Submission to the Senate Committee on the NDIS
The introduction of NDIS has the potential to be seen in the future as one of the defining moments in this country’s history. It has come to this point through the combined will of many Australians who are no longer prepared to live in a country that makes people with disabilities second class citizens. It has raised the hopes of a large part of our society who had previously felt that their voices would never be heard. You can not miss this opportunity to deliver a NDIS that enables their dreams to become a reality. To have the NDIS become everything that it should be will take political courage and greater leadership, something that has been lacking in this country for decades.
Choice and control has been an integral part of the scheme from the start. It is absolutely essential that this choice and control rests in the hands of people with a disability and not with service organisations and governments as is the current situation. In a society which tends to be more and more risk adverse it is vital that risk management is not used as a convenient tool by governments to take away control and choice from the people whose right it is to have it, people with a disability.
There are four options listed in the Regulation Impact Statement around market regulation. If the last two choices
Choice is unrestricted, except for higher risk circumstances defined by service type (personal care, for example) and the cognitive capacity of the consumer; and There are no limits to consumer choice
are not one of the chosen options then the scheme is doomed to fail. People with a disability must be able to have the same choices as the rest of society, be able to take the same risks, be able to fail and have the same supports the rest of the community does. We have no more
right to decide what is the “right choice” for people with a disability than we do for any other member of society. While ever the choices of people with a disability are limited to less than those of the rest of the community they will never be seen as an equal member of our society.
The scheme will not be perfect and there will be bumps in the road but as long as the NDIS and those who oversee it stay true to its original intent and desired outcome people with disabilities in Australia will have the possibility of far fuller and happier lives. What their life looks like will be their choice not that of anyone else. People with disabilities know how to fight the good fight, it’s time our politicians did the same.
Thank you for considering this submission.