NDIA Accountability Project

NDIS participant concerned about impact of proposed changes

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Submission 2300

Summary of points:

  • The flexibility of the NDIS is what makes it work. Inflexibility leads to inefficiency.
  • Accessing NDIS is already too hard. It should be easier, not harder.
  • The changes proposed will cut extensively justified, reasonable and necessary supports.
  • These decisions should not be made privately by the NDIS; they should go through the democratic process.
  • Reducing the power of tribunals to determine outcomes is not just.
  • Putting more work on carers and families will hurt vulnerable people.
  • Reducing community access funding curtails our human rights.
  • Assessment should be holistic and consider environment and circumstances.
  • The changes to plan reviews are not fit for purpose.
  • This deals with a very vulnerable population and needs to be done more slowly with real codesign.
  • I ask for the bill to be withdrawn.

Submission 2300

I am very grateful to have the NDS. I’m very upset that not all of my friends can access the NDs, even though they have similar disabilities and needs to me. It is already a nightmare to try and access NDI support, and I’m very scared about having it taken away from me.

We know that participant fraud is a tiny fraction of the cost of the NDIS, but these cuts propose to reduce the NDIS by much more than that. That means that things that people have a right to, that are reasonable and necessary supports, will be cut. This bill will force people to extensively justify all of their supports, but it also lets the Disability Minister cut funding by blanket percentages. If all these supports are justified, how is it fair for them to be cut? That will not reduce inefficiency and is deeply unfair.

Disabled people, like me, deserve to be treated like any other Australian. We deserve decisions about us being made by people, out in the open, with consultation from us – not behind the opaque processes of the NDIS’s rules and procedures. The NDIS should not be able to make those decisions without democratic input, as is being proposed. We deserve a democratic say.

One of my friends has had to go all the way to tribunal, and it was not easy to get there. Reducing the power of the tribunal to make decisions about what will happen is not fair. We deserve fair appeals processes. We also deserve to have important decisions about our supports to be made by people, not by computers.

Increased reliance on familial support has already killed people, and will hurt many, many more. I am an adult. I do not want my parents to be my carers. I have different religious and political beliefs to them, and I do not want to suppress those because I am scared of what will happen if I lose their support. Disabled adults deserve the freedom that non disabled adults get by default. It is also not fair to the parents. Carers are disproportionately women, and also disproportionately disabled themselves. These are some of the most vulnerable families in Australia, already struggling to cover the gaps that the NDs does not fill. Putting more work on them is NOT the solution. Going back to relying on this invisible, unpaid caring labour is not a fair or reasonable solution.

Reducing access to community is not the solution to cutting costs either. I thought we all realised that locking disabled people up in asylums was bad? Effectively locking people up in their houses is no better. Participation in society is a human right.

Disabled people are some of the most vulnerable people in society. Many of us are homeless or are in abusive environments, and we are disproportionally represented in the carceral system. So many parts of this bill:

  • not considering the potential increased effectiveness of higher cost supports when choosing which supports to fund
  • stricter record keeping and debt recovery procedures, when it is ALREADY difficult and confusing for self managed participants
  • taking people off the NDIS if they can’t respond within three months (even if they are homeless, or cannot speak English, or cannot get to their mailbox)
  • not including the impact of non-qualifying comorbidities
  • not looking at the effects of a person’s environment when assessing their capacity will all disproportionately impact the most vulnerable people in our country. We should be looking after them, not punishing them.

The proposed changes for assessment are also awful. Making people try every possible support before letting them on the NDs (even if those supports aren’t available in their area or are too expensive), and not considering the multiplicative impacts of comorbid conditions, will hurt so

Submission 2300

many people who desperately need support for their disabilities. It is ALREADY incredibly difficult to get onto the NDS, and this bill proposed to make it even more so. Also, these assessments might not take dynamic disability and fluctuating capacity into account. Just because someone can do something for one day, doesn’t mean they can do it every day forever. Especially carer tasks – caring for someone for one day is VERY DIFFERENT to doing it forever. Reducing how much we think about a person’s environment is also extremely worrying – people’s needs will be different depending on their circumstances. The social model of disability is very well established in disability rights literature now and it is very worrying that this is not being taken into account.

Another thing that is extremely poorly thought out about this bill is the reduced provisions for plan review/reassessment. In the five years since my NDIS plan was created, my situation has never changed suddenly and unexpectedly. However, over a long period of time, it has changed a lot! My needs and situation are very different now. Under the proposed new rules, I would not be able to get a plan review even though my needs are very different now and my plan might no longer be suitable.

There are so many other things I could mention, but those are the things I feel qualified to talk about from my lived experience. This bill is extremely concerning for me and my community, and I do not appreciate that we are being used as a political scapegoat.

Whoever reads this, I ask: please do not let this bill pass. It promises new systems without any way for us to know if they will be safe, or effective, or functional. It removes so many of the things that made the NDS a lifechanging, positive force. We deserve better than vague promises without enforcement. Changes need to happen slowly, with real consultation and co-design, and with care for the vulnerable people who will be killed by this bill if it passes.

As an NDIS participant, as someone who works in the disability sector, and as a citizen I ask for this bill to be withdrawn.