The Australian Government cannot build inclusive communities while cutting individual supports that help people with disability participate in them, Children and Young People with Disability Australia has warned.
Public consultation on the Government's $200m Inclusive Communities Fund will close today, just weeks before legislated reductions to social and community participation funding for new NDIS plans are due to begin.
In its just-released submission to the consultation, CYDA welcomed the Fund as an important investment in community capacity and disability inclusion but said it could not be viewed in isolation from the looming cuts.
"Investing in community inclusion cannot make up for the individualised supports thousands of NDIS participants will lose," CYDA CEO Skye Kakoschke-Moore said. "The full benefits of a more accessible sporting club will not be enjoyed by a young person who cannot get there, communicate, navigate the environment and take part because they now can't afford to pay a trusted support worker to accompany them.
"Instead, strong investment in making organisations more inclusive should go hand-in-hand with tailored supports that enable real participation."
The Government's initiative will provide funding grants directly to community organisations, such as local clubs and groups.
CYDA is concerned that an overreliance on community-level funding could limit choice and control for children and young people with disability.
Without the individualised supports they need to take part in mainstream community activities, some may have few options beyond more segregated programs or missing out on participation altogether.
With cuts to new NDIS plans set to come into effect from 1 October and the first funding round for community organisations only expected to start in June 2027, a critical gap in supports could also emerge.
"Families and young people cannot be expected to wait months or years for the community around them to become more inclusive while the support they rely on now could be significantly reduced at their next plan re-assessment," Ms Kakoschke-Moore said.
"These supports mean the difference between a child or young person experiencing genuine belonging and independence, and being pushed to the margins or isolated from their peers."
The Inclusive Communities Fund must deliver real inclusion
CYDA's submission also recommended key changes to how the program is designed and delivered to make sure it provides meaningful outcomes for disabled children and young people.
It urged the Government to:
- Make sure children and young people are central to the Fund through co-design, by giving disability-led organisations a lead role in partnering with community groups, and by expanding its scope to school-related extracurricular activities
- Prioritise removing barriers and creating lasting change, with decisions guided by person-centred and rights-based criteria
- Build disability inclusion into local government, including by piloting youth mentoring roles
- Embed rights-based governance and evaluation into the Fund from the outset, including early monitoring of whether activities are actually improving inclusion
It further suggested a proportion of the additional $150m committed annually from 2029-30 to the Disability Peer Support and Connections Program should be allocated to ongoing measurement and evaluation of the Fund's outcomes.
Ms Kakoschke-Moore said the Government had an opportunity to make the Fund a meaningful driver of inclusion for children and young people with disability.
Read CYDA's full consultation submission here.
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