Scotty the Grinch steals off the disabled.

 

Defunded, discontinued, denied!

Rumours are exploding on social media from some well-known, respectful disability advocates that several peak organisations and groups are having their funding reduced or discontinued due to budget constraints. This week we heard Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcement that Minister Scott Morrison, who held the portfolio for Immigration and Border Protection is now in-charge of the Department of Social Services. Mr Abbott described Morrison as “a tough political operator but also a decent human being.”  Moral decency is not how I can proficiently describe Morrison’s personal record of human rights ‘diplomacy’ when handling asylum seekers fleeing political persecution or misogynistic relationship coaches who think choking women is the effective method to get them ‘submit’ to you as a man. 

In four days since the cabinet reshuffle, $240 million has been taken from numerous disability social and advocacy peak bodies. Deafness, autism and blind/severe vision impairments have been hit ferociously from these cuts, which forces some places to ponder closing down programs, reduce staff and shut their organisations completely. And the National Disability Insurance Scheme is being regaled as a measurable reduction strategy to recover lost expenditure within current peak organisations, thereby only supplying federal government funding to seven organisations instead of the thirteen that were receiving financial support from the Department of Social Services beforehand.

Morrison has told The Guardian that these measures had a comparison to his off-shore processing/secretive military patrolling scheme, Operation Sovereign Borders which through its inception deterred asylum seekers, who have travelled by boat from entering Australian soil. But Minister, where does the NDIS have to become a failback of a financially inefficient department? Unlike forcing human beings into detention centres without proven provocation or legal legitimacy of violating Australia’s immigration laws, no part inside or outside of disability organisational providers have caused a definitive overflow in economic sustainability. Seriously not even the most experienced disability activist believes this will restabilise our country’s economy or get it back into surplus. Treasurer Joe Hockey already mellowed those pipe dreams when he said that the budget had gone over $40 billion when delivering his first Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook last Monday.

A recent review overseen by Patrick McClure proposes sweeping, radicalised reformative measures that wind back income welfare payments to those under 35 years of age. Future eligible recipients of the Disability Support Pension may too not escape McClure and Morrison’s draconian policies, losing the social safety net afforded to DSP claimants through Centrelink under previous Liberal and Labor ministries. Jenny Macklin, Shadow Minister for Disability Reform nixes Morrison’s measures in downgrading the disability sector as nothing more than “…   a disgusting and cynical attempt by Scott Morrison to use the NDIS as a cover for the Abbott government’s next round of savage cuts to vulnerable Australians.”  

A novelty of a political actor’s credentials is his or her skilful ability to lie. Dr Seuss’ green goblin caricature, The Grinch resembles Morrison’s stern, compassion-less nature which is uncanny within his bravado he used ‘acting’ in his last ministerial role. His Christian values seem irresponsive, maybe false from what human rights lawyer, Julian Burnside wrote under a sheepish tone in his op-ed for The Age yesterday. A compassionate, charitable Christian man is not how Morrison has behaved. He recedes in using what worked when imprisoning “irregular/illegal maritime arrivals” now with disabled pensioners who for the life of them don’t necessarily enjoy being lumbered to an income welfare payment incentive. The NDIS is not the catalyst to conflate overflowing expenditure. Federal Labor opposition ministers have confirmed that the Medicare levy, which is at a 0.5 increase, will supply the $10 billion essential to rollout the NDIS by its 2018-2019 deadline.

Dr Seuss, The Grinch in your delectable tale of a thief who stole Christmas is actually our new Social Services minister. Scotty the Grinch is stealing off from the disabled and we cannot let him continue to do it so callously.

UPDATE: In a op-ed for The Australian, Senator Mitch Fifield cross examines Labor's 'urban myth' claims that the Medicare levy would 100% fund the scheme. But Fifield insists it is just reminiscent of Norman Lindsay's book 'The Magic Pudding.' A total work of fiction! 

State and territory governments will also pitch into the financial mechanisms of this scheme, estimating around 30-40% of expenditure. When I originally wrote this, I agreed that Labor's word was creditable. Now with this recent development, this disability activist cannot fathom such conflicting calculations in federal economic sustainability.