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Progressing a National Autism Strategy and Research Centre

The Albanese Labor Government will continue its commitment to leaving no one behind and holding no one back by progressing a National Autism Strategy and committing further funds to the Autism Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). Minister for Social Services will today announce that a further $2 million in Commonwealth funds have been allocated to the … Continued

Own Motion Inquiry into Aspects of Supported Accommodation in the NDIS

The Inquiry examined reportable incidents and complaints made to the NDIS Commission in connection with the supported accommodation services (specifically group homes). The Inquiry’s purpose was to enable the NDIS Commissioner to identify trends in issues occurring in supported accommodation, what is causing those issues, models of best practice to eliminate or address these issues, and how the NDIS Commission can use its powers to support the delivery of higher standards of support in these settings. 

Australia’s disability laws set to undergo first major shake up in nearly 40 years

The Disability Services Act has not undergone significant change in almost 40 years.  Disability Employment Services, advocacy funding, service provider certifications and disability services regulation standards are all governed by this legislation. Since then, the federal government signed on to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and conducted a royal commission into the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability.

Time for NDIS to fix what isn’t working

Yet the NDIS is not working for everyone. Many within the grass roots movement that created the NDIS have lost faith. First, interaction with the scheme must be made simpler. NDIS access is not needed for everyone seeking entry to the scheme, but for those with significant and permanent support needs, entry and ongoing access can be more customer centric and less red tape intensive.

Independent panel of experts to review troubled NDIS

NDIS minister Bill Shorten says the two-part review would report back to disability reform ministers by the end of October 2023, but said where consensus emerged around specific reforms, changes to the scheme could be enacted “well before” the final report is delivered.

NDIS 2.0: new hope

The Independent Review Panel comprises of Co-Chairs Professor Bruce Bonyhady AM and Ms Lisa Paul AO PSM and Panel Members Mr Kevin Cocks AM, Ms Judy Brewer AO, Dr Stephen King, Mr Dougie Herd and Ms Kirsten Deane OAM. Part 1 of the NDIS Review, which will be led by Dr Bruce Bonyhady AM, will examine the design, operation and sustainability of the Scheme. Part 2 of the NDIS Review, which will be led by Ms Lisa Paul AO, will analyse ways to build a more responsive, supportive, and sustainable market and workforce.

Australia NDIS Gets App with Blockchain: What Could Go Wrong?

Disabled Australians will soon receive an app that implements a welfare compliance system devised by the same individuals who created robo-debt. However, this is not at all good news. The point is that it is evident that the Australian government intends to extend technology-driven compliance to all Australians, with an emphasis on punishing your failures rather than theirs.

Inquiry to probe NDIA’s ‘capability and culture’

It will focus on the “operational processes and procedures” employed by the NDIA, as well as the “nature of staff employment”, and the impact this has on the “experiences of people with disability and NDIS participants trying to access information, support and services from the agency”.

Opportunity knocks as new minister assumes NDIS role

To achieve this improvement will require an immediate uptick in collaboration between interdepartmental taskforces to discuss and resolve cases collaboratively, regular sector roundtables and an elevation of the Office of Disability’s role (in states that have established such an office) to have larger oversight and a co-ordination role.

Scott Morrison’s use of ‘blessed’ thrust NDIS back into spotlight, raising questions neither side is prepared to answer

However, Dr Charlton now reckons it has far too much independence from government, which has far too little control over its spending. Unlike most other taxpayer-funded agencies, the NDIA sets its own budget and reports to a board, not to a federal minister. “The fatal flaw in the NDIS: It cries wolf but has no shepherd to control its spending,” he wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age last year.