People with Disability Australia (PWDA), the national disability representative and advocacy organisation, has raised serious concerns following today's announcements by the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing Mark Butler, warning the changes risk leaving people with disability without the supports they need to live ordinary lives.
PWDA 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.
PWDA President Jeramy Hope said thousands of people with disability and their families will be going to bed tonight worried about what these changes mean for them.
"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," Mr Hope said.
"As a participant, and as a parent of a daughter with autism who relies on the NDIS, this is about our everyday lives.
"It is about whether we can keep doing the things most people take for granted, or whether that stability disappears."
PWDA Acting CEO Megan Spindler-Smith said 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," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"So the question is simple. Where do those people go?"
PWDA said the Government's focus on reducing growth to around 5 or 6 per cent cannot come at the expense of people with disability.
"We agree the NDIS must be sustainable," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"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 liked aged care and hospitals that cannot absorb it."
PWDA said any reduction in access to the NDIS must be matched by fully funded, accessible and available alternative supports.
"Need does not disappear because the government changes the system," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"If people don't get support through the NDIS, they will still need it somewhere. That burden is pushed onto families, hospitals, aged care and crisis services.
"We cannot accept a system where people only get help once they reach breaking point."
Mr Hope said the impact of these decisions will be immediate and deeply felt.
"For people like me, the NDIS is what makes it possible to get out of bed, to work, and to be part of our communities," he said.
"For my daughter, it is about having the right support to learn, to grow and to have the same opportunities as other kids.
"When you take that away, you are not adjusting a budget. You are changing lives and people will be worse off."
Mr Hope said cutting supports for social and community participation would have real consequences.
"These supports are what help people build confidence, connect with others and be part of their communities," he said.
"If you cut that, you don't just save money. You increase isolation."
PWDA said the Government's focus on fraud and provider behaviour must not be used to justify broader cuts.
"Fraud should be addressed. But it is not where most of the impact of these changes will fall," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"Cutting people's plans will not fix poor training or oversight.
"You don't improve quality by reducing support. You improve it by investing in the workforce, training and accountability and we didn't hear enough about that."
PWDA stressed the importance of maintaining strong rights to appeal decisions.
"We know the system gets decisions wrong. We see it every day," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"When systems change, mistakes increase.
"People must be able to challenge decisions, including through the Administrative Review Tribunal. Without that, there is no effective safeguard. We are urgently seeking assurances this right will be retained."
PWDA said it was being asked to trust that new foundational supports, community supports outside the NDIS, would fill the gap for those pushed out of the scheme.
"We do not know when these supports will be ready, how they will be delivered, or whether they will exist across the country," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"You cannot cut support first and build the alternative later.
"If you do, people fall through the cracks and go without."
PWDA acknowledges investment in the Inclusive Communities Fund but has serious reservations about the new initiative.
"Community participation is not as simple as turning up," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"Many people need support just to leave the house and get there.
"These programs must be designed with people with disability, for people with disability, and properly funded to work.
"We also need clear assurances these programs will not be segregated or separate people with disability from the community.
"Inclusion means being part of ordinary life, not being separated into different programs."
PWDA also questioned the pace and scale of reform.
"We have seen what happens in the aged care system when people are redirected to supports that do not exist or are not ready," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"No-one should be pushed out of the NDIS on the promise that something else might exist later."
PWDA welcomed the delay to the rollout of new planning frameworks but said major questions remain.
"These changes will determine who can access the scheme and what supports they receive," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"Disability does not fit neatly into categories. If blunt assessment tools are used, people will be excluded or misclassified."
PWDA 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," Mx Spindler-Smith said.
"We need safeguards. We need accountability.
"And we need reforms that do not leave people worse off."
About us:
People with Disability Australia (PWDA), is a national disability rights and advocacy organisation led by, and for, people with all kinds of disability. We are a non-profit, non-government organisation and our membership is made up of people with disability and organisations mainly constituted by people with disability. https://www.pwd.org.au
