Government and committee will have ‘blood on their hands’ over NDIS cuts, participant says

A Senate inquiry’s decision to back the Albanese government’s proposed NDIS overhaul has sparked outrage, with one participant warning the government and committee would have blood on their hands over deaths resulting from the changes.

Despite hearing repeated warnings from experts and harrowing evidence from participants and their families, the committee tasked with scrutinising the controversial reforms recommended the bill be passed.

“This inquiry has ruined my faith in parliamentary process,” said 27-year-old participant Jasmin from South Australia, who gave evidence during one of the six public hearings.

“When a Senate committee recommends passage after everything disabled people and our caregivers put in front of them, it teaches us that the outcome was decided before we even opened our mouths,” she said.

“When disabled people die as a result of these cuts, their blood will be on your hands.”

The Australian has reported that the Prime Minister and Opposition leader have struck “a rare Labor-Coalition agreement” to pass the legislation this week.

The reforms will see eligibility rules tightened and individual plan costs reduced to save more than $36 billion over the next four years.

Disability advocates, peak bodies, human rights commissioners and members of the crossbench have raised serious concerns about the overhaul, arguing it “goes too far, too fast”.

“Watching the committee recommend the Bill pass anyway tells me they had no intentions of listening to us, but rather, giving the illusion of listening to save face,” said Jasmin.

The committee’s recommendation wasn’t unanimous, with the Greens and independent senator David Pocock issuing dissenting reports and calling for the legislation to be rejected.

Greens spokesperson for the NDIS, Jordon Steele-John warned the changes will cause “serious harm” to participants and their families.

“Disabled people have been subjected to months of public debate about the value of their lives and the supports they rely on,” he said.

“They deserve to be listened to, not treated as a budget problem.”

Independent senator David Pocock said he supported the “general architecture” of the reforms and said NDIS providers and participants acknowledged that the scheme “needs to change” to address issues around fraud, poor-quality services, inconsistent decisions and gaps in accountability.

However, he raised two key objections – the “power to impose blunt, indiscriminate reductions” to Social, Community and Civic Participation (SCCP) and the “breadth of automated decision-making” authorised by the bill.

Senator Pocock and the Greens have called for the cuts to, at the least, be delayed until other supports can be set up.

The Australia Institute said the cuts were a “poor reflection of our national character”.

It estimates cuts to social and community participation supports could result in the loss of 51,641 full-time equivalent jobs, representing almost 94 million hours of work.

“The cuts to the NDIS are deep and brutal, revealing in a truly stark fashion what happens when a government chooses the profits of gas companies over the lives of Australians,” said Greg Jericho, chief economist at the Australia Institute.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has argued the reforms are to “save the NDIS from itself”, while Health Minister Mark Butler told the National Press Club in April that the scheme costs too much and is growing too fast”.

However, the Australia Institute said the government’s case for the cuts was false, pointing to another source of revenue that would ease pressure on the system.

“A 25 per cent tax on gas exports would raise $31.8 billion over the next four years,” said Mr Jericho.

Over the same four years, it projects $46 billion will be spent on providing fuel tax credits, including about $22 billion for the mining industry.

By 2031, there will be around 160,000 fewer people on the scheme than there are today, with Mr Jericho arguing the care needs of those Australians won’t simply disappear.

“They will be merely forced onto the families of those whose coverage has been lost- either in terms of out-of-pocket expenses for care, or in the time family members will be required to undertake to replace the care currently done within the NDIS,” he said.

Jasmin said the committee’s recommendation had left her questioning whether participants had ever really been heard.

“Is engaging with government even worth the emotional cost if they were never going to listen in the first place?” she questioned.