Gippsland National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants and providers are being disproportionately affected by the Federal Government’s recent decision to freeze allied health pay rates and halve travel allowances, according to Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester who says the changes are worsening inequality for regional communities.
Mr Chester met with Noah’s Ark regional operations manager Michelle Kenny, occupational therapist Stephanie Collins, and strengthening parent support program coordinator Vanessa Darling, who shared significant concerns about the impact of the changes on the delivery of essential services across Gippsland.
Noah’s Ark, which has been providing early childhood intervention services since 1971 and operates across Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT, including sites in Morwell and Bairnsdale, is among the many regional providers warning that the cuts will severely limit their ability to deliver home-based, school-based and community-delivered supports.
“Under the new caps, providers are telling me they will be forced to reduce or even cease in-home and community services altogether,” Mr Chester said.
“That means families who have spent years building trusted relationships with therapists face disrupted care, fewer choices, and reduced flexibility, all at a time when they already face greater barriers than metropolitan families.”
Mr Chester said the changes will hit the most vulnerable hardest, particularly low-income households, who may lack private transport, single parents and carers, who rely on flexible support models, children with severe disabilities, who may struggle in unfamiliar settings and families living in remote areas, where travel is unavoidable.
“The decision to freeze allied health pay rates and slash travel allowances shows a complete misunderstanding of the realities of delivering services in regional Australia,” Mr Chester said.
“Clinicians in Gippsland often travel long distances to reach children with severe mobility constraints. Cutting their travel support will only drive more providers away from NDIS work.”
Mr Chester said Gippsland already faces major workforce shortages in allied health, and the latest changes threaten to further limit access to essential therapy services.
“Without allied health providers, there is no NDIS,” Mr Chester said.
“If more practitioners withdraw because it’s financially unsustainable, waiting lists will grow longer and access will decline, particularly in rural and regional areas.”
Mr Chester wrote to the Minister for Health, Mark Butler, in June, urging him to intervene in the planned cuts.
“I was contacted by occupational therapists, speech pathologists and physiotherapists right across Gippsland who warned it is unsustainable to provide services at a loss,” Mr Chester said.
“The Minister needs to take immediate action to protect the interests of rural and regional people with disabilities, which is why I am supporting calls for a full review of the travel cap.”
