Media Release
May 2, 2014
Don’t mess with the NDIS
Down Syndrome Australia calls on the Premiers and Prime Minister not to delay the NDIS rollout and to
guarantee that funding based on the individual needs of people with disability will be honoured.
The NDIS is crucial for people with Down syndrome and their families across Australia, who expect that
their elected representatives will stand by their commitment to fund the support needs of people with
disability.
Every person with Down syndrome trying to work needs the NDIS to provide the supports to enable them
to get up, out the door and into jobs.
Every parent of a young or adult person with Down syndrome who wants to return to the workforce
cannot do so without the supports and services the NDIS will provide to their family member.
Any potential delay to the NDIS will also delay the 120,000 new front-line disability support jobs in nongovernment organisations – new productive employment – that the NDIS will generate.
Down Syndrome Australia agrees that the NDIS needs to be efficient and effective and notes that both
the Productivity Commission and economists have concluded that the benefits of the NDIS will exceed
the costs. However, the NDIS needs to be fully funded and delivered on time in order for the resulting
economic and social benefits to be enjoyed.
“The NDIS is a financial investment. It will benefit us all. Australia can’t NOT afford the NDIS,” said
Down Syndrome Australia CEO Catherine McAlpine. “We must continue as we set out so that the lives of
people with disability are improved, and for the scheme to deliver the benefits that it is designed to
provide as soon as possible.”
Down Syndrome Australia also calls on the Government to maintain the National Disability Insurance
Agency (NDIA) as an independent agency as recommended by the Productivity Commission to ensure that
it remains dedicated to the people it was designed to serve. “It is crucial that the independence of the
NDIA is preserved to ensure that the underpinning principles of choice and control are never watered
down” said Ms McAlpine
Media
Catherine McAlpine
CEO, Down Syndrome Australia
0419 530 524
www.downsyndrome.org.au