite try to throw blame around and cynically, desperately, try to claw back some votes, we should turn to an independent arbiter as to why the aged-care system is where it is right now. The independent aged-care royal commission called it when they released their interim report entitled N eglect in 2019, under those opposite. It's a condemnation of those opposite. They left a mess. They left a disaster. But now, shamelessly, they play politics and spread misinformation rather than help us fix the problem. The Albanese Labor government is the government for older Australians. We are for older Australians living in dignity and security. We are for older Australians being able to access the care they need when they need it. This government recognises the magnitude of the task before us.”
“I also recognise all the volunteers behind the scenes—coaches, team managers, the board and management committee, and much more. To ensure this work can continue from strength to strength, the Albanese Labor government has pledged half a million dollars to each of these four surf life-saving clubs to improve their community and sporting infrastructure and facilities. It's important that they have the best equipment and facilities to keep them safe while they are keeping the rest of us safe. I once again congratulate the winners, the Brighton and Glenelg surf life-saving clubs, on their exceptional achievements. Their communities should be enormously proud.”
“As well as Glenelg and Brighton, I give a shout-out to the Somerton Surf Life Saving Club and the Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club. All four of these clubs, and surf lifesaving across SA, have had a really tough year with the algal bloom, but their commitment to ensuring our community remains safe never wavered. The federal and state government funded them to do additional patrols throughout summer and to be a point of factual information and advice to beachgoers. It's important to remember that, as well as being a local community sporting club providing connection and belonging to its members, this is a volunteer based emergency service. They train all year round to keep their skills up, and they volunteer their time to patrol our beaches in summer and keep our community safe.”
“Lachlan is 19 years old and has contributed to the life and operations of the Glenelg club through leadership, mentoring and lifesaving. Congratulations also to Hannah Deacon, from the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club, for winning Athlete of the Year. Hannah has participated in both state and national surf sport events, winning five gold medals at state championships—iron, board, swim, surf belt race and board rescue—and she's an invaluable member of the SA Reds, with whom she's competed nationally in the Super Surf Teams League and the interstate championships. These two clubs also saw two of their members inducted into the Hall of Fame—Glenelg's Leigh Bowbridge, for sport, and Brighton's Richard Crowe, for leadership. I am lucky enough to have four surf life-saving clubs in my electorate.”
“Last weekend, Surf Life Saving SA hosted its annual excellence awards. Big congratulations to the Brighton and Glenelg surf life-saving clubs in my electorate of Boothby, who did our community proud. Congratulations to Bobby Tanner, from the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club, for winning Surf Lifesaver of the Year. Bobby receives the award for his extensive leadership, expertise and training, and his outstanding service to club patrols and the emergency operations group. Bob is to be doubly congratulated because he's recently achieved the milestone of 4,000 patrol hours—a testament to his service and commitment to our local community. I also congratulate Lachlan Larven, from the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club, for winning the John Baker Young Surf Lifesaver of the Year.”
“It's about accessible and affordable health care, the envy of the world, so we're boosting bulk-billing rates, funding urgent care clinics and making medicines cheaper. In Boothby, we're boosting health workforce training at Flinders uni and expanding Flinders Medical Centre. It's about good quality public education system so that everyone has the opportunity to better themselves and to make sure that their children also have better opportunities. It's about earning more and keeping more of what you earn, so we've committed to five rounds of tax cuts. For too long, some Australians have been locked out from the opportunities that this great country offers. This government is committed to equity, a fair go for all, and making sure this Australian dream is within the grasp of all Australians.”
“One of my local councils asked new citizens what they love best about Australia. They talked about beaches and great weather, our unique environment and safe communities, and they also talked about Australian values. They talked about being able to get a meaningful job with well-paid, secure, fair conditions—the promise that if you work hard, you can get ahead. They value our industrial relations systems that means workers do get a fair go. Australian values are about fairness, and that's why this government is making the system fairer, giving more Australians more opportunities. Australian values are about having the opportunity to buy a place to call home, so this government is turbocharging housing supply and making owning a home more affordable for more Australians.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government rewarding Australians' hard work and encouraging aspiration? How does this apply to policies, including the recent budget, and what are the alternatives—”
“The average cost of a house went from three times average wage to up to 16 times average wage. Well, that stops now. This government wants people to have a fair go at owning their own home. This is a government that wants people to earn more and keep more of what they earn. We want wage earners to also have a fair go, and so we've locked in tax cuts. Never forget that those opposite voted against housing affordability and they voted against tax cuts for every worker. This Albanese government backs Australian workers, this Albanese government backs the Australian dream and this Albanese government backs the Australian value of a fair go.”
