Gov to boost IT systems for detecting NDIS fraud
The government is set to allocate $48.3 million in next month’s federal budget for anti-fraud measures around the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), including new IT systems.
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PM Anthony Albanese announces $720m funding in upcoming budget for NDIA Posted
Shorten backs ‘ethical’ automation for NDIS assessments
Government Services minister Bill Shorten has called for the greater use of data and automation in National Disability Insurance Scheme assessments as long as an “ethical framework” is in place. He said that the problem with the former government was that it took the “human elemen out.”
The NDIS is set for a reboot but we also need to reform disability services outside the scheme
While much of the attention on the scheme is around Tier 3 supports, a major driver of costs is a lack of investment in Tier 2 services. If we do not see adequate investment in mainstream and community services, such as in health and education, people with disability are more likely to require Tier 3 services.
Automated NDIS assessments to stay but with “human element”
Shorten said there was no inherent issue with using automation technology and data analysis in NDIS operations, as long as it was used ethically and transparently. “Automation and using data is excellent, but it’s the purpose it’s used for and it’s the manner in which it’s the ethical framework around it” he said.
NDIS ‘reboot’ will include more staff, cost crackdown, longer-term plans and shonky services purge, Shorten says
Mr Shorten said there was still “more good than bad” in the scheme, but he outlined a six-pronged plan to overhaul the NDIA, including a lift in staffing, longer-term care plans, addressing fraud and rorting, supporting more people with disability to live at home, purging ineffective providers and linking other community services up to the NDIA better.
NDIS clients claim a disability advocate charged their plans for non-existent services
When she checked her sons’ accounts, she saw charges for services she says they had never received involving therapy providers she had never heard of. One invoice of nearly $2,000 was for “sand box” therapy and another was for a trauma counsellor who she says had not seen either of the boys.
Government Services minister Bill Shorten addressed NDIS concerns at Press
The federal government is foreshadowing an overhaul of the national disability insurance scheme. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten warns the scheme has lost its way and needs a reboot. In his address he outlines the six key policy reform areas.
NDIS Minister National Press Club Address and what you might have missed (it’s scary!)
At today’s National Press Club Address Minister Bill Shorten made some important announcements and reminded me why I have such deep respect for this man and gratitude for his commitment to improving the lives of disabled people. Then it ended with something really scary that freaked me out!
One Nation video mocking NDIS condemned as ‘vile’ by disability advocates
People with Disability Australia and Advocacy for Inclusion have called for Hanson to withdraw the video and apologise. The People with Disability Australia president, Nicole Lee, said the video showed “insensitive cruelty” and it contained “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.
Capability and Culture of the NDIA Interim Report
The committee is particularly moved by evidence that participants feel distressed, frustrated, and unheard when planners do not understand their lived experience of disability. Planners are a key interface between participants and the NDIS. If planners do not understand a participant’s disability and how it impacts their daily life, this is likely to have a negative effect on a participant’s plan and their experience of the NDIS.
Series of firsts in new NDIA Board appointments
Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Bill Shorten today announced the appointment of two new members of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) Board, including a First Nations appointee. The new Board members are Ms Joan McKenna Kerr from Western Australia and Dr Richard Fejo from the Northern Territory. In addition to his other qualifications and skills, Dr Fejo is a person with a disability, taking the number of people with a disability on the board to six out of 12 – the highest representation in the agency’s history.
NDIS mark-ups for people with a disability as bad as wedding price gouging, insiders say
Some participants say they are being charged double or even triple the price of services compared to those not on the scheme, for the exact same treatment or product. “I was really disappointed, I had a physio that was wonderful but when I got on the NDIS, he told me that he was no longer going to charge me the regular rate that he was charging everyone else, including my own partner who saw him,” she said.
NDIS on track for $5.7b budget blowout
New forecasts show the rapidly expanding NDIS is poised to blow a $5.7 billion hole in Jim Chalmers’ second budget, with almost 200 Australians joining the program each day and participant numbers outstripping projections released only months ago.
Shorten: ‘Early resolution’ curbs number of appealed NDIS cases
“These numbers are just the start in ensuring people with disability are able to get on with living their lives without having to go to court to argue over the level of support they receive,” Shorten said. “The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has implemented measures that have not only helped blitz the number of those legacy cases but also reduce the number of new cases heading to the AAT.”