News
Many Australians with disability would likely be feeling a mix of emotions following the NDIS Minister’s National Press Club address, in which he announced that NDIS plans, eligibility and the market are set to change as part of a significant number of reforms.
These changes include limitations on social and community participation funding, changes to NDIS eligibility, the commissioning of certain services, and registration changes.
As the nation turns its focus to the Federal Budget next month, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Mark Butler, says the government must commit to drastic changes in order to curb the unsustainable spending growth that threatens the Scheme's longevity.
The ‘diagnosis gateway’ has funnelled people onto a Scheme that was never designed for them…We can’t afford for the NDIS to continue growing at its present rate.
Mark Butler
"By the end of decade, spending on the NDIS would cost more than Medicare and the PBS combined. Unless we take action to make it sustainable, it simply will not be there in the future for the Australians who need it most,” the Minister says.
Powerd Media questioned Mr Butler as to whether the disability community would be provided with additional supports to help cover the cost of living as a result of the cuts faced by NDIS participants, to which the Minister replied:
"We've worked very carefully to identify where we think we can control spending growth…those areas of support that are essential for daily living, accommodation, supports, personal care, transport, hygiene, continence, medication management and all the rest, will not be subject to any [cuts],” he claims.
He went on to specify that unscheduled plan reassessments as well as social and community participation funding will be the targeted areas of cost reduction.
There will still be the capacity for those reassessments, but they should only happen in exceptional circumstances where there has been a significant change in circumstance for the participant. Social and community participation, I understand, will have a material impact on existing participants…a reduction in the number of hours that participants have to spend on that.
Mark Butler
A number of advocates and disability representative organisations have raised serious concerns following the announcements by the Minister, warning the changes risk leaving people with disability without the supports they need to live ordinary lives.
People with Disability Australia (PWDA), the national disability representative and advocacy organisation, says the scale of the proposed changes, including plans to reduce growth and limit participant numbers to around 600,000, combined with a lack of detail about replacement supports, is already causing fear and uncertainty across the disability community.
As a participant, and as a parent of a daughter with autism who relies on the NDIS, this is about our everyday lives. People are scared. They are wondering whether they will lose access to the supports they rely on to get out of bed, to eat, to leave the house, and to be part of their families and communities.
Jeramy Hope
PWDA Acting CEO, Megan Spindler-Smith, says the Government must be upfront about the scale of what is being proposed.
“The only guarantee we got was 160,000 fewer people will be on the NDIS…so the question is simple. Where do those people go?” Mx Spindler-Smith asks.
We agree the NDIS must be sustainable, but sustainability cannot be achieved by removing people from support without a clear, funded alternative. That is not reform. That is shifting the cost onto people with disability, their families and other systems…that cannot absorb it.
Megan Spindler-Smith
CEO of Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA), Sophie Cusworth, says WWDA is deeply concerned by any reform that results in fewer people being able to access or remain on the NDIS before real alternatives are in place.
For our community, these reforms have real-life consequences…They will determine whether someone can get to appointments, stay in work or study, care for family, remain connected to community, or leave a violent situation.
Sophie Cusworth
Greens Disability spokesperson, Senator Jordon Steele-John, says his party will not back NDIS cuts that leave vulnerable people without any other options.
The community are telling me they’re scared. The government are talking about massive cuts to the NDIS without clarity and with nowhere to turn to, it’s leaving everyone on edge. The Greens will not support…Labor’s attempts to balance the budget off the back of disabled people
Jordon Steele-John
“The government must not cut critical disability supports to balance their budget, while allowing big corporations to avoid paying their fair share of tax and letting fossil fuel subsidies soar,” Senator Steele-John argues.
Meanwhile, People with Disability Australia is calling on the Government to provide clear detail and guarantees ahead of the Federal Budget on 12 May.
“People with disability need certainty, not fear,” Acting CEO Megan Spindler-Smith says. “We need safeguards. We need accountability…And we need reforms that do not leave people worse off.”
Powerd Media will keep you updated on these changes in the coming days.