Arabic version: أسرة من غوندويندي تبدي مخاوف بشأن رعاية شين دانيس ضمن نظام التأمين الوطني للإعاقة
According to ABC News, changes to Shane Danes’s National Disability Insurance Scheme funding have left his family and care provider concerned about the 64-year-old Goondiwindi man’s safety and ability to remain at home.
Mr Danes lives with an acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury following a car crash 44 years ago and a fall in 2022. He requires round-the-clock care. His NDIS funding fell in October 2025 and again in April 2026, when his family sought to restore the previous funding level.
The reductions meant his parents, Toni and Merven Danes, both 90, were supporting him for two hours each evening. His family said he was also left alone between 6am and 7am, despite believing that period required support. Provider Michelle Doughty said she arrived early on April 21 and found him vomiting, fearing the outcome could have been fatal without assistance.
Ms Doughty said her company reduced what it charged the NDIS so it could provide additional hours of care, while barely breaking even. Shane’s sister, Tracy Sullivan, said the family’s care duties include transfers, medication management, personal care, meals, and bowel and bladder management as they try to keep him out of aged care.
Independent disability advocate Alyce Nelligan said the situation was not unusual, noting more than $2.8 billion was cut from NDIS participant plans between July 2024 and March 2026. An NDIA spokesperson said participant safety and care were its priority and that all information was carefully considered when funding and supports were decided.
