- by M Santos
- The Guardian
- Issue #2188
Photo: pickpik.com (public domain)
Weeks out from the federal budget the government has announced massive cuts to the NDIS that will throw an estimated 160,000 people off the scheme over the coming four years. A similar number who might have previously qualified will be ruled out as ineligible under new rules yet to be written.
The announcement was made by Health Minister Mark Butler in a speech to the National Press Club on 22 April.
The outcome will be devastating for those on the receiving end of the cuts.
Those lucky enough to remain participants will have their plans reassessed under new criteria over the next two years. At present the average plan spend is about $31,000. Butler said it will be cut back to $26,000.
Butler said the cuts, which start this October and continue over the next two years would have “a material impact on participant plans,” some of which he said will be reduced by as much as 50 per cent.
“Disabled people are now left dreading whether they will be one of the 160,000 people Labor plan to kick off the NDIS – because their disability is too invisible, or because a computer predicts they will be fine without supports,” Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said.
“These supports enable us to get out of bed in the morning, to connect with community and to avoid social isolation, and the government has announced it’s their intention to slash them.
“Labor is making these cuts because they believe we are an easy target. They are wrong. We are angry, we are organised, and we will fight back.”
At present there are 760,000 people on the NDIS. “While new eligibility rules need to be worked through, our initial modelling will see the number of people on the scheme reduce to around 600,000 by the end of the decade instead of growing to well over 900,000,” Butler said.
At the same time Butler says that under this plan, the NDIS will grow every year. That’s a bald-faced lie.
This approach, deciding how many people will be removed from the scheme or be prevented from joining it, is back to front. It is not based on needs, it’s based purely on how to cut spending by a certain amount of money. It is inhumane and contrary to the spirit and aims of the system which is supposed to be needs-based.
It’s even more outrageous that in the same week the government announced an additional $53 billion in spending on preparations to fight US imperialism’s illegal wars.
‘BLOWOUT’
Butler refers to the NDIS’s “unsustainable” growth and “blowout” in spending, saying the cuts are necessary to “salvage” the scheme. It cost just over $46 billion last year and has been growing at around 10% per annum.
Butler aims to slash that growth rate to 2 per cent on average across the next four years – less than half the inflation rate – cutting a whopping $35 billion in four years!
One area to be cut is the funding allocated to people through the “social and community participation” category of supports, which ranges from helping people build social skills to support workers who take them out for social engagement. This is a critical component of the NDIS.
Tightened eligibility criteria will make it harder for some people, particularly those with low to moderate support needs, to access funded supports. Children under nine with mild to moderate autism will be thrown off the scheme onto a new, meanly-funded Thriving Kids program.
The success of this program will depend largely on state support and the necessary infrastructure which currently does not exist and is under question.
RORTING & FRAUD
It is an understatement to say the system is being rorted. The paperwork is so complex that a layer of private advisors has grown up to assist people with applying for a place or completing repeated reviews. Thousands of dollars are wasted on unnecessary bureaucracy and the continual need to spend thousands of dollars on repeatedly proving you have a permanent condition.
In addition, because the scheme is privatised, profit is built into every service. The National Disability Insurance Agency produces a booklet of more than 100 pages listing payments providers can charge for services. For example, the hourly rate for support workers is more than $70 but many of the companies providing service might pay the support worker the minimum wage of just under $25. This is despite charging the person receiving the support $70.
While some of the providers are well known charitable organisations, a whole industry has sprung up with online platforms such as Hireup and Mable offering gig services under the NDIS.
The privatised nature of the NDIS has fuelled a highly profitable business that is easily rorted.
So, what does the government plan to do to tackle the scammers who are exploiting people with disability and taxpayers? There are a few token measures that will at best scratch the surface.
It is going to punish thousands of people who will be denied the support services that they require for daily living and participation in society.
If it were serious about ending the rorting and fraud it could save billions of dollars by nationalising the NDIS and thus removing the layers of profit and exploitation of workers and taxpayers.
SHADES OF ROBODEBT
While the new, tougher eligibility criteria are to be finalised, the basis of their calculation will be “functional capacity,” artificially ruling out consideration of diagnosis. Applicants will have to prove their disability is both permanent and substantially reduces their capacity to carry out everyday activities such as moving around, getting out of bed, eating and drinking, interacting with others.
There is nothing wrong with a shift to a more needs-based approach in itself, the concern is how these needs are measured.
These details are still to be worked out, but Butler has specified that the new test will be “standardised.” In such a context standardisation means opaque computer algorithms that mechanically apply fixed criteria to certain outcomes – a great tool that can be designed to rein in costs.
But people with disability or disabilities are humans, not machines, with complex requirements which algorithms often fail to give a full picture of needs. Such situations require human intervention.
WAR BUDGET
At the current (without cuts) rate of growth the NDIS is forecast to cost just over 2.1% of GDP by 2033-34 which is described as a “blowout” and “unsustainable.”
At the same time the government is pursuing massive increases in military spending with a target of 3% of GDP by 2033-34. The latest $53 billion is just the next instalment of many more to come.
It is absolutely shameful that the government is slashing the NDIS funding while pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into killing machines for the US and expanding its military bases in Australia.
The government expects the disabled, the aged, and the unemployed to subsidise tax cuts for the wealthy, fossil fuel subsidies for profit-gouging mining companies, and billions more for investors through negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions.
We elect governments to serve the people. It’s about time we had a progressive government with the courage to stand up to the parasitical corporations, and put people before profits. Such a government would nationalise the NDIS, cancel AUKUS, raise unemployment benefits and pensions, embark on a program of public housing and tax reform.
