The Australian Human Rights Commission has sounded the alarm over Labor's new laws governing the National Disability Insurance Scheme, warning they risk compromising the rights of disabled people. The commission's Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Rosemary Kayess, signed a submission to a Senate inquiry expressing 'serious concerns' about the laws.
The submission warns that the laws risk taking Australia backward when it comes to realising disabled people's rights to independent living, personal autonomy, and community inclusion. It specifically cites the two-week consultation period as 'wholly inadequate for reforms of this scale, which have significant implications for people's rights, lives, and livelihoods.'
The commission also warns that the laws risk breaching recommendations of the disability royal commission by giving the minister sweeping powers to cut funding or therapy hours across entire sections of the scheme, regardless of individuals' assessed needs. According to departmental modelling, the laws will remove 240,000 people from the scheme from January 2028, which seeks to curb growth in the $56 billion scheme and limit access to people with the most severe disabilities.
Labor's laws will restrict who can join the NDIS according to a much narrower definition of 'functional capacity', which will require people to have exhausted all other treatment options before they are considered permanently impaired and eligible to enter the scheme. This is a significant change, as it will limit access to the scheme for those who need it most.
The commission said there is limited clarity about how ministerial decisions will be made and very few options to review or challenge them, creating a lack of public accountability and compromising people's ability to access justice. They also express concern that ministerial powers will be too broad and not transparent enough.
The laws will also standardise service delivery – in part a response to thousands of private providers who have flooded the scheme. However this change is seen as reinforcing an ableist framing of people with disability as a cost pressure to be managed, rather than as people who have rights and who are entitled to equality and participation.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has called for the bill to be slowed down, warning that it creates a clear risk of adverse and unintended human rights impacts. The government is seeking the Coalition's support to pass the laws by the end of June, so it can execute plans to cut $38 billion in projected spending within four years as a major budget savings measure.
Disability advocacy groups are also pushing the case that the laws risk breaching recommendations of the disability royal commission because they give the minister sweeping powers to cut funding or therapy hours across entire sections of the scheme, regardless of individuals' assessed needs. This power grab is seen as undermining the principles of co-design and co-creation that are essential to the NDIS.
Labor's laws building on consultations with the disability community through the 2023 NDIS review and other inquiries. However, Rosemary Kayess said there was little evidence that there had been targeted consultation about the bill's specific measures. Instead it appears the government is rushing through the bill, ignoring expert advice.
Issues were also raised with the sweeping new ministerial powers that will be introduced under the laws, including the lack of clarity about how such decisions will be made and few options to review or challenge them. This lack of transparency and accountability is a major concern for disability advocates.
The NDIS was established in 2013 to provide support to disabled Australians, with the aim of providing them with the means to live independently. The scheme is funded by the Australian government and has grown significantly since its inception, with participation numbers swelling to 775,000 as unforeseen numbers of children and people with autism have joined. This growth has added urgency for the government to curb the scheme's expenses, with Labor’s laws seeking to limit access to people with the most severe disabilities.
However, disability advocates argue that this approach is misguided and will only make things worse for people with disabilities. By limiting access to the scheme, the government will be taking away the support and services that people with disabilities desperately need to live independently.