“Australia is the country of the fair go. An important part of the deal is that, if you work hard, you should be able to build a good life, knowing you're building our country at the same time. What we do as a Labor government is grounded in those Australian values of a good life and a fair go: fully funding public schools, because everyone should be able to get a good education no matter where they live, and strengthening Medicare so you can get the care you need when you need it. Underpinning the Australian dream of a good life is homeownership. For so many, for too long, this has been an unaffordable dream. Almost 30 years ago, the Howard government introduced changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing that have proven catastrophic to housing affordability in this country.”
“It's been less than 30 years since, and they've shot up to anywhere between eight and 16 times the average wage—totally unaffordable for your average first home buyer. This government is committed to giving our children and grandchildren a fair go and giving them a crack at the Australian dream again, a dream where they have a fair go at buying a house without having to compete against investors subsidised by the taxpayer. Whether you're the child of a factory worker or the child of a professional, a home to call your own in which to build memories and maybe start a family—that's Australian values. That's a fair go. That's a good life. And that's what this government is about.”
“I want to talk to you about the Australian value of a fair go. My family migrated here in 1968. We came here for the Australian dream: a decent crack at homeownership, public health, public education, a fair go and a good life. My grandfather worked at Holden, my father was an electrical draughtsman, and they bought into the Australian dream, literally. Of course, in 1968, the average house cost between 2½ and four times the average wage, statistics this generation can only dream about. In 1999, when the Howard government introduced their catastrophic CGT and negative gearing changes, housing prices were still only three-to-four times the average wage, a small rise from 30 years earlier, when my family bought their house.”
“It will be reality again—something to aspire to, something real and tangible to work towards—because Australia, if nothing else, is defined by the fair go, and who are we as a country if we're no longer able to meet that promise. I commend the bills to the House.”
“We're in the business of ensuring that Australians who work hard are able to get ahead—an essential value, the Australian dream. We're in the business of making the Australian dream a reality again—a reality that was generously afforded to my family and me as migrants to this country all those decades ago. We came here for a better life. We bought into the Australian dream: a home of our own; public education; public health; good, secure, well-paid work; and a fair go. At the heart of the Australian dream is the opportunity for all Australians to afford their own home—a home in which to feel safe and secure, a home in which to create memories, a home in which to raise a family. The government's changes to capital gains tax, negative gearing and the suite of tax cuts will mean that a fair go will no longer be the mirage of times gone past.”
“The fifth is in fact the new tax cut next month, which of course was locked in under the government's previous term. The next one is 1 July next year. Then we have tax changes to make housing more affordable, a $250 workers tax offset and a $1,000 instant tax deduction. All in all, the average worker will benefit by nearly $3,000. These tax cuts are about giving all Australians a fair go, and that includes young Australians, who are overwhelmingly but not exclusively the aspiring first home buyers. Sixty per cent of the recipients in next month's tax cuts are the over eight million gen Z and millennials, the workers we need to build our shared future. Ninety per cent of young Australians will be better off because of these tax cuts. The Albanese Labor government is in the business of giving all Australians a fair go.”
“This will effectively see the tax-free threshold increase for workers by $1,785 to $19,985 or, for workers eligible for the low-income tax offset, $24,985. There will also be a $1,000 instant tax deduction. Rather than claiming on work related expenses, Australians can now choose to claim an instant tax deduction directly on their income without having to keep receipts. Over six million workers—notably, low- and middle-income workers—will benefit from this deduction, with an average saving of around $205. Next month, 14 million Australians will get a tax cut of up to $268, and this will benefit around one million taxpayers in my home state of South Australia. Speaker, I know you've been following along very closely, and you would have noted that I started by talking about four planks, and now I've now introduced a fifth.”
“We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. Australian workers should not be disadvantaged by their wages income relative to income generated from other sources, such as investments. We have a shortage of workers in this country. Every business I speak to tells me how desperate they are for skilled labour and how they could expand and grow if only they could find more workers. So we want to incentivise workers to work and to earn more. It's the Albanese Labor government that is intent on ensuring that Australians keep more of what they earn. Working Australians will receive a tax offset of up to $250 on their income, helping over 13 million hardworking Australians, including approximately six million women.”
