Penfold calls on Health Minister to provide certainty after NDIS cutback announcement

Federal Member for Lyne, Alison Penfold, has called on the Health Minister to urgently provide more detail and certainty to National Disability Insurance Scheme participants after the Government released details yesterday to cut 160,000 participants from NDIS.

 Ms Penfold said thousands of Australians living with disability, their families and carers were left anxious and confused after the announcement, with many still unclear about what supports may be reduced, delayed or removed altogether.

 “NDIS participants deserve clarity, not chaos,” Ms Penfold said.

 “Yesterday’s announcement has created real fear for many local people who rely on the Scheme every day for essential supports, therapies, equipment and independence.”

 “The Minister cannot simply announce cuts and then walk away while vulnerable Australians are left wondering how they will cope.”

 Ms Penfold said while all governments had a responsibility to ensure the long-term sustainability of the NDIS, reform must be fair, transparent and centred on participants—not driven by rushed savings measures.

 “No one disputes the need to make the NDIS sustainable for the long term, and the need to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in the system, but genuine participants must never become collateral damage in the Government’s budget repair exercise,” she said.

 “Families need certainty. Service providers need certainty. Participants need certainty.”

 Ms Penfold called on the Minister to immediately release full details of the changes, including:

 The draft legislation he intends to introduce in the parliament next month to enact the changes

• Who will be affected and what services and supports be cut or reduced.

• How decisions will be made as a result from the move away from diagnosis-based entry to functional capacity assessments, who will make them and will there be an appeal process

• What is the timeframe to complete a reassessment of every NDIS participant

• What transitional arrangements will apply.

• How regional participants will be protected from service gaps; and

• What supports will be available to those no longer eligible for the NDIS

 “In regional communities like Lyne, access to disability supports is already harder to secure. Any reduction in services or added uncertainty hits regional families even harder,” Ms Penfold said.

 “The Minister must come clean, provide the facts, and reassure Australians with disability that they will not be worse off.”

ENDS

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