NDIS cuts protested at Melbourne rally

Hundreds gathered in Melbourne over the weekend to protest Labor’s proposed cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Rallies in every state and territory were organised by the Protect Our NDIS Alliance for a national day of action on Saturday, May 9.

Andrew Bretherton, convenor for the Accessible Victorian Greens and a person with ME/CFS, said the cuts would “lead to the deaths and the discrimination of a lot of disabled people”.

“It’s going to be Robodebt 2.0,” he said.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the reforms would cut 160,000 NDIS participants from the scheme over the next four years.

Butler said the cuts would save Australian taxpayers $35 billion by 2030, reduce fraud and “safeguard” the NDIS for future generations.

“These are hard decisions, but they’re unavoidable and urgent,” he said.

Bretherton criticised police violence at the protest.

Footage published by Green Left showed a police officer pushing a man on a pushbike to the ground, and police alleged the bike rider spat at police.

Police arrested a man who appeared to attempt to pull the police officer off the bike rider, and who police alleged tried to punch police.

The footage appeared to show police punching the arrested man in the footage.

Rallygoers shared State Library Victoria’s lawn with Falun Dafa practitioners and their marching band, who were celebrating the upcoming World Falun Dafa Day.

Another protestor was arrested after “yelling obscenities and being disruptive” when they heckled Victorian MP David Limbrick’s speech to the Falun Dafa gathering, according to a police report.

Both arrested protestors were released later.

Bretherton said he would believe Minister Mark Butler’s promise to cut fraud “if the policies actually targeted fraudsters and shonks”.

“The cuts are literally just removing people from the scheme and locking in the abuse and institutionalisation of disabled people.”

Butler told the National Press Club in Canberra last month that “you need more ID to get into a licensed club than to be an NDIS provider”.

The reforms he proposed would broaden mandatory registration for care providers to include “higher risk activities” like services provided behind closed doors and for daily living.

“We prefer unregistered providers because they’re cheaper, we can get to know them, they’re not bound by corporate bureaucracy, and it’s the big registered providers that are ripping us off the most,” Bretherton said.

Jeannie Erceg said the NDIS had been a “lifesaver” for her daughter, Jasmine, who has been on the scheme since its rollout in 2013.

She said the scheme funded occupational therapy and speech pathology for her daughter. 

“I can’t imagine her not being on it,” she said.

“Before the NDIS came along, I had no support for my daughter. I was a single mother with seven children.”

Erceg said the NDIS had changed everything.

“It meant that Jasmine had a life, and I actually had a life as well,” she said.

She said the government needed to target fraud, rather than people on the scheme.

Butler said people with disabilities and families on plans were not the target of the government’s plan to stop fraud.

“They are not doing anything wrong. The fraud in the NDIS is being perpetrated by lowlifes who are scamming both the taxpayer and people with disability,” he said.

Think tank Per Capita reported that every dollar spent on the NDIS returned $2.25 to the Australian economy in 2021.

“The NDIS produces a net benefit for the community,” Bretherton said.

He said the NDIS boosts the economy and supports local businesses by helping Australians with disabilities gain employment.

“What Labor hasn’t talked about is the economic cost of removing all of this money and all of these people from the scheme,” Bretherton said.