Written for St.Giles CEO Honni Pitt

Originally published in 2024 by The Examiner

 

Since its introduction in 2013, the NDIS has been a game changer for Australian’s living with disability, or to be more accurate, it’s been a game changer for some, not all, Australians living with disability.

 

Of the 4.4 million people in this country living with disability, less than 15% of them are eligible for NDIS funding.

 

Prior to 2013 the states funded many disability services, such as home and community care programs, and also the paediatric early intervention therapies St.Giles is well known for.

 

The NDIS has been instrumental in changing the outcomes of those in the scheme, however those on the outside have seen their access to foundational supports shrink as state governments wound back these services, expecting the NDIS to make up the difference.

 

Mainstream and foundational supports outside the NDIS have become inadequately funded.

 

For example, in the area of early childhood intervention – a key foundational support, the NDIS review states that one in five children were developmentally vulnerable by the time they reached school.

 

This lack of access to foundational supports means there are poorer outcomes for families and children.

 

Families who miss out, then seek access to the NDIS because there is no other funding available to their child, this in turn meaning more people are funded through the NDIS, further inflating the schemes budget.

 

The NDIS was never intended to provide services to all people with disability, but the gap in services available for those with and without NDIS funding is getting wider the longer these foundational supports remain underfunded, or simply not funded at all.

 

In the decade since the NDIS was introduced, total disability funding has risen from $8.2 billion in 2013 to $31.3 billion in 2021-22, however only $2.19 billion of the funding in 21-22 went to services and programs outside of the NDIS.

 

The federal government sat down in December 2023 with Premiers and Chief Ministers and reached an agreement to split funding between the States and the Commonwealth for foundational support costs.

 

In March those same Premiers and Chief Ministers met to ask the Federal government to delay and amend the laws required to overhaul the NDIS and set up these foundational supports, reportedly due to fears around cost blowouts and a lack of data at a state level hindering the ability to adequately cost these supports.

 

By focusing on costs, the state governments have lost sight of the goal of the changes; ensuring that those living with disability outside of the NDIS have the necessary supports to live their lives.

 

Now that the state and legislative council elections have been run, it’s time for Tasmania’s Government to get on with the task they’ve been elected to do – making sure that Tasmanians can live their best lives.

 

Backing these changes and making sure foundational supports are adequately funded would send a clear message that they do have the best interests of Tasmanians at heart.