The government are proposing significant changes for the NDIS. A parliamentary committee hearing into the draft legislation was held today with experts calling the amendments harsh and disproportionate.
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00:00The NDIS review last year was actually really good.
00:04There was a huge amount of consultation with people with disability.
00:08Our organisation, we did three months of really intensive consultation with disability advocates
00:13across the country.
00:14But we also did some very targeted consultation with people who are coming out of prison,
00:20people who live in boarding houses and group homes, who don't often get their voices heard.
00:25So we were really happy with the way that the NDIS review had listened to people with
00:30disability, had heard all of us, not only about what the problems were and are with
00:35the NDIS, but what about our ideas for change.
00:38So in terms of that process last year, we were certainly happy.
00:43When the NDIS review final report came out last year, our organisation and lots of others
00:49that represent people with disability, we all said that the next stage of the process
00:53though had to be designed with us, that we have a significant amount of expertise about
00:59what our services and supports should look like and that we wanted to be a central part
01:03of the process.
01:04Okay.
01:05Now, we're not at the stage where the rubber is hitting the robe in terms of the reforms
01:09actually being implemented, but the reforms are now being developed, so that's a really
01:13important time.
01:14There's a lot of reform proposed.
01:16We'll break it down a bit.
01:17How do you feel about the plan changes to how individuals are assessed and the extent
01:23of funding for each participant?
01:26It is a really big change to the NDIS.
01:29So the review proposed that instead of the current process, which is where a person with
01:35disability or their family will get together a whole lot of really often incredibly expensive
01:40reports, I live in the country, and getting access to those kind of services and specialists
01:45out here is really challenging and costs an absolute fortune.
01:49We know that that means that for lots of people, getting into the NDIS is really unfair.
01:54So the new process is going to be, we hope, is going to be an assessment that is much
01:59fairer, that the NDIS pays for, so you don't have to upfront $5,000 to pay for reports
02:06or assessments, and it is going to assess the whole of you.
02:10That was certainly the idea when the review landed, and then that was going to inform
02:15what is being called a holistic budget.
02:19So at the moment, the NDIS sets the individual budgets for people at a kind of line by line,
02:24literally.
02:25Like it says you could have this many hours of physio and this many hours of support and
02:30this kind of wheelchair, this would set a much more flexible budget that people can
02:35use more flexibly.
02:36And so today we were talking to the Senate Committee about does the legislation that
02:40is currently before Parliament actually reflect that kind of vision that the review had for
02:45these changes or not?
02:47And does it?
02:50Not quite.
02:51That was what we were talking about today.
02:52So it certainly sets up some of the scaffold or the kind of outlines for it.
02:58But look, I don't know about you, Joe, but I've been around doing the NDIS stuff for
03:02a long time, and there were various plans to change the NDIS a few years ago.
03:07We had the whole independent assessments debacle.
03:10And so for me and the members that I represent, we're all a little bit wary about vague plans.
03:16We want to see a lot of stuff in detail.
03:19So we were proposing today that the bill is amended to really put a whole lot more flesh
03:24on the bone about how those needs assessments would work.
03:29Are they going to be able to have a draft, for example, so that if something isn't right,
03:33they can be fixed?
03:35And is there going to be a little bit more guardrails around how those flexible budgets
03:39will work and whether there's going to be some kind of powers for future governments
03:45to be able to make really difficult and hard decisions that will hurt people with disability?
03:49And we don't want to see that.
03:51We want to make sure that the scheme is fair and it makes sure that, you know, we've done
03:5510 years of great support for people with disability.
03:58We don't want to lose that.
03:59What about requirements on participants to provide information?
04:03Look, that's one of the things that we were really concerned about.
04:06So disability advocates all across the country represent and work with people with disability
04:12who often live in boarding houses, who often have no other people in their lives who can
04:17support them and stick up for them, often don't have any family left either.
04:21So don't often answer the phone, potentially don't open a letter.
04:25And we're really worried that the kind of measures in the bill are pretty harsh and
04:30may be used that end up hurting people with disability.
04:33So we wanted to see that a whole lot of things in place before anyone is thrown off the scheme.
04:38I think it's a much harsher measure than is needed at this stage.
04:42And it's kind of like a large bulldozer to solve a very small mold deal.
04:47And what about agency powers to take control of someone's account if fraud is detected?
04:54And again, that's exactly the same problem.
04:56So if there is the way the legislation is structured, there are not a lot of details
05:02about what that means, who it's going to represent, what happens to someone if they are moved
05:07off the scheme, and are there any other supports around them?
05:11So one of the things that we were really keen to talk to the committee today, and we are
05:15keen to have as part of the broader conversation is, I know we've talked a lot about oases
05:21and deserts and all of these kind of slightly strange languages to talk about the NDIS.
05:27But as we're thinking about how people with disability exist in our community and we use
05:34different services and supports, some in the NDIS and some outside, while those outside
05:39supports are being built, we cannot take anyone out of the NDIS.
05:44It's just not fair.