Friday 29th of March 2024

more than seven years in the making-ish...

ndis

Advocates are welcoming substantial changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which they believe will make the system quicker and easier to navigate. 

 

Key points:
  • The new reforms follow an independent review of the NDIS last year
  • Advocates say enacting the review's recommendations will make the scheme easier to access
  • 100,000 new participants have signed up to the NDIS in the past 12 months

 

Only 400,000 Australians are signed up to the NDIS, despite 4.4 million living with a disability. 

There is now hope these new reforms, announced by the Federal Government on Friday, will grow the number of people signed up to the scheme. 

An independent review of the NDIS last year made 29 recommendations which the Government has announced it is supporting, either wholly or in principle. 

Kirsten Deane, from grassroots organisation Every Australian Counts, said many of the recommendations were simple and practical measures that the sector had long called for.

"They are really important things like setting timeframes for key NDIS processes so people know how long it's going to take to assess their applications for the scheme or how long it would take for them to get NDIS funding or a review," she said. 

"There's a lot of jargon in the NDIS, and so it's good to see a commitment that they are going to strip some of that back." 

The Federal Government wanted these measures implemented earlier but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minster for the NDIS Stuart Robert said.

"The Government had intended to get this out a lot earlier but then our focus turned to supporting people with a disability as part of the national response, so that of course has held it up," he said. 

In the last 12 months, 100,000 new participants enrolled in the scheme. 

As part of the changes, the Government is committing an extra $20 million to a program to better engage with migrant and Indigenous communities. 

"We're literally going out into rural and remote and culturally and linguistically diverse communities and looking for people we can serve," Mr Robert said. 

"Six point four per cent of the scheme now are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and 9.2 per cent are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those numbers will increase over the next 12 months."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-28/ndis-disability-sector-government-proposed-reforms/12602432

 

The NDIS was PM Julia Gillard initiative, 2013... Then the CONservative ningnongs came along, promising to stick to the program, but they — Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morisson — made it so complicated that it became more deadly than a mine-field in WW2... or worse than a sack of rotten potatoes...

‘squalid and appalling’...

A federal investigation into the death of Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith has recommended the National Disability Insurance Scheme Commission act earlier to identify Australians with disabilities who are vulnerable to harm or neglect.

Ms Smith died on April 6 from septic shock, multi-organ failure, severe pressure sores, malnutrition and issues connected with her cerebral palsy after being stuck in a cane chair for 24 hours a day in her Kensington Park home.

Her death prompted multiple inquiries, including by a state taskforce and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which appointed former judge Alan Robertson to lead an independent review.

He found Ms Smith – an NDIS participant – died “after a substantial period of neglect, having been living in squalid and appalling circumstances”.

Mr Robertson considered the NDIS response to the case, and whether steps were taken fast enough to “ban Ms Smith’s sole carer, [Rosa] Maione, from working in the disability sector at all”.

He made 10 recommendations, including that vulnerable NDIS participant should have multiple carers, and that the commission should consider forming its own community visitor scheme to monitor such people.

The report found there were not any “significant failings” by the NDIS in response to the death but urged the commission to act earlier to identify people with disabilities “who are vulnerable to harm or neglect”.

“No vulnerable NDIS participant should have a sole carer providing services in the participant’s own home,” the report stated.

“For each vulnerable NDIS participant, there should be a specific person with overall responsibility for that participant’s safety and wellbeing.”

The report found that the commission relies on the disability care organisations it regulates to inform it about participants.

It identified “a number of structural impediments to the commission acting earlier”, including an “inability to access participant data in real-time” and reliance on the care providers.

Mr Robertson argued the commission should have access to more information about participants.

“The commission’s access to that information, and its ability to assess it and to take proactive action, should not depend on ad hoc responses by providers, on complaints and on reportable incidents,” his report said.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/people/2020/09/04/ann-marie-smith-inquiry/

scomo to puncture the tyres of your wheelchair...

