Dear Secretary,
I am writing regarding the changes being proposed to the NDIS. I am very unwell at the moment and will be going into hospital tomorrow so I can only manage this email. I give permission for my name to be seen.
I am seriously concerned and greatly impacted by the changes being proposed and already in place. I am hearing about multiple people with disabilities suffering and being impacted too.
Independent Assessments: Bill Shorten assured us that he would not make changes that could detrimentally impact people with disabilities. He told us he was the politician for people with disabilities and that he wouldn’t bring in independent assessments but I am already hearing these changes have and will be brought in. I’m hearing health professionals already doing this work and also being approached to do this work who are also really concerned that they cannot utilise their own Therapists. This is very distressing and disrespectful to people with disabilities. The whole premise of choice and control is that people with disabilities has the opportunity to engage the professionals that know them and their needs. The only time we said this could be helpful is when there were people who could not access this help or requested this help. The goal was only to have it if people chose it so that there was equal access to all people. I am absolutely horrified that this has been brought in and is being brought in. This is causes a traumatic reverberation throughout the community .
Bringing in Independent Assessments, under whatever it renamed to, means that people who have experienced trauma from the NDIS and the things like Domestic Family and Sexual Violence (and others) will not be made to feel safe and comfortable utilising the services that they have built a safe working relationship with. This can not happen! Safety and choice and control is at the centre of what the NDIS stands for, person centred, and people focused is what its about. This does not build capacity but takes it away and means people will be greatly impacted, as we can see its a cost cutting not people building exercise.
The goal was to weed out the people who are ripping off people with disabilities and the government not to penalise the people who need this essential and urgent support to live lives that everyone should be able to live. To live with dignity and respect and to bring the people they choose into their space.
Plan Managers : the assumption is all are bad and do a bad job. My plan manager is
Page 2
fantastic. It took me a little bit to find him but that’s because the market exploded before there were guidelines in place. To remove him would cause me an enormous amount of stress. He not only handles my payments but he also sorts out any problems or discrepancies that occur in invoices. He knows and understands the system which gives me a lot of confidence. He liaises to have invoices fixed where they weren’t correctly done, queries and things that don’t look right and always ensures I’m in the loop. Without him this whole thing would have been so much more stressful and I couldn’t have done it. The thought of not having him causes me a lot of undue stress.
My support co-ordinator: like wise it tooke me awhile to find her. I had some good people and then they would leave. She has been a rock for me. We negotiate everything together, she helps me with the very arduous task of finding support workers and supports and helps vet them. She knows me really well and only wants the best for me and my package.
While there are many “platforms” and they are registered the quality and capabilities of the people are often very substandard. Platforms and registering does not mean they have appropriate workers and often the people don’t want to work or just want to have a cup of tea, we vet people and we navigate this system together which gives me so much peace of mind and support. I do not have family and therefore rely fully on my supports like her and my plan manager to have the best outcomes for my quality of life, capacity building and managing my disability.
Only having registered workers : This is a very bad idea, and in fact the people who have done the most damage have been the registered workers. This is not a failsafe! Most of my workers have been independent workers found through friends or word of mouth . They have been the best workers actually wanting to work caring about me and wanting enabling me to reach and keep my independent goals. I have achieved much more than I could ever have imagined because of this if we take away this choice and control to choose people and have the m work as they need we will lose the good people from the workforce .
Group Homes: I am very concerned to hear from colleagues and friends the 1-3 model being brought back. This is causing enormous stress and reeks of group homes being brought back rather than independent living. I have lived next door to a group home s for years and the manager and some workers were very abusive to residents it was horrific to hear and I did report many times Remember most perpetrators aren’t charged or even known so they won’t come up on a police check ,this also goes to my previous point Abusers lie in broad daylight. This also means peoples’ choice and control of who they want in their home will be gone A friend of mine who has disabilities and has experienced homelessness for along time cannot find a place that fits her disability and they are trying to force her into her Group She does not have funding for a group and she does not require a group because she is quite independent with the right supports.
We keep making blanket decisions and across the board decisions which do not weed out the people that are bad but hurt, damage and traumatise the people who are needing the
Support.
Every time we talk about he ND IS costing more money we fail to see that 1. It was projected to be the amount it is and 2. That what we get we give back 2 ½ times.
Halving Packages: I am hearing over and over again that people’s packages are being cut in half. My Therapists keep telling me, and other practitioners keep telling me, how dire the situation is. People can barely keep functioning, they can’t get the therapy they need and they are becoming more withdrawn. It is seriously compromising their quality of life, the whole reason why we had the NDIS! We were told this would not impact participants and that it’s not the participants who are doing the wrong thing. What messages is giving is that participants do not deserve to have quality of life. In a cost of living crisis instead of enabling people to have all the support they need we’re cutting it down for them so they can barely survive .
What I can do because of the NOIS : The N DIS is life changing for me and means that I get to change other peoples lives for the better too, help create purpose built systems and help provide better policies and outcomes for people, not just with disabilities, but all people. I could never have imagined doing what I am doing and the positive affects I have been able have .
Please do not destroy what we worked so hard to build with the ND IS. Changes should be done in a collaborative way with people with Disabilities and also with a people with Disabilities working group and advisory group. Bill Shorten was meant to be the politician for People with Disabilities, we trusted him and when he said he wanted to do an internal investigation because it would mean he could act on abusive, unsafe services and operators that rot the system and participants, we didn’t fight him. We didn’t know he was going to hurt, traumatise and make worse peoples situations.
Thank you for taking time to consider my submission.
Warm regards Talie Star Talie Star (she/her) Living and Working on Aboriginal Land Singer/song writer and Consultant/Trainer in Trauma, Recovery, Domestic and Family Violence, Homelessness & Disability.