The Australian Human Rights Commission has urged the Albanese government to pause its plan to cut more than $30 billion from the NDIS, arguing it\u2019s \u201cdismissing genuine concerns\u201d about process, accountability and the impact on participants and their families.<\/p>\n
It joins a long line of disability advocates<\/a>, peak bodies, participants, carers and state and territory governments<\/a> calling for the process to be slowed down, with the Commission noting the two-week consultation period was \u201cwholly inadequate for reforms of this scale\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone acknowledges the scheme needs reform to address fraud and market failures,\u201d said Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the government is dismissing genuine concerns<\/a> that their proposed changes will seriously erode the life-changing impact the scheme has delivered for hundreds of thousands of people with disability across Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n A Senate inquiry<\/a> into the proposed cuts received more than 4,500 submissions<\/a> during those two weeks and held its sixth and final public hearing last week.<\/p>\n Despite repeated warnings<\/a> from experts and harrowing evidence from participants and their families, Labor is pushing ahead<\/a> with the reforms in parliament this week, with NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister arguing there are \u201creal harms that arise from delay\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is too much fraud in the scheme, and every week that goes by, I see more and more money lost to fraudsters and shonks<\/a> that should be going to people with disability,\u201d she told News 24.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Coalition proposed a six-month delay to the legislation. We came to an agreement with the Greens for an eight-week delay. It\u2019s allowed extra scrutiny of the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s time for the Parliament to get onto this.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Commissioner Kayess said without proper scrutiny the changes could end up harming the very people the system was designed to support and protect.<\/p>\n \u201cMy colleagues and I have some very serious reservations about the process the government has taken to arrive at this point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been no formal response from the government to the NDIS Review and there\u2019s been no meaningful involvement and participation of people with disability in the design of the proposed reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n Advocacy group Every Australian Counts<\/a> is also pushing for a delay, with its independent chair Dr George Taleporos saying the Commission\u2019s intervention should be a \u201cturning point in the debate\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Australia\u2019s national human rights expert says this Bill should be paused, Parliament must listen. This confirms what people with disability have been saying from the beginning \u2013 this Bill is dangerous and our Parliament must vote against it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Evidence presented to the Senate inquiry showed that around 241,000 people would leave the scheme by 2031<\/a> as eligibility tightens, and over $37 billion is cut from the scheme over the\u00a0same four-year period.<\/a><\/p>\n Dr Taleporos described the bill as \u201cdangerous\u201d and warned it would give the government \u201cextraordinary new powers\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question senators need to ask is not just what this Government says it intends to do with these powers. They need to ask what the worst future government could legally do with them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill gives the power to governments to override our reasonable and necessary support needs by imposing across-the-board limits on funding and support arrangements that are not based on the individual needs of the person receiving support.\u201d<\/p>\n