To whom it may concern,

I am writing to express my significant concern about the proposed changes to NDIS legislation and to urge the Senate Committee to recommend to the Government not to proceed as planned.

My interest in the NDIS is as a family member of participants, provider of informal supports to friends with disability, and as an allied health practitioner who has worked in the disability sector for close to 40 years. My experience is greatest with people living with an intellectual disability and autism.

When the NDIS first came in I was a strong advocate for the move away from block funded services - the person centred philosophy and empowering intent informing the NDIS when the Gillard Government introduced the Scheme had my full support, and indeed, the NDIS has been life changing for so many people living with disability. I have seen within my family and with the many people I’ve worked with how powerful it has been to have the individualised support they’ve needed to live an ‘ordinary life’. Funding for supports that sets people up to thrive - and over time it may start to look like they don’t need this support, but in reality it is only this support that provides people with the ability and confidence to do the things in daily life that many others take for granted and to sustain their ‘ordinary’ life - I have seen again and again that withdrawal of supports quickly leads to an observable increase in isolation, anxiety, frustration and a general disintegration of a persons quality of life.

Community access funding is a great example - many of the people I have had contact need their current levels of support simply to experience social connection and engage in daily activities like shopping, personal business, medical appointments etc. For the Minister to make a blanket statement that community access supports will be cut by 50% reveals him to be totally out of touch with the permanent and ongoing support needs of people living with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders. A cut like this will be reckless and damaging - the NDIS needs to remain founded on the needs of individuals … individualised assessment of need that takes into account contextual issues, individualised planning decisions based on functional needs, and funding that optimises choice and control when accessing supports.

The proposed changes about ‘permanence’ also need to be reconsidered - if this change is endorsed, it will have a profound effect on so many people, particularly in regional and remote areas. I live in a regional area of NSW and it is simply not possible for people to access every treatment option in existence. This provision for NDIS eligibility MUST retain consideration of what treatment is reasonable for people to access, given their age, life circumstance and what’s available through the public health system in their local area. To do anything else immediately creates inequity, where people with wealth have more ready access the NDIS to the detriment of people with disability already living in poverty.

Yes they should make all reasonable efforts to access treatments - but if treatments are

• unaffordable or inaccessible, people with disability should not be disadvantaged in how they access the NDIS.

Above all else, the government needs to change their narrative about the NDIS - the narrative has unfortunately advocating the view that people with disability are a burden and there is a perception that the NDIS has become a welfare program. The NDIS was established as an investment … a way to enable people with disability and their carers to access jobs, housing and social connections with the level of support they need to live an ordinary life. Money spent on the NDIS multiplies as it comes back into the community - The benefits are both fiscal and less tangible in terms of the quality of life for people with disabilities and their carers. The benefits are very real though.

Please stop the changes proposed to the legislation - ensure the government authentically involves people with disability in the decisions about the NDIS that impact on them. Something definitely needs to be done about the levels of fraud and greater safeguards for how NDIS funding is spent - such as registration for all providers ….. but please, please leave eligibility, assessment and participant funding decisions alone.

People with disabilities are entitled to have access to the supports they need to live a life many of us consider ‘ordinary’. It’s so important this is upheld in legislation and any proposed changes need to uphold the original intent of the NDIS … choice, control, empowerment and inclusion are upheld.

Yours sincerely, Lynne Koerbin OAM