On Thursday, June 3, the NDIA released a technical paper on Personalised Budgets, the Agency’s new term for NDIS plans, which have a whole new planning process behind them. The term has been dropped into NDIA communications since late last year, but there has been a notable lack of information about what Personalised Budgets are and how they might inform a plan.
A boost of $1.7 million for disability advocacy will strengthen its vital role and provide support to Victorians navigating the NDIS, and $1.4 million will improve communications with Victorians with disability before, during and after an emergency or natural disaster.
Researchers say independent assessments will not address any of the inequities plaguing the NDIS. Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) surveyed 270 people in January/February to understand their experiences accessing the NDIS and their thoughts on the proposed reforms.
As a result, Wardlaw said some type of cost-cutting and cost-controlling measures is inevitable. “I welcome the idea, from a glance, that there has been some investment into some mainstream services like mental health and so forth. But I want those organisations to lift their game about being better service providers.”
People with Disability Australia (PWDA) has welcomed $13.2 billion of funding for the National Disability Insurance Scheme but has dubbed the latest Federal Budget “not a budget for people with disability.”
Disability groups have welcomed a $13.2 billion boost to the National Disability Insurance Scheme outlined in the federal budget, but say they are disappointed by the Morrison government’s messaging around a supposed blowout in scheme costs.
Ms Connor called out the National Disability Insurance Agency and its actuary for its accounting practices, which she likened to comparing apples with oranges.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that the sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is at stake unless its costs are curbed. In a speech last week ahead of the federal Budget announcement today, he said that the costs of the NDIS are increasing more than was ever expected by those who first framed it.
The disabled people’s organisation is calling for a raft of measures to be urgently funded and implemented to meet Australia’s responsibilities under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.
The government says this new approach is aimed at making the NDIS fairer. But many people with disability think it is about cost-cutting. They also say an independent assessment is a “nightmare” process that doesn’t produce an accurate picture of people’s lives.
Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers Luke Donnellan today awarded more than $1.6 million for advocacy funding, to help Victorians with disability and their families continue to access timely and targeted advocacy support when they need it.
Mary Sayers, the Cyda chief executive, said the figures had “exploded” for a number of reasons, including that governments had tightened access to the disability support pension, which is paid at a higher rate. “The other is the absolute entrenched disadvantage that young people face in the labour market,” she said. “So we’ve got a whole range of these really intractable problems that need attention.
Data provides useful information for designing supports and services that meet the situations, needs and goals of people with disability. However datasets are largely disconnected. The National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) is a pilot that aims to link datasets across government departments and jurisdictions to improve data quality and comparability, creating a wide range of new insights through analysis. The NDDA maintains highest standards to ensure data integrity and privacy through the process.
Education Minister James Merlino has pledged to tackle “school gatekeeping” – where students with disabilities are steered away from a particular school – describing it as an “ugly lottery” for parents. Mr Merlino said the Victorian government’s $1.6 billion changes to student disability funding – which was announced in the 2020 state budget and will be rolled out in 340 schools this year – would ensure every school was “truly inclusive” for students with disabilities.
Many of you will remember that last year’s Senate Estimates were as messy as hell. The most frustrating thing, by far, was the number of really juicy questions that were taken on notice. In the last Estimates hearing, the NDIA took no less than 88 questions on notice. And guess what? The answers are back! While many of the answers are so useless they are pretty much the bureaucratic version of giving someone the finger, there are nuggets of gold among the many pages of boredom. Here’s what we learned…