The Albanese government has moved to soothe concerns over its National Disability Insurance Scheme, following questions from senators over whether the proposed reforms would force participants and their families to double up on diagnosis costs.
Labor senator Tim Ayres told the Senate last week the government had not yet determined how it would fund planned "needs assessments for NDIS participants, which would help to determine their funding needs".
A spokesperson for NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said in a statement that his colleague had been seeking to avoid pre-empting the reform process, but the government did not intend to make users pay.
"The minister's categorical view is that participants should not pay for their support needs assessment," they said.
The government said there would be extensive consultation once the bill passes parliament.
"Once the NDIS legislation is passed, significant co-design work will commence with people with disability and the sector, which will further refine what support needs assessments for NDIS participants look like," the spokesperson said.
It comes after days of Senate debate between the government, Coalition and Greens.
The Shadow Assistant Minister for the NDIS, Hollie Hughes, described her own experience in the system, telling the chamber it took four to five paediatric visits and thousands of dollars to get an autism diagnosis for her son.
Liberal senator Hollie Hughes shared her own experience of seeking an autism diagnosis for her son. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
She questioned whether the reforms would force a family in that position to also pay for the mandated NDIS assessor to access funding.
"Are we effectively doubling the costs?" she asked.
The representative for the NDIS minister, senator Tim Ayres, said the government is taking a "common sense approach" to avoid that.
"It is a recommendation of the review and it's anticipated one of the outcomes of this process that there is not a requirement for doubling up," Senator Ayres said.
He stressed there would be more consultation once the bill was passed.
"Senator Ayres was sensitive to the important co-design work needed for support needs assessments when debating the bill in the Senate," Mr Shorten's spokesperson said.
"He was extremely careful not to pre-empt the co-design work with people with disability to come."
Wednesday is likely to be the final day of debate over the bill after Senator Katy Gallagher successfully moved a motion that a vote will be forced on several bills, including the NDIS legislation, on Thursday.
The Greens slammed the move.
"What the Labor Party together with the Liberals have just done is gag debate on the NDIS bill," Greens disability spokesperson Jordon Steele-John said.
"They've prevented this Senate from considering in detail the amendments which are brought to this place by the Greens to ensure critical safeguards and protections for disabled people and our families are retained."
The senator said he wanted more debate because he was concerned the changes could make NDIS access and retention more challenging for people with disability and their families.