Submission 2448
To begin with, I believe the NDIA’s budget blowout figures are incorrect. My son’s plan was supposed to be reviewed in November 2023. His total approved Improved Daily Living funding is January was $89,787.94. From Nov 2022 to January 2026, we spent $42,099.48. So, he has $47,688.46 to spend in less than 12 months. While we have had issues finding an occupational therapist after he aged out of ECEI, it is extremely unlikely we are going to use 245hrs of therapy in one year. And that’s just one funding area, he also has $11,000 remaining in Consumables funding. I would happily sit with a planner and discuss what my son needs, I would happily hand back funding we will never use. The problem for us, and I assume many others, is that we’re all too bloody scared that a review will result in all areas of funding being slashed. However, too many are going to suffer unless these issues are raised and addressed.
The NDIA, not participants, has continued to roll over plans for several years now. I can only assume this is because of backlogs and insufficient staffing. Whatever the reason, this falls on NDIA – not participants. The funding within those rollovers contribute to the ‘budget blowout’. I know of one participant with hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from a plan that has continued to roll over. The participant will never use this amount. They simply aren’t interested in anything. Yet their funding contributes to the NDIS budget. To put this in perspective, one participant’s excess funding could easily purchase 10 powered wheelchairs. I know of:
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participants over the age of eligibility who don’t have any diagnosis and don’t use their funding, but their plans just keep rolling over.
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participants who don’t use any CBD funding, so there are no recent reports and only Core funding is utilised for support workers.
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participants who simply don’t engage yet plans keep rolling over. NDIA has NOT done enough to address the current claimed budget blowout. Before making the drastic changes being suggested, they absolutely must look at their figures. They must start looking at plans that have significant amounts of funding not being used. Some may have justifiable reasons, for example, it’s almost impossible to engage an occupational therapist. However, there are absolutely participants who just don’t use their funding, I guarantee it. How many plans are being underspent, and by how much? Exactly how much money is sitting unused???
In addition, the continual refusal to fund items that aren’t ‘disability specific’. This is beyond comprehension. Instead of purchasing an item recommended by a therapist that might be around $500, NDIA planners want therapists to trial ‘disability specific’ products. One could argue that the $500 chair is disability specific as it meets the individual’s disability-related needs. It simply doesn’t make sense, a $500 OT recommended chair vs let’s say $1,500 ‘disability-specific’ chair. What this means is the product cost automatically triples AND the NDIA must cover the cost of the therapist’s time to conduct the trials and then to write a report, and the support coordinator’s time to write a report to submit the request for yet another review. On what planet is this value for money? What happened to cost efficiency? What happened to choice and control? The NDIA is making decisions that are contributing to the budget blowing out. Yet another example of how the NDIA has NOT done enough to address the current claimed budget blowout.
If the two reasons above are not enough; let’s add the insane cost of the tribunal. How much exactly is the NDIA spending arguing the approval of a $500 chair, or additional support for
Submission 2448
a participant who needs it. The NDIA requests reports from specialists and then not only ignores them but spends an absolute fortune arguing the matter further at the tribunal.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I’d almost say it’s a tactic. Roll over plans, deny necessary equipment, force the need for additional reports, blow out the budget, scare the public and you can make radical changes under the guise of ‘fixing the problem’.
So, despite being a huge contributor to the ‘budget blowout’ members of parliament and the NDIA want to punish participants. Cutting participants, reducing supports, and now talking about taking away choice and control by limiting support coordination and plan management to providers decided by NDIA.
Mark Butler and the NDIA are suggesting culling a huge number of participants. For the remaining participants Mark Butler and the NDIA are suggesting: -culling funding -reducing access to support workers -reducing access to the community -limiting choice and control to support coordinators -limiting choice and control to plan managers -forcing more pressure on families
My son has autism level 2, moderate intellectual disability, ADHD combined type, separation anxiety and general anxiety disorder. He is almost 16 but still wears pull-ups and continence underwear. His inability to recognise the need to go to the toilet is impacting on his kidneys. He can’t run his own bath or shower. He can’t count, he can’t add, divide or multiply, he can’t read a bus timetable, he can’t figure out how much change he should receive. This isn’t going to suddenly change; he isn’t going to wake up one day and magically know the answer to 10 +2. He can’t catch a bus on his own to go to the beach, he can’t go to the movies on his own like most other teenagers his age. He needs ongoing therapeutic supports, he needs support to access the community, why shouldn’t he be able to go to the shops or the beach or the park without his parents? BUT he falls into the category Mark Butler wants to cull – mild to moderate. Without support, there is an increased chance of my son relying on the government for the rest of his life. Not only will my son be reliant on the government, but it is highly likely our need will be bigger. If I (or my husband) have to reduce work hours further or give up work altogether, I lose out on super meaning I will be more reliant on the government – LOOK at the entire picture here. You are talking about limiting the lives of our most vulnerable, you are talking about restricting their access to the community, limiting their opportunity for a better future, making many housebound, ensuring their long-term reliance on Centrelink benefits, AND you are impacting their families, exhaustion, burnout, isolation, reduced income, reduced super, and an increased risk of reliance on Centrelink benefits.
This isn’t about securing the NDIS for future generations. This bill is about turning NDIS participants into scapegoats for the NDIA and the government’s failures. Mark Butler and the NDIA have not done enough to justify the suggested cuts. The NDIA needs to clean up its own act before attacking participant rights. To reiterate: -there are huge underspends in plans the NDIA keeps rolling over -the NDIA forces participants to purchase expensive ‘disability-specific’ products -the NDIA is wasting money on tribunal hearings when funding the support has been deemed reasonable and necessary AND would probably cost less than the lawyers engaged
Submission 2448
Finally, all of this could be resolved if the government properly taxed coal, gas and mining giants, big banks and the gambling industry.