An explosion of NDIS appeals against the Morrison Government has been revealed in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) annual report.
The 2020-21 AAT annual report revealed the NDIS division has seen:

• a 21% increase in appeals lodged since the last financial year
   
• a 77% increase in the number of cases that were not finalised by the end of the financial year, with 1,631 outstanding decisions
   
• the median time to finalise cases has blown out by 5 weeks to 23 weeks
  
  The explosion in appeals is being driven by ordinary Australians having to resort to taking their government to the AAT to get what they are legally entitled to – but being refused by sneaky Government NDIS cuts.

As a result, the AAT is becoming a battleground where the NDIA are hiring expensive private law firms to fight Australians with profound and severe disabilities who are simply seeking their rights under the Scheme.

Ninety-eight per cent of cases brought to the AAT are “finalised” without the AAT making a decision. This suggests the NDIA are almost always settling on the steps of the court when threatened with the umpire’s verdict.

The Morrison Government must explain the huge increase in appeals and the blow out in finalising cases.

The increase in AAT appeals is a symptom of the Morrison Government’s increasing attempts to cut the scheme by stealth by refusing supports or slashing plans.

The number of AAT cases as a proportion of NDIS participants has more than doubled from Jun 2020-Sept 2021.

The Morrison Government is doing everything in its power to slash the NDIS and cut the plans of people with disabilities.

Only a Labor Government will protect the NDIS and run it the way it was intended: to give people with disabilities choice and control over their own lives.