The Morrison Government rewrote an ‘independent’ review of the NDIS to ensure it was able to cut services for people with a disability and force them into compulsory assessments.

New documents secured via freedom of information show the Morrison Government inserted an entire chapter into the 2019 Independent Review of the NDIS Act, known as the Tune Review, as well as making substantial changes to almost every part of the document.

It appears once it had made its changes the Government stamped it ‘Final Draft’ so no further amendments could be made. 

The review was heavily spruiked by the Liberal Government as a landmark document that would create the most “substantial package of reforms to the NDIS since its establishment”.

In reality, the report was written by the Government and included ‘evidence’ from a pilot that only 35 people living with a disability took part in. 

Shockingly, a Department of Social Services staff member wrote to David Tune, the co-author of the report, and admitted the Government’s changes were “hideous” and “unreadable”.

This sham “independent” report was designed and authored by the Government with one purpose alone, to steamroll through cuts to NDIS services and ignore the voices of the 430,000 people living with a disability who use the system.

The Morrison Government has spent that past two years dismantling the NDIS to cut costs at the expense of what should be the best disability scheme in the world. 

The sham independent report is in line with the Government’s secret plans to make radical cuts to the NDIS and use sham consultations to push through the compulsory assessments, despite the opposition from the entire disability sector. 

This Government shows no care for people living with a disability, the carers that support them or the workforce underpinning the sector. 

Labor wants the new Minister for the NDIS and Government Services Linda Reynolds to stop the compulsory assessments and make the NDIS work for people living with a disability. This is her first test and one the entire disability sector want her to pass.

TUESDAY, 6 APRIL 2021

MEDIA CONTACT: ANTONIA MAGEE (SHORTEN) 0409 339 989