“The old capital gains tax and negative gearing models have allowed investors to disproportionately buy established housing relative to other assets while leaving everyday Australians looking to get into the housing market by the wayside. This government's reforms, broadly supported by independent economists, will spur investment in new builds while minimising the tax incentive that has favoured established property. All together, we predict that these reforms will increase housing supply by 30,000 over the next decade and get 75,000 more homeowners into the housing market. The reforms are about levelling the playing field, and they're about giving every Australian a fair go. These bills will also facilitate another round of Labor tax cuts, allowing Australians to get ahead to make the most of the fair go with their own hard-earned wages.”
“Under these new arrangements, if investors currently have a property negatively geared, the previous tax arrangements under which they made their investment will continue to apply. I know this grandparenting is controversial in some quarters, but the rationale is that people who made valid investment decisions under the old regime shouldn't have the goalposts moved on them. In the future, negative gearing for new investments will only be available for new builds, supporting an increase to the housing supply, something that this country desperately needs. The Howard-era changes apparently intended to achieve this but failed miserably.”
“And it's not been an uncommon scenario today—or at least a few weeks ago, before the budget—that everyday Australians at auctions would find themselves competing against investors who could outbid them. Because the investors have had the capital and money to spare, because they could invest in something, they could pay more than its value knowing they would make a loss—thanks to the taxpayer. We want people to invest in things that will actually build income, not make a loss. This simply isn't fair. We are hearing from first home buyers that already, since the budget, they're able to buy a property at a fair price—now only competing with other first home buyers and not having to compete with investors, who can pay inflated taxpayer subsidised prices.”
“The changes will also apply to all asset types, whereas previously the privileging of one asset type over another resulted in another wrinkle in the tax system. These changes will mean a redirection of investment spread across all asset classes, like units and shares, not just existing properties. Investors who have a stake in new builds can choose the tax arrangement that is more favourable to them: the 50 per cent discount or the new cost base indexation with 30 per cent minimum tax. These tax reform bills will also limit negative gearing to new builds. Again, investors are overwhelmingly attracted to established properties because they're able to claim generous deductions for losses with negative gearing from day one. That's at the expense of the taxpayer, who is obligated to step in and reimburse the loss.”
“Why would we tax wages earned by workers, the people we want to continue to build our country, more harshly than other forms of income? How is that fair? How is that the Australian dream? These changes will also prevent investors from delaying their capital gain to when they can exploit a low marginal tax rate. Under these new arrangements, all Australians will be obligated to pay their fair share when they make a capital gain. Exemptions will apply to those on means tested income support, including those on JobSeeker and age pensions. The Albanese Labor government's reforms to capital gains tax will smooth out the distortion in the tax system that has allowed house price increases to massively outpace wages.”
“Investors have monopolised the established housing market, outcompeting first home buyers because of their taxpayer subsidies—that's subsidies that you and I, Mr Speaker, are subsidising—all of which has been further compounded by dramatic declines in new house builds. Before 1999, Australians paid the difference between the purchase price and selling price of their asset, adjusted for inflation. Now we are returning to cost base indexation for CGT, which will be paid on real gains with a 30 per cent minimum tax rate, the marginal tax rate that most Australians pay on their income, because it's unfair and morally unsustainable that Australians should be paying more on their labour income, their wages, than investors pay on income generated from other assets.”
“Today, the average age of a first homebuyer is in their mid-30s because it takes so much longer to save a deposit, and the downstream effect is that they're also likely, therefore, to delay starting a family and settling down. A major cause of this asymmetry is the capital gains tax rule that Howard introduced in 1999. Howard's 50 per cent discount on CGT was intended to boost investment in shares. Instead, investors gravitated away from shares and towards low-risk, high-yield established properties. What this means is that more than $80 million of investment lending has been directed towards established homes.”
“In 1999, when the Howard government made the catastrophic changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax—changes that turned housing from being a home, a fundamental part of the Australian dream, to being an investment vehicle and that drove investors away from shares and other productive investments that build the country and into established housing, beginning the upward spiral of housing prices—the average house cost around three to four times the average wage, a tiny increase from the cost 30 years earlier in 1968, when my family arrived and bought a house. In 2026, less than 30 years on, it is now 10 to 16 times the average wage. The increase in house prices has massively outstripped the increase in wages. The average age of a first home buyer late last century was somewhere in their mid-20s.”
