The disability community has been pouring over the long list of recommendations from the review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme. While it's generally been well received, there's concern about the requirement all providers delivering services will have to be registered.
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00:00 Last step. Good girl.
00:03 13-year-old identical twins Ali and Sammy are autistic and non-verbal.
00:08 They've been participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme for seven years.
00:13 That's our lifeline. It's changed our lives.
00:17 With the NDIS backing us, our girls are happier than they've ever been, and so are we.
00:23 The family self-manages their NDIS funding and uses unregistered support workers.
00:28 But the NDIS Review wants only registered providers to be paid through the scheme.
00:33 Currently, there's 16,000 registered NDIS providers, but 154,000 that are unregistered.
00:41 Kirsten Dean sat on the review panel and has a daughter with Down syndrome.
00:45 She says registration will help protect participants.
00:48 I fought really hard for the introduction of the NDIS,
00:51 but I did not fight that hard so people could get ripped off the way that some people are now.
00:57 The potential change to using only registered providers is causing anxiety.
01:04 George Teleporis employs a team of 10 support workers, all unregistered.
01:09 He says it's about maintaining choice and control.
01:12 These principles mean that we decide who comes into our homes and who provides our support.
01:21 That is a fundamental and critical part of the NDIS, and it must be maintained.
01:31 The Federal Government says the recommendations are a starting point.
01:35 The door's open. We want to work with people with disability and work with service providers to get the registration system right.
01:43 It's expected any changes around registration would take about two years,
01:47 but given how many specifics still need to be negotiated with the disability community, that could be an optimistic timeline.
01:54 on.
01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]