With the 2024 Paralympics on the horizon, I have been thinking about the recent headlines and commentary on the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the way the cost of the program is so often framed. or signup to continue reading On Sunday night, I read a particularly shocking post on Twitter/X that stated "#NDIS to cost $100b, exceeding the pension: #Unsustainable. Australia has become a welfare state, Govt [sic] producing low productivity, woke policies, pandering to minority groups, gross wasting of taxpayer monies & home grown sustained high inflation.
" This raised a number of issues for me and connected with several of the mainstream headlines I'd read over recent weeks. economics editor wrote in June that the NDIS is a "taxpayer sinkhole", having the program as demonstrative of a "lack of respect for taxpayer money in modern politics", inferring that Australia was becoming a welfare state in the likeness of the "European welfare states of Iceland, Finland and Sweden". Kehoe lays the blame of the "cost blowout" on more enrolments from children with autism and development delays, with "incredibly, some 12 per cent of boys aged 5-7 [being] on the NDIS".
With the unemployment rate in Australia holding at 4 per cent, it appears that the "dole-bludger" stereotype is being temporarily shelved and the new target for "the majority group" - or the privileged many as they could be also referred to - is the NDIS recipient. I cannot think of a more deserving member of Australian society for such a mantle (insert eyeroll here). The main source of concern with the NDIS is providers defrauding the system.
But the Labor government appears to be focusing its approach on trying to reduce growth by further restricting program enrolment and making it harder for people to access supports via stricter personal budget control. In a global comparison, Australia is among the biggest spenders on disability. But instead of seeing this as a great, empowering thing, Kehoe argues this is disrespectful of the Australians paying net tax, drawing attention to the fact that "almost half of adults pay no net tax, after allowing for government transfer benefits".
I don't know about you, but I'm getting mighty sick of people with platforms - be it in government, or the media - pitting "the haves" against "the have nots" or as Scott Morrison famously put it, "the taxed and the taxed-nots". Greg Jericho rightly in 2016 that this narrative undermines "the voice of the poorest in order to reduce welfare spending and lower taxes for the wealthy". Now, the same argument is being used to attack support for our vulnerable community members living with disabilities.
In my opinion, it's lazy commentary that leans into the biases and prejudices of Australians who used to represent a nation that loved an underdog and that didn't leave their fellow Australians behind. But now we seem to enjoy our society's leaders egging us on to punch down so much that we don't even notice that more than enjoyed lives of luxury without paying a cent of tax in the 2022 financial year. I guess they don't count as they are both "the haves" and "the taxed-nots".
We also forget that without the NDIS, 12 per cent of boys still have autism, but many of them would be without the early interventions that will likely lead to improved educational and employment outcomes. We forget that access to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology, behavioural therapy, social programs, career programs, etc, are not luxuries for people to take advantage of. They are essential services that help participants to contribute to society and the economy.
Furthermore, they are essential services that are often inaccessible to NDIS participants without the funding available through the program. So if you are one of the people who believes the NDIS is just for " " who exploit the NDIS "to pay for drugs, luxury holidays and cars", perhaps it's time for fresh perspective. Afterall, there are worse places to emulate than Iceland, Finland and Sweden: three of the higher scoring countries on the happiness scale in the world.
Cost of a psychology session: $300 Cost of an occupational therapy assessment: $435 Cost of reducing access to life-changing services because service providers are rorting the system: absolutely freaking priceless. Zoë Wundenberg is a careers consultant and un/employment advocate at impressability.com.
au, and a regular columnist for ACM. Zoë Wundenberg is a careers consultant and un/employment advocate at impressability.com.
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