“This will benefit young Australians looking to get a leg-up in the housing market; it will continue our support for investment and innovation; it will provide for tax relief and tax reforms that actually work for Australians and businesses and not against them; and, because of the Albanese Labor government's responsible economic management, it will mean an improved budget bottom line that is sustainable into the future. This budget will make the biggest changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing in decades, because the reality is that massive changes are needed to reform an entrenched tax structure that has disadvantaged everyday Australians looking to get their foot in the door of buying their own home. The Albanese Labor government is prepared to take up the challenge because it is an urgent and pressing challenge.”
“There are four major planks in this tranche of the tax reform package: the working Australians tax offset for over 13 million working Australians; an instant $1,000 tax deduction; reforms to CGT, capital gains tax, to return the cost base indexation with a 30 per cent minimum tax; and reforms to limit negative gearing to new builds. These measures will make our tax system fairer, simpler and stronger and will benefit, in particular, low- and middle-income earners.”
“That I am able to stand here before you today is testament to the boundless opportunities that this country can afford for all Australians. To deny young Australians today—our children and grandchildren—these opportunities would not only be unfair; it would be un-Australian and giving up on the Australian dream. The Albanese Labor government is committed to giving every Australian, young and old, a fair go. This budget is about giving every Australian a fair go—a fair go at homeownership and a fair go at working hard, earning a fair wage and getting ahead. These bills seek to restore the Australian dream, to make it an unquestioned truth that an Australian who works hard will be able to get ahead no matter where they start—the children of factory workers or the children of professionals. It should be available to us all.”
“I am the beneficiary of a fair go, a promise that was offered to my family and me all those years ago when we migrated to Australia as part of the wave of ten-pound Poms seeking better opportunity and a better life. We were economic migrants. I am the product of tradespeople and factory workers. My grandfather worked in the Holden factory in Elizabeth, north of Adelaide. My father was an electrical draughtsman for Simpson-Pope, a whitegoods manufacturer. By the fact of their own sheer hard work, they were able to buy a home and raise a family in the comfort of that home. Of course, when we migrated to Australia in 1968, the average cost of a house was about 2½ to four times the average wage, statistics that my children and grandchildren and their generations can only dream of.”
“These tax reform bills—the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 and the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026—are about reasserting Australian values and the Australian dream—an Australian dream that was conceivable for our parents and grandparents and which is now almost impossibly out of reach for our children and grandchildren. It isn't just a question of equity; it's about resetting standards and rebuilding foundations so all Australians have the opportunity to achieve the best of what this wonderful country promises if they work hard enough and dream big enough. It's about restoring a fair go.”
“These changes aim to provide effective and targeted assistance to Australians experiencing unemployment—help that is centred on the actual purpose of the whole scheme: to help Australians find a job—and they can't come soon enough.”
“This will include relevant mutual obligations, active job coaching, work-ready supports and in-demand jobs training aligned with the individual's employment goals. Stream three will provide the most intensive supports for participants who are experiencing significant and sometimes multiple barriers to employment, whether that be health, disability, discrimination, skills, literacy, caring duties or confidence. It will consider participants' experience, skills and barriers and tailor a program that is meaningful, practical and connected to the community. Mutual obligations will remain, but they will be purposeful and productive rather than pointless and punitive. Fundamentally, we will be asking: are the mutual obligations effective in helping this Australian move closer to finding a job?”
“I was thrilled to hear my friend the Minister for Employment and Workforce Relations announce the first tranche of changes from a one-size-fits-all to a three-stream service model so participants can receive the appropriate level of service depending on their needs. Firstly, the digital stream will cater to those who require less intensive supports and only brief interventions, providing individualised resources, training and career mapping. This will suit people who, for instance, have been employed and maybe just lost their job but are likely to be able to find a job themselves with little assistance. The second stream will help participants who need a bit more assistance to build the skills and confidence that they need to return to work.”
“As a result, one in five participants—140,000 Australians on Workforce Australia—have been unemployed for five years or more. Workforce Australia had not been meeting their needs or helping them address the barriers they have. It has not been helpful in finding meaningful employment for them, nor has it worked for employers who said they would never think of going to a Workforce Australia provider to find employees. The Albanese Labor government is committing a once-in-a-generation overhaul of Workforce Australia to a system that will work for those experiencing unemployment and also for employers.”
“They should be able to have a meaningful, well-paid, secure job, to build a life, to build a future and to build this country. For those who do not have work, for whatever reason, the government provides income support and assistance with finding a job. The Albanese Labor government is committed to facilitating meaningful work for all Australians. We want everyone to have the dignity of work. This is not the experience, however, of so many participants in the Workforce Australia system. It failed to take into account the varied skills, experience and barriers to employment of individual jobseekers. It was unable to facilitate meaningful employment for its participants and instead became a compliance management outfit.”
