Cuts To NDIS Providers Isn’t Reform – It Just Hurts Our Region

OPINION PIECE By Federal Member for Dawson and Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability Andrew Willcox

It’s no secret that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is under financial pressure. Costs have ballooned, and participation rates are rising faster than anticipated. Reform is clearly needed. But how the government plans to tackle reforms is all cloak and dagger.

Before the May election, Labor stuck to its usual script, spruiking only they could be trusted with healthcare and made promises of no cuts to health. Yet just two months into a new term, Labor is making cuts to the NDIS and doing so without a clear plan or any consultation.

From July 1, funding cuts will reduce hourly rates paid via the NDIS scheme to Allied Health professionals and their travel allowances to visit patients for in home appointments halved. These cuts will hit regional and remote communities hardest. With zero foresight to the future of the sector they are down right cruel to providers, participants and their families.

As the Federal Member for Dawson, I’m deeply concerned about what this means for our region and other regional and remote communities across Australia.

Health professionals who travel long distances to support patients with disabilities may now face the difficult choice of no longer travelling for in home care appointments, or passing the extra travel costs onto their patients. Some may shut their doors altogether.

If help can’t travel, the burden falls on caregivers to get to the nearest provider, meaning more expenses, lost time, and the sacrifice of work and other commitments. Reducing access for mobility impaired people in this way will also shrink services in regional centres, like Mackay and Townsville.

These cuts have also been announced with next to no lead time, leaving many practices scrambling to find ways to keep skilled health professional employed and to remain viable. The shock to the system could result in many professionals working with mobility impaired patients leaving the sector.

The Australian Physiotherapy Association has called for an immediate reversal, warning the changes will mean fewer services, reduced hours, and worse outcomes. They say it will put more pressure onto an already strained hospital system. I support these views and call on the government to rethink their actions.

Reforms must start with identifying inefficiencies in the system, and tightening up eligibility criteria, not hitting those who do the valuable work and those that need the help most.

Labor says it wants to fix the NDIS, but cuts without strategy isn’t the answer.

The question remains, does Labor have a real plan to reform the NDIS, or are they simply cutting until the system collapses onto our public hospitals?

People with mobility impairments in regional areas should be a top priority, not collateral damage of the government’s pursuit of budget repair headlines.

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Federal Member for Dawson and Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability Andrew Willcox says cuts to NDIS could impact access to regional healthcare. Photo supplied

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