Marginal electorates will be targeted in a new campaign demanding the major parties commit to shielding National Disability Insurance Scheme participants from shock funding cuts.
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People with a disability, their families and carers will gather on budget day in Canberra to launch Defend our NDIS, a grassroots campaign that will include a series of town hall meetings before culminating in a national day of action on April 28.
The campaign will target two dozen marginal seats across the country, including Gilmore and Eden-Monaro in southern NSW.
The push has been launched on the back of widespread reports of NDIS participants, including in the ACT, having their funding unexpectedly cut
Latest figures show average annual budgets plan dropped to $68,500 in 2021, down 3 per cent from the previous year.
The government's budget update last December included an extra $26.4 billion over the next four years to manage the scheme's surging costs.
Campaign spokeswoman Elly Desmarchelier has first-hand experience of cuts, having only been provided enough money to cover six-months of catheter supplies after bladder surgery. She said her request for extra funding was denied.
Ms Desmarchelier, who has cerebral palsy, said there was an enormous amount at stake for people with a disability at the upcoming election.
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"What is the importance of this campaign? It is about the freedom for people with a disability to live the life they want to live," she said.
"I can't think of anything bigger and more important than that."
The campaign will lean on research published last year which highlighted the economic benefits of investing in the NDIS - and the implications of cutting funding.
The report from progressive think tank Per Capita found the scheme was a major economic multiplier, with each dollar invested delivering a return of $2.25 as a result of job creation and spending on local businesses.
"The NDIS is one of Australia's greatest social and economic reforms that united all of Australia behind it almost a decade ago," said National Disability Services chief executive Laurie Leigh, whose organisation commissioned the Per Capita report.
"It's disappointing that the focus over the past 18 months has changed from the benefits of the scheme to the cost, with repeated attempts to restrict access to the NDIS and reduce supports available."