QIDAN calls on the Government to pause the NDIS Bill and undertake genuine, co-designed consultation with people with disability, representative organisations, legal experts, and states and territories. In its current form, the Bill departs from the intent and direction of both the NDIS Review and the DRC. A pause is necessary to address the following critical issues:
- Introduction of a de facto means test through “appropriate treatment” that disregards cost, location and safety. Forcing unsafe pathways, increasing restrictive practices, and denying equitable access to the NDIS.
- Unclear and punitive revocation powers based on undefined “reasonable attempts” to contact individuals (proposed s 30(1A)).
- Unconditional ministerial powers without sufficient statutory constraints, parliamentary oversight, or individual review rights.
- Erosion of the whole of person approach risking fragmented supports.
- Ableist test on supports for children.
- Participants who seek a plan reassessment are often in crisis and need urgent support, not more bureaucratic and administrative processes
- Use of automated decision making must be explicitly aligned with the safeguards and precautionary principles identified by the Robodebt Royal Commission
- Absence of a coherent human rights framework to safeguard and promote fundamental human rights, leaving significant gaps in protection of people with disability without a Federal Human Rights Act.
Reform of this scale must be grounded in the evidence, recommendations and lived experience that informed the NDIS Review and the DRC.
We remain committed to working collaboratively with Government to ensure that any legislative changes strengthen, rather than undermine, the rights, safety, and inclusion of people with disability.
QIDAN endorses the Community legal sector statement on the NDIS Bill.
To learn more about the issues raised and QIDAN’s recommendations, read the full submission here.
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