The government has made public a definitive list of what participants on the National Disability Insurance Scheme can and can't spend their funds on. The list is in response to a wide ranging review into the scheme which found there needed to be more clarity over what constituted as NDIS support.
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00:00This list is really a definitive list that tells people what they can and cannot spend
00:07their money on.
00:08It is part of a wider suite of changes that comes into effect in a couple of days' time
00:12on the 3rd of October, and it comes after about a month since some pretty contentious
00:19legislation passed through Parliament.
00:22Now, this is all as a result of a wide-ranging review that was done.
00:26Recommendations of that review were handed down last December, and one of the recommendations
00:31was that there really did need to be more clarity about what constituted an NDIS support.
00:37So question on everyone's lips, what's in, what's out?
00:41What is in is things that are directly linked to your disability.
00:45So we're talking about things like accredited assistance animals, the food and grooming
00:48products that go with those animals, and then, for example, things in the home that you would
00:52need to eat, shower, whether it be a service or a support worker, a piece of equipment,
00:59you know, laundry and gardening items, if that's not something that you can do yourself.
01:03What is out is quite an extensive list, but I think it's really safe to say that they
01:09really do kind of centre around three key things.
01:12Firstly, it's what doesn't pass the pub test, and that's obviously things that are illegal,
01:17like drugs.
01:18You know, you can't pay, for example, for alcohol on it, sex work is out.
01:23And then the second, I guess, really is things that the government has been arguing for quite
01:29a while that the states and territories need to be funding, or that are funded by the states
01:35and territories.
01:36So, for example, if you get medication on the PBS, that's not covered by the NDIS.
01:42For example, I guess the third thing here is things that are not kind of covered by
01:49science or evidence, so things like cuddles therapy.
01:52And so those are some of the things that will now be out.
01:56And the NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says it really is about providing, firstly, that clarity
02:01to people, participants on the scheme, and remembering there's over 660,000 of them,
02:07but also, more importantly, to bring the scheme back to its true purpose.
02:13What we have seen is the rise of opportunistic, unethical providers, and many of them are
02:20very good, by the way, but some are not.
02:22And they're selling snake oil, they're selling stuff which, frankly, doesn't work.
02:27People have been saying to me for weeks that they've been extremely concerned that we're
02:32two days away now, or, you know, that the list and the range of changes and the detail
02:39about those changes, how they will impact people's day-to-day lives as participants,
02:44they haven't had that detail till now.
02:47And so I think they'll be very concerned that there'll be sort of this time now where they're
02:52frantically trying to figure it all out.
02:54We should say that, you know, the NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has said there will be a 12-month
03:00transition period starting on the 3rd of October where, you know, there's an education piece
03:05that they clearly need to do now about educating participants, their families and their wider
03:11supporters about what's in, what's out, what you can and can't spend your money on, and
03:15that there will obviously be that transition period to support people navigate this new list.