The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Health Australia have urged the Australian Government to review its proposed changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme to ensure the most vulnerable are not left behind.
Chair of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service, Bishop Timothy Harris, said the NDIS Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill has been developed with inadequate consultation with the disability community.
“Those who are directly affected have not been adequately consulted on the most consequential features of this bill,” Bishop Harris said.
“A two-week consultation period was provided for the large-scale reform the bill is implementing, which is entirely inadequate.”
A Senate inquiry received thousands of submissions, mostly from advocacy and disability groups.
The bill aims to move more than 200,000 people off the scheme towards state-funded programs that are yet to be developed. It would provide the NDIS Minister with increased power to reduce funding for categories of support – in particular, social and community participation programs.
Catholic Health Australia (CHA) said no participants should be removed from the scheme before replacement services exist.
“We are calling for the Bill to be amended so that people’s support will not be cut off until an accessible alternative is genuinely in place,” CHA Director of Mission, Brigid Meney said.
CHA has also warned the reforms to allow funding for services to fall below the cost of operating them may force some providers to close, leading to a shortage of care.
“Allocating funding amounts that do not cover the cost of safe delivery will have serious unintended consequences, including forcing providers to exit the market,” Ms Meney said.
“Mission-driven providers, including our members, will try to absorb shortfalls for as long as they can because their values do not allow them to turn people away. But this cannot last forever.
“There is a real risk that people, often in regional and remote areas, are left with no service providers to call upon.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission and the NDIS Reform Advisory Committee have urged the government to slow down and rethink the bill.
“We urge the government to uphold the dignity of the human person,” Bishop Harris said.
“The most vulnerable in our community cannot be left behind or reduced to a cost measure.
“The Catholic Church’s teaching on subsidiarity and participation emphasises that people with disability have the right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
“A significant reduction in social and community participation supports has the potential to reduce inclusion and further marginalise people with disability.”
The bill also includes increased use of computer programs and provides the minister with the power to expand the use of this in the future.
In his recently released encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV warned that“it is necessary to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power”.
“The increased unregulated use of automated decision-making risks an imbalance of power and autonomy for people with disability,” Bishop Harris said.
The commission recommends further review and consultation with those the bill directly affects.