A One Nation video which mocks the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been slammed by disability advocates, who have called for party leader Pauline Hanson to apologise.
The clip, from the YouTube series “Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain” and posted on Friday, describes the NDIS as a “scam” and a “rort” and makes offensive depictions of people with a disability.
It includes suggestions people can qualify for the scheme with a stubbed toe, difficulty concentrating, while it also says Greens voters can apply due to their “cognitive disability”.
People with Disability Australia president Nicole Lee said the video stooped to new lows with its “insensitive cruelty” and its “offensive, inappropriate and inaccurate depictions of disability supports under the NDIS”.
“People with disability experience high levels of abuse as it is and now we’re being used as cheap shots for political point scoring,” she said.
Ms Lee also dismissed the commentary that the disability scheme was a “rort”, saying it provided benefit not only to people with a disability but to the wider Australian community.
“Through the NDIS, people with disability are one of the biggest contributors to the Australian economy delivering $2.25 for every dollar spent in the scheme or more than $2 billion dollars a year,” she said.
The video was also called reprehensible by Disability Discrimination Commissioner Ben Gauntlett.
“Politically-motivated and callous use of humour at the expense of people with disability does not improve social policy. Rather, it creates fear, division and resentment,” he wrote on Twitter.
Advocacy for Inclusion head of policy Craig Wallace said Ms Hanson’s video had blatantly misrepresented the NDIS’s ability to support people on a short-term basis and called on political leaders and regular Australians to condemn the video.
“The video inspires hatred against disabled people and is a particularly nasty and vile depiction of the lives of highly vulnerable people with disability released on Good Friday, which is a day of love and reflection for many people,” he said.
Suggesting people with a disability were “scamming” the NDIS was disingenuous, Mr Wallace said.
“We know we are actually more likely to be the victims of scams, poor services and rip offs by services and businesses seeking to profit from disabled people.”
People with Disability Australia and Advocacy for Inclusion have called for Senator Hanson to withdraw the video and apologise.
AAP has contacted the office of Senator Hanson for comment.
— AAP
