No wonder trust is broken: everything that’s gone wrong with the NDIS

The NDIS rollout is an abject failure — once an innovative scheme, it has been mismanaged so poorly, its architects hardly recognise it.

(Image: Private Media/Tom Red)

Trust has been broken with National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants. People with disabilities are angry and upset with the government’s consistent focus on cost-cutting a system that was designed to improve their lives through independence, choice and control over how they use their funding to live and participate in the community. 

Ahead of a major disability conference taking place today, two key NDIS architects have slammed the government’s handling of the scheme. Former board member of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA, which runs the NDIS) John Walsh said in a prerecorded speech the scheme was a lost opportunity. 

“I can’t begin to express the combination of arrogance, incompetence and power the commonwealth government brought to this — it’s a pretty nasty combination,” he said.