Leaked laws reveal plan to kick Australians off the $22 billion NDIS


The Morrison government is considering radical reforms to the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme including denying funding to Australians with acquired brain injuries and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder as well as reducing avenue of appeal for participants as part of secret plans to save costs.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have obtained a confidential 300-page draft of proposed legislative changes to the NDIS that includes hundreds of comments from senior decision-makers within the National Disability Insurance Agency, which administers the scheme, raising concerns over proposed changes.

The proposed federal government overhaul of the scheme is poised to concentrate more power in the hands of the minister through rule changes and dilute the influence of state and territory governments, which contribute almost half of the annual funding for 430,000 Australians living with a disability. The overhaul also canvassed removing the contentious “reasonable and necessary” test for the provision of support and services, which could have ripped funding from thousands of Australians and led to warnings from top bureaucrats that it would render the program “unsustainable”.

NDIS Minister Stuart Robert foreshadowed major changes to the NDIS – introduced by the Gillard government in 2013 – earlier this year after the Federal Court ruled the use of trained sex therapists was a “reasonable and necessary” support that could be funded by the NDIS. He said the federal government would make a “principled decision” because it did not believe taxpayers’ funds “should be used for prostitution services”.

A spokesman for Mr Robert last night ruled out the removal of the term “reasonable and necessary” from final legislation but would not comment on whether it had been canvassed. The spokesman would not comment on any of the other changes to the NDIS proposed in the 300-page draft legislation.

The draft proposes creating a stronger justification to cutting off support to participants if they are in prison, removing the eligibility of those based in external territories including 11 people on Christmas Island, and giving the NDIA powers to recoup debts from a participant for items redefined as an everyday living expense. It also planned to remove all references to “co-design” which has driven fear among advocacy groups that they will no longer have a seat at the table.

Planned changes also propose that funding could be ripped away from a participant if they do not subject themselves to an independent assessment.

Opposition NDIS spokesman Bill Shorten described the plan as a “king hit” to the scheme and said the proposed saving measures would “shock Australia”. He said the leaked draft legislation confirmed fears that independent assessments were being introduced to kick people off the scheme and enforce a “cookie-cutter” approach to assessing whether someone could access funding.

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leaked-laws-reveal-plan-to-kick-australians-off-the-22-billion-ndis-20210325-p57dym.html

 

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julian


 

 

spinning the spin...

 

A secret marketing strategy to convince Australians to support a controversial overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) says the federal government must be “seen” to have listened to concerns of disability groups, who will be targeted with an extensive campaign.

A leaked communications and engagement strategy from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which administers the $26 billion scheme, reveals an aim to announce a legislation date in late August. It also aims to combat any backlash from the disability community through what Labor calls an “expensive multi-media spin campaign”.

The federal government has faced fierce community backlash over its plan to require independent assessments for all participants to re-evaluate their eligibility for the scheme and the level of support and funding they receive. In the biggest reform to the scheme since it began, the assessments will be conducted by a panel of private providers such as psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech pathologists – but not the person’s usual therapists.

NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds announced in April she would pause the contentious reforms amid growing concern from the sector and concerns from several state governments over the handling of the changes.

 

She had promised to wait for the outcome of trials and consult with the disability community before legislating the changes.

The leaked strategy, obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, is aimed at helping the government implement independent assessments but concedes NDIS participants have “demonstrated strong, orchestrated opposition” to them.

“There are ongoing risks if the Agency is not seen to have made changes in response to concerns raised in the consultation,” the report says.

“Sentiment has decreased with some stakeholders from neutral to negative as further details of the reform have been released or with increasing dissatisfaction of scope of consultation.”

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/secret-ndis-report-warns-of-backlash-unless-government-is-seen-to-have-listened-20210603-p57xsl.html

 

 

MEANWHILE:

 

Jamie Gibbings-Johns was a poster boy for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) when it was rolled out across Victoria in 2017.

Key points:
  • Mr Gibbings-Johns' family has complained to the NDIS watchdog after his support was withdrawn over "hygiene issues"
  • The ABC is aware of at least six complaints to the watchdog involving the same provider in the past 18 months
  • An inquiry has revealed the watchdog received 5,784 complaints across Australia between 2018 and 2020, yet issued only one fine

In a promotional video from the state's health department, he proudly shows off his new unit.

