Hundreds of people protested in cities around the country against the federal Labor government’s cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The cuts will cut more than 160,000 people off the scheme.
From Toowoomba to Boorloo/Perth, disabled people and their carers, family and friends and allies came out to call for billionaires and corporations to be taxed and for disability services to be expanded.
Two hundred people gathered in Magan-djin/Brisbane to hear a range of range of speakers, including the Greens.
In Gadigal/Sydney, about 400 people protested at Sydney Town Hall, including people currently on an NDIS plan, their carers and family members.
Hundreds of people gathered at the State Library in Naarm/Melbourne. Chloe DS reports that many people who attended and spoke at the rally are recipients of the NDIS and impacted by the cuts.
They included Ishtar Hope, trans woman and mutual aid organiser, Hannah Thomas, activist and survivor of police brutality, Christian Astourian, a disability advocate, GI Brown, a First Nations disability advocate and Andrew Bretherton who is an autistic with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and who is on the NDIS scheme.
After the protest ended, Victorian Police attacked and arrested a woman for heckling a politician speaking at an unrelated event. This led to the police attacking an older person, which led to a younger person trying to intervene to protect the older one. The younger person was subsequently charged with various offences.
Those at the protest said the police went berserk. The rally organisers condemned the arrests and police’s use of excessive force.
A defiant protest of about 200 people was organised in Western Australia and a protest took place outside the Tasmanian Parliament in Lutruwita/Hobart.
