Alarm sounded on rollout of NDIS

GOVERNMENTS and the disability service sector were ill-prepared for the radical shift to a NDIS and urgent work was needed, says an expert.

GOVERNMENTS and the disability service sector were ill-prepared for the radical shift to a National Disability Insurance Scheme and urgent work was needed to prevent problems in the rollout.

That’s the view of Ernst & Young partner and community specialist Mark Nixon, who supports the NDIS but is scathing about the preparation for its introduction in 2018.

“There needs to be an honest conversation about how this is going to be delivered — without the shock jocks getting involved — (about) how do we avert any major problems,’’ he said.

“It is a paradigm shift. It’s about preparing government, clients and the NGOs. In theory it will be more efficient — but it will take five to 10 years.’’

The NDIS will involve states handing responsibility for overseeing service delivery to the federal government at a time when the ceiling insulation scandal has exposed its deficiencies in running complex programs.

Mr Nixon said the NDIS was a unique reform that handed power to consumers, but many small ­organisations accustomed to receiving three-monthly block grants would be at risk of financial collapse in the handover to contested bidding for services.

“There is uncertainty for the providers: How do I get paid? How do I get people to sign up?” he said. “Large providers can probably cope, but mid-tier or small-tier providers won’t have the financial management systems to cope.” And large corporations — such as detention centre operator Serco — could use their clout to capture big parts of the market, he said.

Mr Nixon also warned that people with high needs in rural communities might require different service delivery models as it might not be economic for providers to cater to them under a market-based system.

A review chaired by former Centrelink boss Jeff Whalan into the capability of the National Disability Insurance Agency found “a large number of significant problems” with staffing, data, IT systems and guidance.

“The agency is like a plane that took off before it had been built and is being completed in the air,” the review found, but it praised the staff’s motivation and skills and the chief executive’s performance.

Under the NDIS, people with disabilities will be given money to spend on competing services as required. But Mr Nixon said it would operate as a three-tier system with open competition for some consumers being complemented by case management and intensive assistance models for those with high needs in remote areas.

“What is lacking for the NGOs is: where is the demand for services state by state. And no one has done that,’’ he said.

A spokesman for the scheme said it was a “learning experience for disability support providers as it is for the NDIA” but the trials would help both in optimising their approaches.

“Change and innovation are now starting to course through the provider sector … with new models of support being developed. People with disability, for the first time, have greater flexibility, choice and control over the support they receive and the providers engaged,” he said.

The scheme encouraged providers to become more efficient as it gave people greater flexibility, choice and control over the support they received. “They are becoming better informed consumers making individual choices, rather than passive recipients of a mass-market, one-size-fits-all welfare approach,’’ he said.