00:02This bill makes changes to access and eligibility that will remove hundreds of thousands of
00:09people with disability from the NDIS and it makes drastic cuts to support. So practically
00:15we think this will lead to crisis for many people with disability and those who support us. It will
00:22have profound impacts on people with disability who will lose essential supports that they need
00:28to live an ordinary life just like anyone would expect to and it will have impacts on unpaid carers
00:34who will take on additional care. We know that this will disproportionately affect women
00:40who already face barriers to accessing the scheme and who make up the majority of unpaid carers in
00:45this country. Yeah and so an element of this is significant cuts to people's social and community
00:50participation budgets. Just explain for the average person what that actually is who might not be aware
00:57of it and what effect will that have on participants? These cuts will take away funding from people
01:04with disability that people use to go to the doctor, to go to the supermarket, to get groceries,
01:10to go to work, to leave their home. These are critical supports that support people's participation
01:17in the community, that support health and safety. Importantly these cuts won't consider an individual's
01:23personal circumstances so they won't look at whether that person has any other way to leave the home or
01:29any other kinds of supports. So we think that these cuts will drive isolation which we know increases risk
01:37of violence. The Disability Royal Commission was really clear about that so that's a particular concern
01:42for our community, women with disability who already experience higher rates of violence.
01:47And what about the hundreds of thousands of people who are going to lose access to the scheme? That's
01:53what the government has made clear is going to happen. How do you feel about this new eligibility test
01:58that is being worked on now? We are incredibly concerned about the hundreds of thousands of people
02:05who will lose access to the scheme, particularly when there is currently no alternative system, nowhere else to go.
02:11We are concerned about a new eligibility test, increasing potential barriers for people trying
02:18to access the scheme, creating new hurdles for evidence that come at a great cost. Sometimes they
02:24will cost additional medical expenses that people don't have the resources to fund. And we know for our
02:31community that women already do not have equal access to the NDIS as it is. So additional barriers could lock
02:38more women out of support. And what about those concerns over the level of support that's going
02:43to be available outside the NDIS for people with disabilities once they're removed from the scheme
02:48and the coordination with the states? We know that alternative systems of support don't exist.
02:55They don't exist at scale. They don't exist in a nationally consistent way. So the government is saying
03:01that nobody will fall between the gaps between systems. The reality is that so many people in our
03:08community, particularly women and gender diverse people with disability are already falling through
03:13these gaps in the systems. And so we need to see commitments to comprehensive, nationally consistent
03:20supports available outside the NDIS. And I'm incredibly concerned that we will see people removed from the
03:26scheme before that is the case. Yeah. So despite the concerns about this, this is happening now, the
03:32legislation has been passed or is about to be passed. So what's your strategy with helping your
03:37members adapt to this over the coming year? So we'll primarily focus on getting information out to
03:45our community to understand the changes, understand what is happening and how that will affect them,
03:51as well as how they can get support. As a representative organisation, our job is to represent the
03:57priorities and the needs of our community. And women with disability have been telling governments for
04:02decades what a good disability support system looks like. So our role will be to making sure that those
04:08voices continue to be heard.
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