Nothing - and everything - happened in politics this week. The parties staked out their positions. In doing so they laid down the contours of how the coming dramatic change to the NDIS will be negotiated. The big news: the Greens risk becoming irrelevant.

MDIS Minister Jenny McAllister was forthright in her defence of the NDIS; she just chose her words carefully.

“We want to ensure that the scheme delivers on the vision as originally set out,” she insisted. “We will pursue these things in line with this very clear principle: if you are a person with a disability, your interests deserve to be at the centre of the policies and the government decisions that affect your life.”

Hard to get a more passionate defence than that. But then the kicker. “We know how important it is to make sure that the NDIS is there for long haul.”

So, for perhaps only the second time since the scheme was introduced, we have a minister clearly articulating the two directly opposed requirements of the scheme. It needs to really help; but it also needs to be financially sustainable.

What McAllister didn’t do was reveal how she intends to achieve this combination.

The Green’s Jordon Steele-John launched a similar, passion-fuelled assault on earlier changes to the scheme, relentlessly pointing out how it was failing the needs of many people with disability.

In doing so, however, he ruled the Greens out of any part of negotiating the coming change. He handed the power to do that to the coalition, to whom Labor will now turn as they begin finding a way of curbing the (still) relentlessly growing cost of the program.

And it was here, interestingly, that the Liberal-National Party indicated that it was prepared to talk, if only to deal the Greens out of the political debate.

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What was most interesting about Senator Paul Scarr’s speech was that it diverged from previous coalition rhetoric on the NDIS, clearly establishing the possibility of a new way forward for the government. Just look at the way he began.

“Firstly, Senator Steele-John, I acknowledge and deeply respect your ongoing advocacy with respect to these matters. The example you gave of the participant being off the system and then having to go through numerous appeal procedures to get back onto the system is deeply disturbing, to be frank. I hope that person is doing okay. It shouldn’t come to that.”

Scarr’s words reached above the traditional political divide. And again, this time to the Minister.

“I acknowledge the responsibility that Senator McAllister has with her new portfolio. The coalition certainly supported the introduction of the NDIS and supports the ongoing sustainable operation of the NDIS. There’s no question about that.”

He went on to attack the Minister, of course, but it’s difficult not to see a speech like this as anything other than a subtle reaching out to the government. Suddenly there’s the possibility of doing a deal with the coalition to curb the growing cost of the NDIS.

Scarr has outflanked Steele-John by demonstrating that if the Greens aren’t prepared to negotiate on change with the Government (and they’ve given no indication of this so far), then there is still a path by doing a deal with the coalition.

There’s no certainty this could occur but regarding the NDIS, perhaps for the first time ever, the possibility of genuine negotiations does exist.