Canberra Times: The value of the NDIS is in its people, not its economic benefit

When the Australian government pioneered the NDIS in 2013, it paved the way for the greatest nation-building scheme of a lifetime. A decade on and the NDIS is at the mercy of politicians who are too busy weighing up the economic value of the scheme rather than the human value of the 650,000 people who rely on it.

At what point in the past 11 years did we start to measure the worth of people by their financial return on investment?

People living with disability should never be made to justify the support they require to be included in everyday life. Rather than using the NDIS as a political football, it’s time we recognise that its value isn’t determined by its contribution to Australia’s productivity or economic targets.

The NDIS is inherently valuable because the people who depend on it make it so.

Far too often, the idea of ‘benefiting’ in the context of social services attracts cynicism, but the NDIS was not created to weigh up the economic value of its participants. The NDIS exists to safeguard and support people living with disabilities. Determining the scheme’s worth by its economic contributions says more about who we are as a society than it does anything else.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t strive for an efficient and resourceful NDIS. I welcome the government taking a firm stance on issues like fraud, negligence, or misconduct that take advantage of the scheme and its participants. I also welcome innovation that not only improves the lives of participants and their families but also improves the scheme’s efficiency and resourcefulness.

What the government needs to understand is that investing in people first and foremost will always be a better path to achieving these goals.

The nationwide Support Worker shortage is the most pressing example. The disability sector is currently grappling with a severe shortage of around 128,000 workers, with recent reports showing that an additional three-quarters of NDIS providers are considering shutting their doors due to the financial strain of the NDIA’s continued price freezes.

As these shortages continue to impact the lives of participants and their families, the government continues to question the value of investing in the sector’s workforce, and others question if the care economy will boost productivity. By counting pennies before people, they are preventing the NDIS from becoming the crown jewel it could be.

I have witnessed first hand how innovation thrives when people are put at the heart of the care economy. Our organisational model, known as “direct employ”, is the only service in Australia that enables participants to employ people that they already know and trust as their support workers. In doing so, we’re helping to address the support worker shortage. This is just one example of how a people-first approach can generate innovative, sustainable solutions for the benefit of participants and the scheme itself.

The NDIS is something that Australia should be proud of. It should be a testament to what can be achieved when we put people first and prioritise the creation of a more inclusive and safer community for all. Unfortunately, the government’s support does not always represent this, and it will continue to fall short so long as we put dollars first and people second.

It’s time we stop looking for economic justification to care for people and instead choose to do so simply because we care.

Every person has value. That should be motivation enough.