In the middle of a global pandemic and with the country facing the worst economic crisis in more than a generation, the NDIS was never going to be a headline feature of this year’s Federal Budget.
Yesterday the Community Affairs Estimates Committee had their first hearing for the year. This is the Committee that oversees the important portfolios of health, disability and social services in the Federal government.
When the government announced recently that the NDIS was underspent last year by a whopping $4.6 billion, a shockwave of anger and frustration ran through people with disability and their families.
Yesterday you will have seen that the final budget figures for 2018/19 were released. And they confirmed what we have all known for some time – that the NDIS is underspent by about $4.6 billion.
Tonight’s announcement by Treasurer Frydenberg of more than $500 million being set aside for a Royal Commission into the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disability, has left disability advocates overjoyed.