NDIS Review
NDIS Review has Participants and People with Disability on Edge
- By the Specialist Reporting Team’s Evan Young and national disability affairs reporter Nas Campanella
- Posted Fri 30 Jun 2023
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has improved hundreds of thousands of lives across Australia.
However, there have been complaints about bureaucracy, inequality, a lack of transparency around decision making and more for years.
That led to a wide-ranging review of the scheme. It has sought input from thousands of people, but also left some participants nervous about how the scheme might change.
Financial Sustainability
The NDIS currently supports nearly 600,000 participants. Annual spending on the NDIS has reached $35 billion.
At the current growth rate of around 14 per cent each year, spending is projected to reach $97 billion by 2032-33.
The authors of the report emphasised the difficulty of balancing the needs of people with disability with the scheme’s finances.
“The NDIS is an uncapped, needs-based scheme. However, the NDIS must also be sustainable and its costs predictable for governments and the public. It also must provide certainty for participants and their families.”
What’s Next?
The review will make its final report in October.
But before then, now key areas for reform have been identified, the report’s authors want feedback from the Australian public, especially people with disability.
“We need your help again,” they said.
“Together, we can get the scheme we fought for back on track.”
- To give your feedback you can visit ndisreview.gov.au.
Submissions close on August 25 2023.