The NDIA abandons best practice to save pennies in this blind man’s tribunal case
This legally blind man says the National Disability Insurance Agency doesn’t cooperate with people with disabilities. Instead it fights them.
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NDIS agency to spend $50m on lawyers to fight people with disability who appealed funding cuts
Critics argue this sets up a situation where people with disability and their advocates, often not lawyers, are pitted against solicitors from some of the country’s top firms. The $41m paid to private lawyers to defend the NDIA at the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) also pales in comparison to the funding provided to advocates and legal aid to assist people with disability in their appeals.
Melbourne woman with cerebral palsy fights to stay in her home after NDIS funding cut
In May last year Samar Bain, 33, moved into a new apartment provided by the NDIS’s specialist disability accommodation (SDA) program. The home, in Heidelberg in Melbourne’s north-east, gives her the freedom and independence she has long desired. But changes to her NDIS plan mean she faces being forced to move back into shared accommodation.
Just a year after a tribunal ruled in Jon’s favour his parents are again fighting NDIS cuts
“We went to the AAT last time to actually obtain adequate services for him. Then 12 months later, at the review, the services then deemed “reasonable and necessary” by the tribunal were slashed. We’re now looking ahead and saying does this have to happen every year?”
‘It literally breaks you’: fight for denied NDIS support dominates 23-year-old’s final months
Many have been forced to close their books. Waiting times for an AAT decision have blown out. “It’s more like civil litigation, going up against lawyers,” says Toby’s advocate, Belinda Horne, who notes she is not a trained lawyer. “Like if I had a broken arm, I could go to the doctor and show up. I don’t have to go to a solicitor.”
‘More stress, more waste’: The fight for the future of the NDIS
“We have to go for an internal review and if that’s not successful, we will have to go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. More costs, more stress, more waste, more cost to taxpayers to try and squash us, and more exhausting rage.”
Government agency accused of being ‘at war with those it should be supporting’ as appeals against NDIS cuts spike
Naomi Anderson, principal solicitor at Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service in Geelong, said calls to the practice about “significant and unexpected cuts” had ramped up over the last six to eight months. “We’re talking the Hunger Games, effectively, of who can highlight the most risks, who can explain the reason why they should be heard first, why they should have a directions hearing urgently so that their matter can be dealt with more quickly.”
Lawyers leave NDIS agency in droves as challenges to decisions double
Dozens of lawyers have quit the agency that runs the National Disability Insurance Scheme in recent months as the organisation comes under pressure for spending tens of millions of dollars on external legal fees fighting against its own clients.
Disability advocates forced to turn people away as appeals to NDIS cuts grow
For months now we’ve been hearing of stories of people on the NDIS who’ve had their support funding cut. That’s sent thousands to the appeals tribunal – where people with disability and their loved ones are often forced to go up against government employed barristers to plead for their funding to be reinstated. Disability advocates say there are now so many appeals cases – they’ve had to turn people who’d they’d usually be able to help, away.
NDIA scrutinised woman’s social media posts to challenge her eligibility, tribunal decision reveals
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) staff reviewed the social media accounts of a woman applying for the scheme and sent a report to a doctor engaged to provide an expert opinion, a tribunal decision reveals.
What we know about the NDIS cuts, and what they’ll mean for people with disability and their families
There has also been a large increase in the number of people disputing these decisions. Between July 2021 and January 2022, an extra 1,423 people with disability have asked the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review, a 400% increase in people disputing their NDIS plan.
AAT approve SDA: Second bedroom for single resident
Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) has gone through a period of significant change, particularly as to testing a participant’s eligibility. More participants are going through an already rigorous process, only for the Agency to add further scrutiny.
Legal challenges against NDIA decisions more than triple in five months
These appeals generally mean a person with disability has seen their funding package cut, a requested support has been denied or the agency has rejected their claim to join the scheme. Rachael Thompson, an advocate at the Rights Information Advocacy Centre, said there was total confusion in the community. “No one knows what’s going on,” Thompson said. “It’s seeming the NDIA are just choosing to ignore the recommendations from treating professionals, and only funding a quarter or half of what they’re requesting. People are being given explanations like, ‘It’s not value for money,’ [or] ‘We don’t have enough evidence.’”
Father of severely disabled woman dies, NDIA tells 86-year-old grandmother to look after her
Disability Advocacy Network Australia CEO Mary Mallett labelled the NDIA’s decision to deny Laura funding for supported accommodation as unfair. “It isn’t fair and … it is completely inappropriate that an 86-year-old grandmother should be expected to pick up the burden,” Ms Mallett said.
‘Brought me to tears’: family who won landmark NDIS challenge now face cut to support
In 2017 the McGarrigles, supported by Victoria Legal Aid, won a landmark case over NDIS transport funding that had implications for thousands of other participants. The agency appealed to the full bench of the federal court. Its appeal was dismissed. Fast forward four years later and the McGarrigles are once again at loggerheads with the agency.