Cross-benchers have slammed the Albanese government’s proposed overhaul of the NDIS as going “too far, too fast” as the changes to curb the growth of the $52bn program appear set to pass the parliament as early as next week.
The Greens and independent ACT senator, David Pocock, delivered scathing assessments of the bill they warn will enable blunt and indiscriminate cuts to individual budgets supporting more than 770,000 Australians with disabilities in a final Senate inquiry report released on Friday afternoon.
While the Labor-chaired committee recommended the bill pass, Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said the proposals would be “devastating to the lives of disabled people and their families”.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailThe bill forms part of the government’s plan to get the NDIS “back on track” and save $37.8bn over four years by tightening the eligibility criteria and subjecting all participants to independent functional assessments from 2028.
It will also give the NDIS minister, Mark Butler, the power to reduce funding categories for individuals by up to 99%. The government has already said it will apply a 50% reduction in individual participant budgets for social, civic and community participation.
Without the interventions, the government estimates the $52bn-a-year scheme will more than double in cost to $117bn a year in a decade’s time.
The Greens have acknowledged some changes should be made to make the NDIS work better for participants but suggested the scheme could be funded by a gas export tax.
“The choice that this Labor government is making is to rip life-changing supports away from disabled people instead of raising additional revenue through taxing gas exports shows their priorities clearly,” Steele-John wrote.
“This government is choosing the profits of large corporations over the lives of disabled people.”
Guardian Australia has previously reported that 241,000 NDIS participants will be shifted off the scheme by June 2031 after the introduction of the functional capacity test, to keep the number of participants at about 600,000.
During that period, an additional 105,000 will be stopped from entering the scheme.
Those shifted from the scheme are expected to be supported by programs run by states and territories with joint funding from the Commonwealth.
Pocock said no participant should be removed from the NDIS until those new programs are “funded, operating and accessible”, vowing to continue scrutiny of the changes.
“The true measure of these changes will be found in the experiences of people with disability. They must remain at the centre of what comes next,” Pocock said.
Coalition senators provided additional comments raising concerns that fraud and integrity within the NDIS had not been sufficiently addressed.
The government is expected to land a deal with the opposition early next week in order to pass the bill in the Senate.
Disability advocacy groups have been extremely critical of the government’s amendments to the NDIS, and have warned caring responsibilities will be shifted from the scheme to families, affecting women disproportionately.
Women With Disabilities Australia’s chief executive, Sophie Cusworth, said the government should deliver a comprehensive gender impact assessment of the bill.
“You cannot say you are working for women while looking to pass legislation that puts women’s safety, care, health and economic security at risk,” she said on Friday.
“That is not gender equality. That is neglect.”
