NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister has defended the massive expansion of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) workforce as "necessary" to manage the growing scheme.

Ms McAllister has insisted that hiring thousands of additional public servants was crucial to properly manage the $52 billion-a-year program.

She told Sky News Sunday Agenda the previous government’s approach of relying on temporary labour-hire staff was “foolish” and that a permanent workforce was essential.

“You might remember that back around 2019-2020, it was revealed that there were hundreds of staff in the Senior Executive Service on labour hire in the NDIA,” she said.

“This was a foolish way to proceed. We take a different approach. We do think that having a permanent public service workforce serves us better.

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