Federal government strikes deal with states on NDIS reforms
The Federal Government has secured the support of national states and territories for an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but disability groups are raising concerns. Advocates say they haven't been consulted on the new bill, or amendments made by Bill Shorten to appease the states and territories.
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TVTranscript
00:00Look, the current legislation gives people the right to appeal decisions made about whether
00:09they have access to the scheme, whether the supports they're asking for and the amount
00:15of money they're receiving is meeting their needs.
00:18Some of those are not there anymore.
00:21The actual access assessment that the government is going to require you to do so that you
00:28can become a participant in the scheme is not going to be paid for.
00:32And in the state and territory agreement today, one of the inbuilt protections was that there
00:38had to be unanimous agreement between the states and territories for a change to this
00:44bill.
00:45So that was an inbuilt protection for disabled people, because if a number of states decided
00:50to hold the line to uphold people's human rights, they could, but it's now no longer
00:57a unanimous thing.
00:59In addition, the government, both state, territory and federal, have put out a statement today,
01:07but it doesn't talk about something new that this bill relies on called foundational supports.
01:15That's going to be support that's not just for NDIS participants, it could be anyone
01:20who is watching this tonight.
01:22If you broke your leg, your foot, you're going through cancer treatment and you need a bit
01:26of help around the house.
01:28And the people who aren't part of the 600,000 who are NDIS participants, that's where the
01:34support's coming from.
01:36But there's no definition of what that is, how it's going to work.
01:40And it's a big concern to think about people getting sent to a system that doesn't exist.
01:45And hasn't been tried, hasn't been tested.
01:49OK, if I can talk to you about some of the other issues that were announced today, that
01:55was agreed to by the states and territories, I mean, there were some changes around the
01:59time frame for approving rules, dispute resolution, and a move from absolute support to majority
02:06to support, which is something that we spoke to with Naz Campanella earlier.
02:10Do you welcome any of those changes?
02:14Look, it's a real shame that the changes that have been brought forward by independent
02:22senators and minor parties such as the Greens haven't been given consideration because they
02:28worked hard and in good faith with the disability community to get those amendments up as well.
02:34So while we oppose this bill in its current amended form, if it had to pass, the amendments
02:42that each different disability organisation had been advocating for were intended to make
02:48it better.
02:50We know that the minister outlined these changes in an attempt to reduce growth by $14 billion
02:56over the next four years.
03:00In doing that, some of the reforms give the minister and the NDIA, the organisation that
03:05runs the NDIA, powers to determine what supports can be accessed with the funding.
03:12Will that help stop any of the waste in the system at the moment?
03:18That's a really interesting thing.
03:19The way it's being presented is that it will, but in reality, a lot of the waste in this
03:25system is coming from the layers of bureaucracy, having to spend thousands of dollars on a
03:31report for a several hundred dollar item, only to have it not read, for example.
03:37And that's nothing to do with this legislation.
03:40This legislation changes what participants can access and our rights under the scheme.
03:48There is already in place, a week before this bill was announced, a new fraud squad and
03:54task force that have the power to go after the big providers who are doing the majority
04:00of those huge, huge rorts that none of us as a community think is a reasonable use of
04:06taxpayers' dollars.
04:07But really quibbling over whether somebody who has no arms should be able to buy a robotic
04:13vacuum cleaner that could also mop the floor or pay for a cleaner every week for the rest
04:21of their life.
04:22Under the current rules, they would be able to decide, well, does this meet my disability
04:27needs to buy this piece of equipment?
04:30Yes.
04:31Is it the most cost effective option?
04:32Yes, because we save so much money over a lifetime.
04:37But now white goods are, for example, on a black and white banned list, yes and no.
04:44And there's only been two weeks of consultation time.
04:47Most of this bill is like a book that has chapter headings without the information.
04:53And that's why advocates are concerned.
04:55So if you had a chance to rewrite the book then, Mareika, what are some of the key issues
05:00that you would like to have addressed that would give you comfort and then ultimately
05:05support for the bill?
05:09All of the national peaks representing disabled people have actually said they don't support
05:16the bill in its current form.
05:17And one of the major things is because it wasn't co-designed by us and for us.
05:23And that's not about our pride.
05:26It's because we're the experts in our lives and we can see where the wastage in the system
05:31is, how the system can be improved.
05:34We live in it every single day.
05:36So I would start from scratch with a group of disabled people around the table.
05:41And this bill called getting the NDIS back on track asked the question, how did it get
05:46off track and how do we fix it?
05:48And you're not just sitting at the table, but you have an equal voice.
05:52And that is how we actually fix the NDIS long term.
05:56It took 10 years to roll the NDIS version one out around the country because it was
06:03tested and tweaked as it went.
06:05To talk about now doing this within 28 days because 28 days after a bill passes, it becomes
06:12law is just something unfathomable given the amount of blanks that are in it and need to
06:19be co-designed, which has been promised, but it's going to take time.
06:23I would do that after implementing the NDIS review, which we've spent two years of people
06:30with disability giving time and energy and taxpayers money on.
06:35And rather than reading that and responding first and then changing the legislation, we
06:40would look at how about we look at implementing that and see if legislative changes even needed
06:46first.
06:47So calling for the senators to don't pass this tonight.