01/07/2025
Over the past few days, I’ve been meeting with local physios, OTs and NDIS service providers across the Redlands—and the message is clear: they’re at breaking point.
Labor’s changes to NDIS pricing came in this week, and they’re already having a massive impact. Travel funding has been slashed overnight, therapy rates have been cut or frozen, and the whole mess has been dumped on providers with barely any notice.
It’s making it near impossible for allied health professionals to continue supporting families—especially on our bay islands, where in-person care isn’t a luxury, it’s a lifeline.
One OT told me she simply can’t afford to service the islands anymore. She hasn’t had a rate increase in years, and now her costs are going up while her income is going backwards. Another physio showed me how his hourly rate has just been cut by over $10—while he’s expected to pay his staff more under Fair Work rulings, cover fuel and insurance, and deal with mountains of red tape from the NDIA.
The reality is that highly skilled professionals are walking away from the sector altogether. Some are earning more as support workers. That’s how broken it’s become.
This is what happens when a government targets the wrong end of the system. There’s no shortage of waste in the NDIS—but cutting essential care while the bureaucracy keeps expanding is not the answer.
The NDIS was meant to be about dignity and choice. Instead, lazy cost-cutting is punishing the people doing the work and the families who rely on them.
I’ll keep fighting for a smarter, fairer fix—for the professionals delivering care, and for the Redlands families who deserve better.
