All people with disability deserve the right to full inclusion and participation in our community, with autonomy and choice to live safe, dignified lives. Critical to this right is the essential, daily, foundational support services that many people with disability rely on and are entitled to. 

With the federal Labor government cruelly gutting the NDIS and pushing the responsibility for funding, designing and delivering a significant portion of disability supports back onto state governments, it is time for the NSW government to commit to making sure no one falls through the gaps. 

The NSW Labor government must provide significant and ongoing funding for foundational supports for all people with disability in our community. 

The NSW Labor government is currently working to develop some form of foundational supports through the Thriving Kids program – but this is only for children under nine with autism who have low to moderate support needs, and does not guarantee ongoing access. There are tens of thousands of people across NSW who have no idea what supports they will be able to access once the NDIS cuts are made – and many are anxious about what their futures will hold if the NSW Government doesn’t step in to fill the gaps.

Before the NDIS was created, state disability service systems were underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient. We cannot let this happen again. Cutting people off from accessing supports that guarantee social and community participation before new services are developed and ready to be delivered will only lead to people falling through the gaps, creating a real risk of exclusion, social isolation and exploitation. 

NSW Labor must urgently create a system of statewide foundational supports that: 

• guarantees equal & fair access – regardless of what your disability is, how old you are or where you live
• delivers culturally appropriate & individualised supports
• ensures supports are located in places that are accessible & integrated within communities 
• is fully funded by the NSW government & co-designed with disability communities, experts & workers 

Email the NSW Labor government now, urging them to make sure no one falls through the gaps in disability service provision.