A major change to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been passed through the Parliament today that will severely cut the amount of funding the disability support scheme receives.
Following ongoing scrutiny that the NDIS has received over recent months — including national headlines over a few people on the NDIS using it to pay for sex services — the minister in charge of the portfolio, Bill Shorten, has announced that an updated version of the scheme will be massively cutting costs.
During this year’s federal budget it was estimated that the federal cost of the NDIS would rise from $44.3 billion to more than $90 billion by 2030, due to inflation and ballooning costs.
As a result, the government has made a plan and passed a bill to slash the service by $14.4 billion over the next four years.
To try and calm fears, Shorten said that the changes will not be the “end of the world”, and that ultimately if the NDIS is made more sustainable then it will be able to help people for longer.
“To those who are feeling anxious, I respect that. I just want to say that the sun will come up tomorrow,” said Shorten.
Unfortunately for Shorten, he’s a lot better at delivering zingers than bad news, and is now facing overwhelming criticism for slashing the service that helps people with disabilities afford reasonable and necessary day-to-day support.
Advocates and members of the disability community have slammed the changes as a “betrayal”, including Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John who said Labor has “ripped the heart out” of the NDIS.
“Under Labor’s NDIS, disabled people in this country will be less safe. Too many in our community will go without vital support and we as a community will not forget this betrayal,” said the senator and Greens spokesperson for disability rights and services.
So what are the changes being made to the NDIS thanks to the new bill? What concerns are held by members of the disability community? Let’s dive in.
What are the changes to the NDIS?
The so-called “Getting the NDIS Back on Track” bill was passed on August 22, and aims to make the scheme stronger, and improve the experience for its users, while also saving the government money.
Unfortunately… there’s not really a lot to go on in terms of policy and practical application that will actually do any of those things.
This is partly why advocates are so concerned, because currently one of the only things known for certain is a massive cut in funding.
One resource that sheds some light is the NDIS website, which vaguely outlines some of the changes.
The main impact of the new bill is changes to how eligibility for the NDIS is assessed, and what supports it will fund.
Before the change, there were two ways that the NDIS categorises the different types of support that it pays for its users to have access to, and those are “necessary” and “reasonable”.
Traditionally, someone with a disability who purchased some support would then provide details on the purchase, which included classifying it as either necessary or reasonable.
However the new change to NDIS’s support needs assessment practice will remove these two categories, and will instead have a new framework for what supports can be purchased.
This change has particularly been criticised by advocates and members of the community, who say it removes the individual from the decision-making process.
What are advocates saying about the changes to NDIS funding?
Writer and disability advocate Hannah Diviney took to Instagram the day the bill passed to express that she was “deeply troubled” by the changes and what they mean for the disability community.
Diviney addressed the fact that the bill had been passed despite the community’s opposition, and slammed the government for its “outright refusal” to discuss how the funding cuts will change the scheme.
“The details are vague. We’re operating in the dark. And with very little idea of what the path forward looks like, except for the knowledge that the concerns of thousands of us were ignored,” she wrote to Instagram.
Diviney called Bill Shorten “out of touch” and said he’d let down the community that trusted him.
This sentiment was shared by Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, who opposed the bill in Parliament.
“Labor has ripped the heart out of the NDIS by removing our right to choice and control,” he said in a statement.
“Many in our community are simply heartbroken. I’ve been contacted by people all across the country who are already struggling with cuts to their NDIS plans, and now there is a deep fear that this legislation will see a return to the dark days that existed before our NDIS.”
An estimate from the ABC says that of the 5.5 million people in Australia living with disabilities, the NDIS only provides aid to 660K people.
The post The Government Is Changing The Way The NDIS Works — Here’s Why Advocates Say It’s A ‘Betrayal’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
