5 years ago
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY NEED LEADERSHIP AND FUNDING - NOT ANOTHER REVIEW
BILL SHORTEN MP
In the last six years there have already been at least 20 federal reports and reviews into the NDIS.
The Government’s new review into NDIS waiting times is an acknowledgment that Minister Stuart Robert is floundering in his portfolios.
The complaints of NDIS participants facing delays in service and equipment delivery and chaos in their transport and accommodation arrangements have reached critical mass.
But in announcing a review that will report back in October - and a service guarantee not brought in until mid-2020 - the Government is simply kicking the can down the road and ensuring more months of dysfunction.
It is disingenuous for the Government to rip $1.6b out of the scheme, to impose a staffing cap and to preside over an executive exodus at the NDIA (which has been without a CEO for more than 100 days) and then to appoint an external investigator to propose solutions to their own mess.
But you don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.
The reality is a system with an underspend of $1.6 billion that is leaving people with disability and the people who care for them without the support they need.
The Liberals are deliberately underfunding the NDIS so they can prop up their budget position.
And they are doing it at the expense of Australians with disability and their families and carers.
They are balancing the books on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in the land.
Those people need leadership and funding not stunts and delaying tactics.
Here is a tip: Skip the review and just hire some more people to fix the waiting list.
The Government’s new review into NDIS waiting times is an acknowledgment that Minister Stuart Robert is floundering in his portfolios.
The complaints of NDIS participants facing delays in service and equipment delivery and chaos in their transport and accommodation arrangements have reached critical mass.
But in announcing a review that will report back in October - and a service guarantee not brought in until mid-2020 - the Government is simply kicking the can down the road and ensuring more months of dysfunction.
It is disingenuous for the Government to rip $1.6b out of the scheme, to impose a staffing cap and to preside over an executive exodus at the NDIA (which has been without a CEO for more than 100 days) and then to appoint an external investigator to propose solutions to their own mess.
But you don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.
The reality is a system with an underspend of $1.6 billion that is leaving people with disability and the people who care for them without the support they need.
The Liberals are deliberately underfunding the NDIS so they can prop up their budget position.
And they are doing it at the expense of Australians with disability and their families and carers.
They are balancing the books on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in the land.
Those people need leadership and funding not stunts and delaying tactics.
Here is a tip: Skip the review and just hire some more people to fix the waiting list.