“We heard about people finding their own jobs but being required by their provider to sign it off so the provider could get paid for finding that job. We heard from employers being swamped by inappropriate job applications, which wasted their time and made recruitment more difficult, because jobseekers were desperately trying to keep up with the '20 job application per month' requirement. We also heard from Workforce Australia workers who had gone into the business because they wanted to help people but instead found themselves forced into a compliance role, having to make heartbreaking decisions about cutting people off from income support when they really wanted to give them a hand up, not a slap. Part of the Australian dream—the Australian deal—is that people should be able to get ahead through work.”
“In the last term of government, I was honoured to sit on the Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services, chaired by my friend the member for Bruce. We heard some horrible stories. We heard about young mums being cut off from income support because they hadn't attended a playgroup because their baby was sick. We heard of people being cut off from income support because they didn't attend a mutual obligations appointment, even though the reason for non-attendance was that they were attending a job interview. We heard about people with master's degrees who'd written an entire thesis being sent for an intro to computer skills course coincidentally run by the same company as the Workforce Australia Employment Service.”
“The bill reclaims the narrative that first inspired the creation of the NDIS: giving a hand to our vulnerable Australians who need it the most. I commend the bill to the House.”
“The system has outgrown the number of participants it was created to service, and costs have correspondingly become unsustainable. The question of delaying real and substantial change is not one we have the luxury of entertaining—certainly not if we want to preserve the NDIS for future generations. This bill is not necessarily about participants. They're not the ones at fault here, but they are the centre of what we're trying to achieve. I know that the uncertainty of change is keeping people awake at night. This is not even necessarily about providers, the majority of whom do good work and go about their work with integrity. It is about creating a fair, safe and sustainable system that serves the interests of its participants, a system that is fit for purpose and will remain fit for purpose for the foreseeable future.”
“Third parties are much more interested in hoarding as many plans as possible and much less interested in providing the quality of service that participants need and deserve. The participants will no longer need to pay their support coordinator from the NDIS plan budgets. The government will commission providers to give support coordination from a list of quality and accountable providers funded directly by the government. The proposition is simple: more oversight will mean higher quality services. The return to sensible management will mean the NDIS is projected to grow by two per cent year on year and by five per cent from 2030 onwards. Importantly, it secures the future of the NDIS. The NDIS is sinking under its own weight.”
“Providers, nominees and participants will be obligated to retain records regarding service provision or claims for specified periods of time at the risk of incurring a civil penalty. The bill also seeks to improve the quality of service provided by plan managers and support coordinators. There are currently 1,400 plan management providers of variable quality—some excellent, some not so. Plan management providers will now need to be members of our commission panel. The panel will set strict quality regulation and monitoring standards for its members, resulting in higher quality services. We will also reduce third-party service providers, who are often not qualified to provide disability services and are much more interested in financial returns.”
“The bill will require providers to enrol in a digital payment system so that they are paid directly with a nominated and validated bank account, undermining criminal cash kickbacks, large cash withdrawals, asset purchases and fraudulent financial transactions on NDIS funds. The NDIS will also be able to monitor all evidence associated with the claim. Currently, the NDIS has no access whatsoever to 90 per cent of claims made by plan managers and providers directly. Around 600,000 claims are made every day without supporting evidence. This will change that. In addition, the NDIS will now have new powers to investigate criminal activity, including more information-gathering capabilities.”
“There are no words to describe this activity other than criminal. The government has already committed $550 million to tackle these fraudsters in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2025. We now review more claims every day than those opposite did in an entire year. They just let the fraudsters rip. This bill builds on our existing regulations and safeguards. The bill introduces additional categories of mandatory registration to include higher risk activities, such as personal care, daily living supports and supports in closed settings. Higher risk provider registration improves oversight, maintains safety and protects participants from exploitation, violence, abuse and neglect, and it will reassure participants of the quality of the service delivery.”
“Today it is more than $12 billion, the same in net terms that we spend on the PBS. And it will be $20 billion at the end of the decade if not addressed. These are sums we simply cannot justify. Instead, the government will establish a $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund, facilitating mainstream disability services and organisations that will rebuild capacity and provide genuine options for participation in the community. The government will also fight the fraudsters, the grifters and the rorters who maliciously and unashamedly take advantage of not just the system but people with disability. They use scams, cons, fraud and sometimes violence and threats to get their way. They game the system in order to make a quick buck at the taxpayer's expense and at the expense of their clients.”