The Morrison government has decided to delay introducing mandatory independent assessments for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, in a move strongly welcomed by disability groups.
It’s a big day – your first Disability Reform Ministers Meeting with your State and Territory counterparts. Many matters will require shared leadership, decision-making and coordinated implementation by the Commonwealth, States and Territories – as equal partners – there is much for the Commonwealth to do to restore the trust of Australians with a disability, families, carers and support workers.
“I think it is a rotten idea,” Lambert, 46, says. “The NDIA should bugger off and leave people with disability with enough money to be able to live an ordinary life like everyone else in Australia.”
The letter – whose signatories include people across the social sector, academia and the legal space – notes that the overrepresentation and disadvantage experienced by people with cognitive disability in the criminal justice system has long been recognised.
More than 20 organisations have jointly called on the new NDIS Minister to abandon the introduction of the contentious independent assessments.
The Head of Policy at the ACT Council of Social Service, Craig Wallace, said “While we note that the Federal Minister has said this is one of a number of drafts being prepared, this appalling document gives a troubling insight into the direction and planning of the Government’s reforms.
NDIS Minister Stuart Robert has sought to downplay a report about leaked proposed changes to the scheme that sparked anger and distress from disability advocates. Mr Robert said he had not seen the draft legislation cited by the Nine papers, which he said he had been told was only “one of 78”. “The only draft legislation the government intends to introduce is the one I will release shortly,” he said.
People with Disability Australia President Samantha Connor said reports about the confidential 300 page draft: “To discover that there are significant changes proposed that will disadvantage people with disability, along with a proposal to cut out co-design with participants and disabled persons organisations, is deeply concerning.”
People with permanent disabilities will no longer need to be reassessed by doctors every few years to renew their permit, instead they can qualify for one for life. Disability advocates have welcomed the changes but said more still needs to be done around enforcement and public awareness. “Even when you have a permit it’s hard to get a space and that seems to be consistent across most areas, there just aren’t enough spaces,” said Disability Resources Centre Advocate Kim Collinson.
Commissioner Ben Gauntlett told a Senate estimates hearing the Australian Human Rights Commission had concerns the new policy “might undermine the effectiveness of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and not have the intended effect, particularly for individuals with complex support needs”.
“We have seen the benefits of working from home, as well as the accessibility of online events,” Carly tells The CEO Magazine. “For many people – especially disabled people – events and art going online because of the pandemic has been the first time they’ve had access to it. We have seen accessibility created because non-disabled people have required it, yet disabled people have been calling for these provisions for many years.”
Former National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) chairman Bruce Bonyhady says the government needs to “go back to the drawing board”, describing as “robo-planning” the new independent assessment model being introduced this year.
“The real worry for us is that these results cannot be challenged or appealed easily,” says David Moody, CEO of NDS. “In fact, people will not be given a copy of the full assessment report unless they apply to see it and the hurdles that presents for a person with disability is unacceptable.”
“This is not the NDIS that was promised”: peak body National Disability Services says planned independent assessments will “fundamentally alter the individualised and personalised nature of the NDIS”.
This is the disability sector’s statement on the Australian Government’s planned reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). – People with disability, their families and the organisations that represent them are all worried about changes the Australian Government wants to make to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We want the scheme to be consistent and fair. But we also want to make sure that people with disability get the support they need. There are too many unanswered questions and concerns for this proposal to continue in its current form. We therefore request…
Twenty advocacy groups are concerned a desire to save money could see an end to the scheme’s ‘individualised approach’. Dougie Herd, who helped campaign for the NDIS, said the mandatory assessments would “put people living with disability back in boxes based on an automated process”.