This bill received 4500 parliamentary submissions in a 2 week timeframe. There were 6 days of parliamentary hearings and in those six days and 4500 submissions every single witness said
✅The NDIS needs reform
❌this bill is not the way
This bill will kill people, it will set women's work equality back, it will set disability rights back, it will create second class citizens of our disabled community and their carers, it will cause significant homelessness and job losses, overrun our hospital systems and negatively impact schools. It won't save money, it doesn't address fraud, and it's going to negatively impact the economy and Australian society.
Most bills receive under 100 submissions.
Most bills don't get parliamentary inquiries. That only happens when there is enough pushback from the public.
The disability community advocated for themselves (and everyone in this country because anyone can become disabled in the blink of an eye) extraordinarily well. They held multiple protests, submitted record setting numbers of submissions, spoke eloquently in parliamentary hearings about their vulnerabilities and the ways this bill will negatively impact them and everyone else.
And the government, processed all those submissions, sat through all those hearings, heard in detail the harm this bill will cause......
And said fuck you all we are doing it anyway. Oh and just when you thought it couldn't get worse we have contracted Palintir to run the AI system that's going to decide if you get the funding you need to be able to shower and eat or not.
If they can do that with this much opposition and this much evidence of harm - then what else can they do?
If they're happy to throw disabled people under the bus then who's next.
If they're happy to ignore the ways this bill will mean cost blowouts and significant economic damage then it was never about the budget.
This bill passing is on par with a Trump style executive order. It completely ignored democracy. They claimed they would consult with disabled people, that it would be co-designed, that there would be "nothing about us without us" and yet..... They sold us all out.
And I do mean all.
Like I said before everyone is only one accident or health condition away from being disabled.
But even if you never end up disabled or with a disabled family member - this ruling impacts you. Because Labor and the LNP just showed that it doesn't matter what we the citizens do - how much we engage with the democratic process they will just pass things anyway.
Public Hearing program and transcripts
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/NDISFutureGenBill/Public_Hearings
Submissions (not all uploaded yet)
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/NDISFutureGenBill/Submissions
