Disability advocacy groups warn funding withdrawal may force them to close
Disability advocacy groups facing huge cuts in New South Wales say the state government is continuing to deflect responsibility for their funding, despite a productivity commission finding to the contrary.
IDEAS, an information and advocacy service for people with a disability, is warning it may be forced to close its doors if the planned withdrawal of NSW funding goes ahead.
The NSW government is putting the responsibility for disability advocacy with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
It has created a paradoxical situation. The NDIS, designed to empower people with a disability, is leading to a loss of funding for groups that provide crucial information and assistance, and advocate on their behalf.
The funding reduction also comes at a pivotal period of disruption in the disability sector, when information and support are most needed.
The Productivity Commission last month recommended state governments maintain their funding to advocacy groups.
But the IDEAS chief executive, Diana Palmer, said the commission’s recommendation was being ignored by the state government. Palmer said she met with the NSW disability minister, Ray Williams, after the commission’s report, but he still has not changed his stance.
“We met with the state minister the day of, or the day after that report came out, and we did cite that report to him, and he had no comment,” Palmer said.
About 95% of IDEAS’ funding comes from the state government.
The database and knowledge management coordinator, Kate Galloway, joined the organisation fulltime in June. Galloway, who was diagnosed with macular degeneration eight years ago, said she and her staff were worried about the future.
“We’ve all got families to feed,” she said. “There are single people who work here who have disability. They find it hard to gain meaningful employment.”
Williams said he recognised the NDIS move was a period of change for people with a disability and service providers.
“That is why the commonwealth will provide around $130m each year to connect people with a disability to support services,” he said. “The funding is on top of the $10.6m the NSW government has provided for advocacy services during the transition to the full scheme.
“As a result, there will be more funding available for disability advocacy services than ever before.”
IDEAS is one of 50 groups in NSW alone threatened by the move to the NDIS.
The loss of the advocacy groups is expected to leave significant gaps in representation for people with a disability.
Many of the groups have a significant level of corporate knowledge and built-up experience in dealing with the disability sector.
Palmer said the need for information and advocacy had been growing as the NDIS rollout picked up pace.
“The NDIS is the biggest social reform since Medicare. To think they can do it without information and advocacy support … is just ludicrous really,” she said.
“People have been needing more information and advocacy to help them transition to the new scheme.”