When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was first conceptualised, it was intended to assist those with the most complex needs to receive the support, choice and control they needed to enjoy fulfilling lives. For hundreds of thousands of Australians with disability, it has achieved precisely that. Yet for years now, the NDIS has come under increasing attack and scrutiny for its rising costs, leading to calls for dramatic reforms and reductions in funding to ensure the Scheme’s longevity.
While Anglicare Australia understands the need to ensure that the NDIS is financially sustainable for generations to come and has supported much of the reform work to this point, it is critical that future reform not come at the expense of people with disability losing access to support. The NDIS’ founding promise would be fundamentally broken if people with disability were removed from the Scheme and given nowhere else to go.