Arabic version: مناصرون في كانبيرا يخشون فقدان دعم «إن دي آي إس»

According to ABC News, Canberra disability advocates and National Disability Insurance Scheme participants are concerned that Carers ACT’s decision to close its Hub Disability Day Program and NDIS support coordination services at the start of October could signal further local service losses.

Carers ACT said rising operating costs, funding pressures and changes across the disability and aged care sectors had contributed to the decision. In a statement on its website, the organisation said changes to funding arrangements meant it had increasingly needed to subsidise delivery of the services, which was no longer financially sustainable.

The Hub program supported independent living skills and daily activities, including household chores, music and social outings. Disability advocate and NDIS recipient Benjamin Zarew said he had attended the program to improve his mental wellbeing and spend time outside his home. He said he was concerned about people whose disabilities mean they need consistent routines.

The closures come ahead of broader NDIS changes expected to save an estimated $37.8 billion over four years. The overhaul is expected to move many people out of, or prevent them entering, the $50 billion scheme and into state- and territory-run supports that have not yet been built. The passed NDIS bill also allows the minister of the day to cut social and community participation funding in a participant’s plan by up to 50 per cent.

ACT Greens MLA Laura Nuttall said people contacting her office were fearful because they did not know exactly what was coming. Shannon Kolak, chief executive of Act Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability, said the closure was devastating for people who had attended the hub five days a week for years, and warned that programs reliant on social and community participation funding may no longer be able to operate.