EMAILS TO THE EDITOR: As a concerned service provider living and working on Yolŋu Land in remote Northeast Arnhem Land, I feel compelled to speak out about the looming changes to the NDIS pricing guide—and what they really mean for people with disability in the Northern Territory.
The proposed pricing cuts, including slashing the travel allowance for allied health by 50%, will be devastating for remote service access. These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. They’re the difference between an autistic child seeing a speech pathologist or going without. They’re the difference between community-led support or total silence.
It’s infuriating to learn that the Federal Labor government paid an external marketing company to test messaging for NDIS budget cuts, ultimately deciding that blaming “greedy service providers” would be most acceptable to the public. This narrative is not only false—it’s a deliberate distraction.
Most of us providing services in the NT are not turning profits—we’re burning through shoes on red dirt airstrips, chasing charter flights, and doing the work because we care. We work weekends and cover gaps left by systems that have never truly understood remote service delivery. Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, the NDIS CEO’s wages keep increasing, taking home more than $800,000 last financial year.
We are being asked to do more, for less, in some of the hardest-to-reach corners of the country. These changes will not improve the NDIS. They will erase it from communities who already experience some of the worst health and disability outcomes in the nation.
If you care about fairness, inclusion, and the future of the NDIS, now is the time to speak up. Sign the petitions. Write to your local MPs and federal ministers. Let the NDIA know that this isn’t the kind of system Australians want. Equity shouldn’t stop at the Stuart Highway.
We deserve a system that values people over politics—and puts the most vulnerable at the centre, no matter their postcode.
– A concerned service provider living and working on Yolŋu Land.
