Opened the debate
Steele-John argued that the budget represented a betrayal of the government's pledge to protect the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The senator stated that the proposed cuts amounted to $185 billion over a decade, which far exceeded revenue generated from changes to property investor privileges. Steele-John claimed that the government failed to provide assurance that no participant would be worse off, particularly regarding the autistic community. The senator asserted that removing approximately 160,000 people from the scheme would cause severe hardship because adequate alternative services did not exist outside the program.