Disability advocates have welcomed a pause to a bill paving the way for the biggest-ever cuts to the NDIS, after a “ridiculous and disrespectful” Senate inquiry into the proposed overhaul of the scheme was given an eight-week extension.
A deal struck today between the Albanese government and Greens saw the Labor-led Senate inquiry into the NDIS cuts extended until August 14 in exchange for the minor party’s support for tax reform. Several amendments to the bill were also agreed to.
The Senate inquiry had been scheduled to hand down its final report today, after being postponed twice last week so the committee could consider more evidence.
The inquiry received more than 4,000 public submissions despite being open to feedback for just over a fortnight, and spent three days of public hearings this month listening to concerns from across the disability sector.
The changes would see more than 200,000 people removed from the NDIS over four years, officials told the inquiry, saving about $38 billion over that time.
The Albanese government says the changes are needed to slow the rapid growth of the now-$50 billion NDIS, crack down on fraud and restore the scheme’s “social licence”, though critics say the cuts are dangerous and will hurt already vulnerable people.
George Taleporos has welcomed the eight-week extension to the inquiry. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
Chair of advocacy group Every Australian Counts, George Taleporos, said it was critical the bill now got “the proper scrutiny it always deserved”.
“It should never have taken this much pressure to get more time. Giving people with disability and our families just two weeks to respond to a bill that would reshape the future of the NDIS was ridiculous and disrespectful,” he said.
“This bill poses serious risks to our essential supports and will cause harm.”
Among the amendments that have been secured, according to the Greens, are a softening of sweeping ministerial powers and more transparency around automated decision-making.
Despite the amendments, the Greens will continue to oppose the bill.
Women with Disability Australia (WWDA) CEO Sophie Cusworth welcomed the extension and said it must be used for “genuine consultation” with people with disability, not simply to make minor changes.
“The [amendments] … do not resolve WWDA’s broader concerns about the bill. The central issue is whether these reforms will make it harder for people with disability to access the supports they need to live safely and independently,” she said.
“Significant cuts to the NDIS and participants’ supports will never be safe policy unless there are strong, accessible and properly funded alternatives in place.”
Critics of the cuts say they are dangerous and will hurt already vulnerable people. (ABC News: Ashleigh Barraclough)
Australian Autism Alliance co-chair Jenny Karavolos said it was “better to spend another eight weeks getting reform right, than spend the next decade fixing avoidable mistakes”.
“The next eight weeks should not simply be about reviewing legislation; they should be about demonstrating that the systems people will rely upon are genuinely ready,” she said.
Mark Butler says the extension will help the government “dispel some of the misapprehensions” around the NDIS cuts. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Federal minister Mark Butler has previously said a 12-month delay on the NDIS bill would see $17 billion in savings lost.
He told reporters today the proposed changes remained “absolutely the right package for the NDIS”.
Mr Butler said the government would spend the next eight weeks continuing to smooth rocky relations with the states and territories, who will take responsibility for those shifted off the NDIS, and “dispel some of the misapprehensions” around the bill.
He rejected concerns that repeatedly came up during the inquiry’s public hearings that people would die because of the overhaul.
“These are big and confronting changes for participants, and a lot of the evidence has reflected that degree of anxiety that I always expected would be there within the disability community,” Mr Butler said.
“It is hard reform but I’m not going to sugar-coat the fact that big change needs to happen to the NDIS.”
The NDIS, which is currently undergoing its biggest period of change since its inception, now supports more than 774,000 participants.
It is growing at 11.3 per cent annually, down from 22 per cent when Labor was elected in 2022.
Earlier this year, national cabinet agreed to limit annual growth to at least 5-6 per cent.
‘National emergency in the making’
Meanwhile, NDIS providers and allied health professionals have hit out at new caps for how much they can charge during the next financial year.
Yesterday saw the release of the NDIS’s annual pricing review, which dictates the maximum amount providers can bill the scheme for a service.
Occupational Therapy Australia said the decision to freeze the standard hourly cap for an OT at $193.99 represented a “national health emergency in the making”.
“This decision will push clinicians out of the scheme, and Australians living with disability will be the ones who ultimately pay the price,” CEO Samantha Hunter said.
“When people with disability cannot access the essential care they need, the long-term harm is profound and will far outweigh any immediate, short-term budget relief.”
Speech pathologists and physiotherapists have also seen a freeze, while psychologists have seen a $20 increase to $252.99 an hour and dieticians a $10 reduction to $178.99 an hour.
If passed, the NDIS bill would grant the federal minister powers to make their own pricing determinations, adding further complexity to the system.
National Disability Services, the peak body for providers, was concerned therapy prices had not risen for the seventh consecutive year, and the changes overall would exacerbate financial strain across the sector.
CEO Michael Perusco said how the pricing announcement interacted with other NDIS changes in the works would be crucial to the future of the industry.
“The reform agenda presents significant risks for quality providers in the short to medium term. Without further action, provider withdrawals, reduced service availability and downstream costs for government will increase.”
