Resources

Vow to end ‘ugly lottery’ with $1.6b school disability reform

Posted February 8, 2021

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.

test drive or crash test? Independent Assessments

Posted February 2, 2021

With the eyes of the entire disability community watching closely, the second pilot of Independent Assessments (IAs) is now in full swing. Nicole Rogerson’s son, Jack was amongst the 4,000 participants selected to be part of the pilot.  In this interview, Nic shares her experience with the pilot, offering insights from new angles and exploring the potential mental health impacts of assessments. 

The answers we’ve been waiting for

Posted January 28, 2021

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…

NDIS Planning Final Report

Posted December 1, 2020

For years, participants, advocacy groups and the sector have been calling for reform in the planning arena. This inquiry, including the committee’s interim report tabled in December 2019, and the Review of the NDIS Act and the new NDIS Participant Service Guarantee (Tune Review) make broad-ranging recommendations to address long-standing issues with the planning process. committee made 14 recommendations in its interim report and it makes another 42 recommendations in this final report. These recommendations are intended to bring greater transparency, consistency and accountability to how the NDIS is administered and implemented.

Disability Royal Commission scathing of government response to COVID-19 pandemic

Posted December 1, 2020

The Disability Royal Commission’s issued a scathing report into how government agencies failed disabled Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings point to failures by government officials to consult with people with a disability in the early stages of the pandemic and to even consider what was needed to protect them from the virus. And that left people with disability feeling anxious and stressed, and forgotten by both governments and wider

Disability Royal Commission recommends changes following COVID-19 hearing

Posted December 1, 2020

It was a “serious failure” that no Australian Government agency with responsibility for disability policy, including the Department of Health, made “any significant effort” to consult with people with disability or their representative organisations during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by the Disability Royal Commission says.

Keeping the NDIS on track

Posted November 20, 2020

e NDIS Quarterly Reports have always had lots of interesting data on how the scheme is tracking. They allow people with disability, their families, organisations, even governments (shock horror) to get a better idea of where the scheme is working well – and where it is not. But the most recent Quarterly Report released last week features a brand new report card on the NDIS. And it makes for some interesting reading.

What’s the NDIA been hiding?

Posted November 17, 2020

Have you ever suspected that the NDIA has a secret list of supports they consider ‘controversial’ or simply ‘no-go’ zones? Well, it turns out that up until the middle of this year, you wouldn’t have been too far off the mark. We learnt all this in the latest episode of everyone’s new favourite TV show Senate Estimates. (Just me? Oh, OK.)

Independent Assessments: Will they work?

Posted November 5, 2020

Few people would disagree with the NDIA’s argument that there are serious structural issues in the Scheme. But are Independent Assessments a solution fit for purpose? Or will they just create a whole heap of new problems? In the controversy surrounding IAs, many people are wondering what motivation is behind this decision. In this article, we follow that line of enquiry, taking a closer look at systemic issues IAs may be seeking to address and explore the likelihood of success.

‘YPIRAC is a wicked problem that can only be solved by working across sectors’

Posted October 27, 2020

Young people often end up in aged care because they fall through the gap between hospitals and the disability service system. The two systems operate on completely different time frames. For example, if a young person has a very severe brain injury, as soon as they are medically stable there is pressure to move them out of a hospital bed. But disability services take weeks or months to determine if a suitable housing and support option is available.