The federal government has proposed excluding period products from the national disability insurance scheme despite research suggesting 78% of people with disability who menstruate cannot afford them.
In August, seeking feedback, the government released a draft list of items it proposed to exclude from NDIS coverage in an attempt to cut spending on the scheme by $27.9bn over the next four years.
Menstrual products were classified as an excluded item in the “lifestyle related” day-to-day living costs category, which includes cigarettes and vapes, gambling, musical instruments, sports tickets, trampolines and gaming consoles.
The draft proposed allowing funding for items in that list only if they were costs incurred “solely and directly” as a result of a person’s disability.
This month results from a survey by charity Share the Dignity, canvassing more than 153,000 people with periods, found about one in three struggled to afford menstrual products in the past year. Nearly one in five at some point needed to improvise – for example, using toilet paper instead of a pad – due to cost barriers, the survey found.
Period poverty was particularly acute for people with disability, with 78% of respondents with disability saying they found menstrual products difficult to afford.
Sophie Cusworth, the acting chief executive at Women with Disabilities Australia, said the organisation was concerned about the potential exclusion of menstrual products from the scheme.
“We’re deeply disappointed as well that they’ve been categorised as lifestyle-related items rather than assistive products for personal care,” Cusworth said.
“It goes without saying that menstrual products need to be recognised as material basic needs linked to hygiene, personal care, dignity, health and participation in the community.”
A separate survey run by Women with Disabilities Australia this month showed that for people with disability, there are often extra costs to managing menstruation as well as practical challenges and significant risks.
That survey heard from people who described being unable to use tampons or pads due to limited hand function or motor impairment, and others dealing with health risks as a result of skin conditions or lack of sensation. Some described the real risk of toxic shock syndrome from disposable period products due to memory, dissociation or executive function. Others relied on support workers to help them change products.
Menstrual activism had succeeded in challenging some taboos around periods, Cusworth said, such as removing GST on tampons and other products.
“Access to menstrual products is consistent with rights to health and hygiene, dignity and participation, and that it’s not lifestyle related,” she said.
There were real risks associated with excluding period products from the NDIS, Cusworth said, including practices such as forced menstrual suppression, which is still lawful in Australia but recognised by human rights treaty-monitoring bodies and the national plan to end violence against women as a form of gender-based violence.
“We don’t want to create a situation in which people don’t have access to menstrual products to manage menstruation, and then we see service providers, for instance, not wanting to provide personal care and therefore subjecting people to forced practices,” Cusworth said.
Senator Larissa Waters, the Greens’ spokesperson for women, said carving out menstrual products from the NDIS would make it even harder for people with disability to manage their periods.
“Labor told us there would be no cuts to the NDIS under this government,” Waters said. Disabled people who menstruate need to see them keep that promise.”
The minister for the NDIS, Bill Shorten, said the government would take the feedback onboard.
“I understand and acknowledge there are a whole range of menstrual products which are used for disability related issues, for example incontinence,” Shorten said.
“The section 10 list of NDIS supports, what can and can’t be paid for using NDIS funding, is still being finalised. We will take this feedback onboard as part of the consultation on the clarification of NDIS supports.”
The draft list of NDIS-excluded items was initially listed as open for public feedback until 5pm on Sunday.
Shorten said the consultation process would now be extended for another week and close on 25 August instead.
• This article was amended on 16 August 2024 to clarify a second survey, by Women with Disabilities Australia, was conducted and its results reported.
