NDIS Minister Bill Shorten defends answers to questions on notice, hits back at Liberal senator Simon Birmingham

Senator Birmingham on Thursday called out answers given by Mr Shorten to three questions taken on notice in the Senate, regarding the NDIS and whether he had met with certain lobbyists, as showing "complete contempt and childish behaviour".

"Today the Senate compelled the government to explain why the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, has submitted a number of answers to Senate questions on notice that are a disgraceful disregard for the transparency of government," Senator Birmingham said in a statement.

"Not only has minister Shorten failed to answer these serious questions asked of his portfolios, but he has also demonstrated he doesn't believe the NDIS requires parliamentary scrutiny, providing answers full of political commentary with no reference to the NDIS."

But a spokesperson for Mr Shorten claimed the opposition was playing "procedural games" and had only raised the issue to delay voting on the Housing Australia Future Fund bill, which still has not passed the upper house.

"Instead of developing a vision for helping Australians, they prefer to play procedural games in the Senate to delay having to vote on a bill that would help domestic violence victims fleeing dangerous situations," the spokesperson said.

Labor senator Nita Green also said Liberal senators were "teaming up" with other parties to filibuster at the time.

"What we have seen every single day in this chamber, every single day this week, is the Greens political party teaming up with the Liberal Party, the National Party and today One Nation to block this bill, to filibuster this bill, to make sure that we don't vote on affordable and social housing," she said.

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In one response to a question from Liberal senator Jane Hume about efficiency dividends in the National Disability Insurance Agency, Mr Shorten referred Senator Hume to the department's portfolio statements, published online, and lashed the previous government.

"In relation to the sustainability of the budget, the Albanese Labor government inherited a budget disaster from the previous Liberal government, featuring $1 trillion in Liberal Party debt, growing inflation, a cost-of-living crisis and an ugly mess of waste, rackets and rorts that defined the legacy of the wasted decade under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government," Mr Shorten's response stated.

"A situation with which Senator Hume will be intimately familiar as the senator was a senior member of the previous Liberal government and a minister in an economic portfolio."

Three responses to Senate estimates questions on notice from February, from Mr Shorten's office, also include similar statements about the former Coalition government.

A response to a question by Liberal senator Linda Reynolds about anti-fraud measures referred the senator to the 2023 budget papers and claimed: "The NDIS was the victim of a decade of neglect under the previous Liberal government."

Senator Birmingham claimed the NDIS minister was "working harder on writing cheap political responses to serious questions than he has on developing actual reform to make the NDIS more sustainable".

But the spokesperson for Mr Shorten called the comments "rich" of the opposition, which they claimed had let the NDIS "wither on the vine".

"The Labor government's commitment to the NDIS is evident in the recent budget with an unprecedented investment in ensuring the scheme's future for people with disability," the spokesperson said.

"Mr Shorten would back his commitment to people with disability over Senator Birmingham's.

"I understand minister Shorten thinks Senator Birmingham should take a teaspoon of cement and harden up. Start fighting for people rather than himself," the spokesperson said.

The federal budget committed a funding package of $732.9 million over the next four financial years to the NDIS.

The NDIS Commission, the scheme's regulator, will also receive $142.6 million over the next two years to carry out its role to protect participants, as well as to improve the agency's ICT capability.

The NDIS Scheme Actuary, responsible for assessing the scheme's financial sustainability, has projected the funding package will save $15.3 billion over the next four years by improving its administration.

National cabinet has also set annual growth target for the total costs of the scheme of no higher than 8 per cent from July 26, a measure it projects will save $59 billion over the seven years between 2027 and 2034.