Submission 1871 - Supplementary Submission

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee

Re: Proposed NDIS Reform Legislation and Integrity Measures

Submitted by:

. Partner of an NDIS Participant and Carpenter

My name is and I work as a carpenter.

I build houses for a living. Most days I’m thinking about work, paying the mortgage, keeping up with bills and trying to build a good future with my wife. I’m not a politician, a lawyer or a policy expert. I’m just someone trying to do the right thing by his family.

The reason I’m writing this submission is because I feel like there is something missing from the conversation around these reforms.

A lot of what I hear is about costs, budgets and sustainability. I understand governments have to think about those things. What I don’t hear enough about is what happens to families when disability supports are reduced.

My wife relies on NDIS supports every day. Those supports help her stay safe, manage her health and live as independently as possible. They also make it possible for me to go to work each day knowing that she has the support she needs while I’m gone.

If those supports are reduced, her disability doesn’t suddenly become less significant. She will still need the same help she needs today. The difference is that much of that responsibility will likely fall back onto me.

I can’t be at work and at home at the same time. If my wife isn’t safe to be left alone, I have to make a choice. I either keep working and worry about whether she’s okay, or I reduce my hours and take on more caring responsibilities myself. Neither option is a good one.

I love my wife and I would do whatever I had to do to support her, but the reality is that if I have to step away from work to fill gaps left by support cuts, that affects every part of our lives.

Like most families, we’re already dealing with rising costs. We have a mortgage, insurance, fuel, groceries and all the usual expenses that seem to keep going up every year. The thought of losing income because I need to reduce my work is something that genuinely worries me. It’s not just about getting by week to week. It’s about what our future looks like.

My wife and I have talked for years about having children. That’s a normal conversation for a married couple to have. What isn’t normal is having to question whether that’s

Submission 1871 - Supplementary Submission

something we’ll ever realistically be able to do because we’re constantly worried about whether the supports she relies on will still be there in the future.

When we talk about having a family, we also have to talk about whether I would be able to keep working, whether we could afford to raise children and whether we could provide the stable future that every parent wants for their kids. Those aren’t conversations I ever expected disability supports to become part of, but here we are.

One of the hardest things about all of this is the uncertainty.

I’ve watched my wife spend years gathering reports, attending appointments, going through reviews and trying to explain the same things over and over again. From my perspective, her disability doesn’t disappear between planning meetings. Her needs don’t change because somebody in an office decides to look at her file differently.

Watching someone you love go through that is frustrating because there is very little you can do to protect them from the stress of it. You want to fix it, but you can’t. All you can do is watch as they spend months or years fighting for things that seem obvious to the people who know them best.

Over time that uncertainty starts to wear people down. It becomes harder to plan for the future because you’re never quite sure what comes next. Even when things are going well, there’s always that feeling in the back of your mind that another review or another decision could change everything again.

I also think there is a bigger issue here that isn’t getting enough attention.

Every day I go to work building houses because Australia needs more housing. We’re constantly hearing about housing shortages and workforce shortages. That’s why it seems strange to me that we are having conversations about reducing supports that help people stay in work.

I know I’m not the only partner or carer whose ability to work depends on disability supports being available. Across the country there are people going to work every day because someone they love has support workers helping to fill the gaps that family members can’t fill on their own.

If those supports are reduced, some of those people will cut back their hours. Some will leave work altogether. Some families will end up under enormous financial pressure.

The costs don’t disappear. They just end up somewhere else.

I understand that governments need to manage budgets and make difficult decisions. What I hope decision-makers understand is that disability supports are not just numbers on a spreadsheet.

For my wife, those supports provide safety, independence and dignity.

Submission 1871 - Supplementary Submission

For me, they provide the reassurance that I can go to work and earn a living without constantly worrying about whether she is okay.

For us as a couple, they provide the possibility of building a future together.

When people talk about reducing disability supports, I don’t think they’re just talking about funding. They’re talking about real people’s lives, real families and real futures.

All I ask is that those making these decisions take the time to think about the families behind the numbers.

Thank you for considering my submission.

Partner of an NDIS Participant

Carpenter