West Australians with a disability and their families fought long and hard for a real National Disability Insurance Scheme and we're not about to lose it now. We lobbied for a scheme that would deliver supports, services and real choice and control to people with disability and their families living across Australia.
Some of the most prominent campaigners for an NDIS were West Australians, who believed in the model developed by people with disability, their families and the broader disability sector. You can read about the history of the fight for an NDIS here. Now we're embarking on a different fight - the fight to not be disadvantaged in comparison to other Australians with disability. Make your voice heard by using our tools below. |
We need every disabled voice in WA to make contact with their local members of Parliament, no matter who they are.
Write your own letter or use our template - you can download it here. Ask for an urgent meeting and tell them your story. Take along our 'cheat sheet' and tell them that people with disability must be involved in the design and decision making around a new disability scheme in Western Australia. It's not fair if we're worse off than other Australians. We want to see the model and find out if it will work for us and address the significant issues identified by people with disability and their families during the trial period. To find your local member and their contact details, click here and go to the box on the right that says 'find your local member'. The letter is as follows - Dear (MPs name) You are my local member of Parliament, and I am writing to you to ask for your urgent help. (Optional: a little background about yourself/family member) As you know, we've been running two trials for the State based WA NDIS and another for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which has rolled out across every State in this country - except ours. Our State contended that we could do things far better because we had a 'proven track record' of excellence. You might like to read a Senate report named 'Client driven - or driven to despair?', to understand just how 'excellent' this system is. Over the past two years, West Australians with disability and their families have raised concerns about the details of both schemes. The response of the WA Government is that they will be taking the ‘best bits’ out of both schemes to make something way better. In early December, there was an announcement that the WA government had struck an in principle, pre bilateral deal with Christian Porter and the Federal government, to let WA run its own scheme. That makes us the only state that won’t be part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This deal was made without a single disabled person or sector representative ever sighting the evaluation, model or details - and with serious issues of concern around operational differences between the two schemes. Worse, there is financial incentivising in the deal for disabled people and their families to be significantly worse off. Disabled people will be heavily restricted around choice and control as the model is fundamentally different from the federal model. We will be worse off and what this effectively means is that we will potentially have the worst disability scheme in Australia. Nobody is talking about this. Nobody is talking about the fact that there is no NDIS money in the State budget. Nobody is talking about the fact that a State run scheme will remove the certainty that we fought for. Nobody is talking about the differences between the schemes, the lack of transparency and accountability and most certainly nobody is releasing the costs of the top heavy and expensive LAC system, despite numerous requests - the State has agreed to pay for this. But at what cost to us, and to the taxpayer? We should be examining these costs very carefully, to see whether it represents good value for money. The draft legislation is being developed behind closed doors. I am worried that this model may leave us worse off than other Australians and I strongly believe that people with disability and their families should be involved in co-designing any disability scheme that will impact upon our lives. We need to make sure that this is a scheme that works for people with disability and their families, not just providers and governments. We need to see the proposed model and for government to behave transparently and with accountability. We need to be actively involved in making the decisions that will affect our future. In short, we need to make sure that this is the NDIS that we fought for and not a second rate copy that may potentially leave us with the worst disability scheme in Australia. Many of us are living in crisis. Please urgently intervene to ensure we are able to see and have feedback on the model before the bilateral is signed, acquire a guarantee that we won't be worse off than other Australians and help us make a scheme that is good for us, not just for providers and governments. I am writing to ask for your urgent leadership and action on this matter and I am happy to meet with you to tell you about my circumstances and why this is important to me. We are asking decision makers to commit to and lobby for a transparent and accountable process and a model which is co-designed with the people who will be most affected by this scheme – us. Western Australians with disability are counting on you and your party to make sure that we are supported and are not worse off than other Australians. Regards, (Your Name) If you feel passionately about not being worse off, you can start your own petition or join in with some of the existing petitions - like this one, to Minister Donna Faragher.
Bethany started this petition because she's passionate about the Federal NDIS - the focus on choice and control and early intervention has helped her daughter come ahead in leaps and bounds. Over four and a half thousand people have signed the petition in a few short weeks. We want an NDIS that won't leave us worse off than other Australians with disability! You can sign Bethany's petition by clicking here. Image description: Bethany Nakoi and her daughter Rose |
Get creative by sending your old mobility equipment, your wishlist of essential services and/or your personal story to your local decision maker, wrapped up in our 'I <3 ndis' gift wrapping!
We're sending ours to the Minister - here's her address. The Hon Donna Faragher MLC - Ground Floor 108 Swan Street GUILDFORD WA 6055 or 7th Floor, Dumas House 2 Havelock Street WEST PERTH WA 6005 Ph: (08) 6552 5300 Fax: (08) 6552 5301 You can also email Donna your Christmas greeting below. Email: [email protected] Click here or right click below to download our I <3 NDIS wrapping paper - you can print at Officeworks at A3 size or at home on your A4 printer.
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