Key Points
- Some disability rights advocates have expressed their concern about the government's NDIS spending cap.
- Kristin O'Connell only just got her NDIS funding reinstated. Now, she feels like it will be taken away again.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended the announcement, refusing to describe the spending cap as a "cut".
Kristin O'Connell is waiting for the day her disability support will be snatched away from her.
"When you interact with the welfare system, you are trained to feel that it's designed to hurt you and when you have a positive outcome, you just feel that it can never last," she told SBS News.
At 32, Ms O'Connell was diagnosed with and started receiving support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) two years later.
Earlier this month, she won a legal battle against the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) - which controls the NDIS - after it slashed the number of psychologist appointments she could have by 75 per cent.
In a submission to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the NDIA said that Ms O'Connell's psychologist's recommendation of 48 hourly appointments a year was not "value for money".
"After my first case conference, I very quickly got a letter from the NDIA lawyer saying that they were fully reinstating all of my reports," she said.
"It was an enormous relief, but it made me so angry ... there are hundreds of thousands of people in this scheme who deserve their support just as much as I do and aren't equipped to fight in the same way.
But the federal government's decision to place a spending cap on the NDIS has left her afraid that cuts are looming - and her funding will again be on the chopping block.
Following national cabinet discussions on Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the government would implement an "annual growth target" of 8 per cent for the total cost of the scheme by 2026.
The current rate of growth of the scheme is around 14 per cent a year.
The disability scheme is set to be one of the federal government's biggest budget expenses, with NDIS Minister Bill Shorten pledging to invest more than $720 million in the NDIA over four years from 2023-24.
Earlier this month, Mr Shorten alluded to an overhaul of the scheme to better assist the recipients.
There have been no details yet about how the spending will be capped - and it's prompted concern that fewer applicants will be approved onto the NDIS, or existing recipients will have their plans axed, like Ms O'Connell.
"It makes me feel scared for everyone around me. But it also makes me feel like it seems inevitable that they will find a way to cut me off," Ms O'Connell said.
"I will never feel confident that my future will improve or even feel as stable as my life does right now."
Mr Albanese defended the spending cap decision that he described as "sustainable".
"No one is talking about any cuts here, we're talking about growth of eight per cent annual," he told reporters on Saturday.
"We want to make sure that everyone who needs support is getting it, but we want to make sure as well, that every dollar that is put into the scheme is making a positive difference."
Ms O'Connell lashed the scheme as a "masterclass in absolute cognitive dissonance and brand management".
"Sustainable for who? Because restricting access to NDIS support is not sustainable for disabled people who need it," she said.
CEO of Disability Advocacy Network Australia Jeff Smith said the announcement represents a cap on NDIS funding and has "sideswiped" NDIS recipients.
"What this means is that there will be unknown cuts to the provision of services to people with disability, but we don't know more than that because it hasn't been explained," he said.
"A cap puts an arbitrary limit on how Australia is going to meet the needs of people with disability, and we don't think that is the way to go."
Independent Chair of Every Australian Counts Dr George Taleporos said the announcement would leave people with disabilities and families around the country "feeling very anxious".
"The government and the community need to understand that the NDIS is an investment, not a frivolous expense," he said.
"It provides life-saving and life-changing supports that are essential for Australians with disabilities to live a good life in the community."
But Ross Joyce, the CEO of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO), cautiously welcomed the announcement, hoping it would provide "greater certainty" that the NDIS is sustainable.
"NDIS participants and their families need confidence that our Scheme is supported by all levels of government now and into the future," he said.
"The advice that the state and territory governments will also further contribute to the Scheme is a good outcome and demonstrates the value that it has and continues to deliver."
