Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The NDIS was meant to deliver choice and control, putting the person at the centre of the service. Unfortunately for many, it feels like a large, faceless system that's slow, inconsistent and sometimes deeply cruel. Since the tragic murder-suicide in Mosman Park this year, I've spoken to many carers about their experience of the NDIS and their despair. Too often, it seems we're taking the human out of human services. Supports are siloed and impersonal—wrong names, bureaucratic barriers and no continuity. Many have pointed out that the local area coordinator system under the previous WA NDIS worked far better. Families caring for children with profound, lifelong disabilities are not asking for more than they deserve. They're trying to give their children a life with dignity. Instead, many feel unseen, unheard and exhausted by a system that requires them to repeatedly reprove what will never change. And, when serious errors are made, families are often forced into legal action to defend basic supports.

A parent spoke to me about the loneliness of caring on her own for a child excluded from the education system, living with extreme distress and self-harm. She told me she doesn't feel seen or heard by the NDIS or by the supports meant to sit alongside it. Another carer told me that supports were abruptly cut despite no change in her child's needs, leaving her scrambling to hold together work, care and stability during the decision review. Last week I met with an elderly mother caring for a profoundly disabled adult son. She's becoming physically weaker as she gets older and is deeply worried about the future. After 50 years of selfless caring, there is no respite. The NDIS presents as another daily battle to be had, not a source of comfort. When crises hit—violent behaviour, acute escalation, severe sleep deprivation—families told me there is no reliable, rapid-response pathway. Parents leave jobs, run active night shifts and fear that asking for help will trigger cuts. Carer burnout is real, hidden and costly.

In consultation on the new NDIS planning rules, Curtin constituents were clear about their needs. Humanity must be hardwired into the system through in-person assessments, face-to-face planning, flexible funding and real crisis pathways. Every participant must have an NDIS contact who knows them and their situation and has a phone number. The recommendations that we made in our Curtin submission are not radical. They are simple, practical and human. We must put people at the centre of the NDIS, so Australians with disability and the families who carry so much are finally seen, heard and supported.

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