Sign the petition: Increase the fuel allowance NOW!

We the undersigned, are writing to raise serious concerns about the combined impact of rising petrol prices, and inadequate award travel allowances payable to disability support workers.

As you are no doubt aware, disability support workers are an essential workforce. Their work is inherently mobile. Workers are required to travel between multiple participants each day, often across significant distances, at all hours, and in locations where public transport is not a viable option. As a result, the vast majority rely on their own vehicles to deliver NDIS-funded supports.

Sustained increases in petrol prices following the conflict in Iran have substantially increased the out-of-pocket costs borne by our members. However, neither the award travel allowance nor NDIS pricing arrangements adequately reflect this reality.

The current award travel allowance only $0.99 per kilometre does account for sustained increases in petrol prices. As fuel costs rise, the real value of these allowances erodes further, effectively resulting in a reduction in workers’ take-home pay.

At the same time, NDIS pricing settings do not provide a mechanism that meaningfully responds to sharp increases in fuel costs. While pricing models recognise labour and some operational costs, they do not adequately account for real-world travel expenses borne by workers.

This situation is unsustainable. It is contributing to financial stress for workers, and ultimately undermines service continuity and choice for people with disability when workers are forced to consider working elsewhere due to increased out of pocket transport costs.

In the immediate term, we urge the NDIA to work with Government, providers and unions to introduce an interim travel loading payable to disability support workers within NDIS pricing to respond to fuel price volatility. An interim loading would provide immediate relief while longer-term pricing and industrial issues can be addressed.

Such a loading would be linked to recognised fuel price indicators to ensure it reflects real-world costs applied on a temporary basis while petrol prices remain elevated. Such an approach would be consistent with the way in which the sector sought to address financial implications on workers in the sector during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Disability support workers perform skilled, complex and demanding work that is central to the success of the NDIS. They should not be expected to absorb escalating fuel costs simply to keep the Scheme functioning