Socialist Alliance: Labor’s budget a vicious attack on people with disabilities


“This budget means a vicious attack on people living with disability,” said Graham Matthews, the Socialist Alliance spokesperson on disability rights.  “Labor is smashing the future for some of the most disadvantaged, so it can avoid increasing taxes on the wealthy.”

Labor’s May 12 budget formalised the expected cut of $36.2 billion from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) over the next four years, but without providing detail.

“Labor has signed the death warrant for NDIS, but scheduled the execution for a later date, when they hope no one will be paying attention,” said Matthews. The cuts include slashing almost 700 staff positions, throwing 160,000 people who are currently NDIS participants off the scheme and denying access to an extra 140,000 who would be entitled under existing rules. “Standardised, evidenced-based assessments of functional capacity”: i.e. roboplanning will be introduced to both reduce access to the scheme, but also significantly reduced supports offered.

Critically, the 300,000 people who will be denied access to NDIS will be forced to rely on state-run schemes which do not yet exist. $2 billion will be set aside for the so-called Thriving Kids program to support children under nine years of age with autism, an additional $5 billion for Foundational Supports, which are expected to make provision for all those to be denied access to NDIS.

As People with Disability Australia Acting CEO Meagan Spindler-Smith has pointed out, the government has decided to reset social and community participation supports. 

“It’s heartless to cut supports we need to leave the house, work and study at a time when the cost of living has dramatically increased and alternatives are simply not there.”