Cosmos: Learning and leisure for people with intellectual disabilities

Cosmos has warned Tasmanians living with disability may not be given the choice and control they
deserve if the Federal Government slows down the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme
(NDIS).

The warning comes in the wake of the National Commission of Audit’s recommendation to cut NDIS
funding, exactly a year after Cosmos clients and their families came together to celebrate the
announcement of the scheme’s rollout in the state.

Cosmos CEO Catherine Viney said the announcement was hugely concerning and that any watering
down of the NDIS would be a significant step backwards for Tasmanians with disability, their families
and carers.

“As it currently stands, the scheme would allow 280 Cosmos clients to decide what type of support
they need and if you include primary carers (families), a further 560 people would also be supported,”
Ms Viney said.

“We have already seen the NDIS making a huge difference to people’s lives in Tasmania and this is a
vital social change, essential to help ensure there is fairness and equality of opportunity for all
Australians.”

Ms Viney said in the past, people with disability had had to fight for every ounce of support from the
government and lobbying for the NDIS had been a very long journey.

“The NDIS was introduced to address the inequity that exists in our community between people who
have a disability and those that don’t, and to think it could now be in the firing line for funding cuts
just beggars belief,” she said.

“Forty-five per cent of people with disability in Australia are living near or below the poverty line,
painting a pretty bleak picture of what it is like to live with disability in this which we call the ‘Lucky
Country’.

“As a community we need to do something so we don’t end up crippling our economy, driving down
the quality of living for even more Australians and creating even greater inequity than we live with
now.”

Cosmos is an award-winning community organisation offering learning opportunities for people with
intellectual disabilities in southern Tasmania.
Cosmos CEO Catherine Viney