"He was excited because he got to live on his own, and he had those supports in place," his sister, Emma Ebery, said.

Mr Gibbings-Johns, 30, has multiple complex disabilities that affect his cognition, emotional regulation and ability to perform daily tasks.

The NDIS has made it possible for him to live independently for the first time — fulfilling his main goal in life. But that's now under threat.

"The whole purpose of the NDIS is that no person with a disability is left behind," Ms Ebery said.

"While we have the loophole of providers being able to just step away, that risk is there."

Supports withdrawn for 'safety and wellbeing'

Mr Gibbings-Johns is one of 430,000 Australians on the NDIS.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-23/ndis-poster-boy-dumped-by-care-provider-over-hygiene-issues/100155034

 

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lying for cabinet.....

 

By David Solomon

 

What’s worse? Misleading the House (of Parliament)? Or lying to Australian voters? The former can get you sacked if you are a Minister – and has on quite a few occasions. The latter, even if you are caught out, will likely go unpunished – could even help you keep your job.

It’s not supposed to be like that. Successive Prime Ministers have approved codes of conduct for their ministers that set high standards for accountability and honesty. Ministers are required to act in the public interest – that being a legal requirement as well.

Frankly, the public doesn’t believe it. Trust in government in Australia had reached an all-time low by the time the Morrison Government was voted out of office.

Morrison’s own lies and dissembling during his prime ministership set the tone. But last week in the hearings of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt disaster, we heard former Cabinet Minister Stuart Robert confess to one set of his attempts to mislead the public by providing information he knew to be false.

During questioning by counsel assisting the inquiry and by the Royal Commissioner, a former Chief Justice of the Qld. Supreme Court, Catherine Holmes, we learned that in a number of interviews in 2019, including with Laura Tingle and David Speers and after a National Press Club address, Robert defended the viability of the scheme while knowing that what he said was false.

Robert sought to excuse his dissembling over the Robodebt fiasco that he oversaw as being required by Cabinet solidarity. By that he probably would not have meant that being in Cabinet requires a minister to lie – rather that, as he put it, he was ‘responsible for holding the cabinet line’, irrespective of what he believed.

When asked by a sceptical Royal Commissioner, whether cabinet solidarity ‘doesn’t compel you to say things that aren’t true’ Robert replied, ‘As a dutiful cabinet minister, ma’am, that’s what we do.’

That’s what we do. We. Not just him, but the lot of them, apparently – at least in his view. And of course, that’s the view of a great many members of the public about governments and ministers. Justifiably, it would seem.

It must be said that that is not what is required of Ministers by several quite specific elements of their code of conduct. Take that published by Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister at the time Robert justified lying to the media and misleading the public. Morrison when introducing his statement on ministerial standards said, ‘All ministers and assistant ministers are expected to conduct themselves in line with standards established in this statement in order to maintain the trust of the Australian people.’

Among those requirements were:

5.1. Ministers are expected to be honest in the conduct of public office and take all reasonable steps to ensure that they do not mislead the public or the Parliament. It is a Minister’s personal responsibility to ensure that any error or misconception in relation to such a matter is corrected or clarified, as soon as practicable and in a manner appropriate to the issues and interests involved.

5.2. Ministers must not encourage or induce other public officials, including public servants, by their decisions, directions or conduct in office to breach the law, or to fail to comply with the relevant code of ethical conduct applicable to them in their official capacity. Ministers are also expected to ensure that reasonable measures are put in place in the areas of their responsibility to discourage or prevent corrupt conduct by officials.

6.1. Ministers are expected to conduct all official business on the basis that they may be expected to demonstrate publicly that their actions and decisions in conducting public business were taken with the sole objective of advancing the public interest.

 

 

No exemptions there for cabinet solidarity. But lots of matters where Robert failed to abide by the standards.

Robert’s sins were not exposed to the public until last week. But they must have been evident at the time to the Prime Minister and other senior colleagues who had been involved in administering or overseeing Robodebt. They were condoned. Now that’s cabinet solidarity in action.

 

 

READ MORE:

https://johnmenadue.com/lying-to-the-public-penalty-free/

 

 

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