Bill Shorten’s move to register providers ‘premature’, say advocates

Disability advocates have raised alarm over Labor beginning the process of forcing all 170,000 NDIS providers to be registered, warning the move is ‘premature’ and demanding more detail.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten on Sunday revealed he would move against the 150,000 unregistered providers operating within the $40bn-a-year scheme.

Disability advocates have raised alarm over Labor beginning the process of forcing all 170,000 NDIS providers to be registered, saying the move is “premature” and demanding more detail.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten on Sunday revealed he would move against the 150,000 unregistered providers operating within the $40bn-a-year scheme, starting with mandatory registration of online platforms that connect disabled people with NDIS services, along with support co-ordinators who help manage participants’ plans.

Providers who assist those with the most complex disabil­ities to live independently, also known as Supported Independent Living providers, would also be registered after a period of consultation kicking off next month and the drafting of new regulations from December.

Mr Shorten said complete registration would be done gradually, in line with the recommendations of an independent taskforce led by human rights lawyer Natalie Wade, which reported to government earlier this year.

Peak advocacy group People With Disability Australia raised concern at the timeline of reform and commitment to co-design.

“Co-design is the only way we will get this right. The government has only committed to consultation, which far too often is a one-sided conversation. This could result in unintended consequences that have very real impacts on our day-to-day lives,” PDWA president Marayke Jonkers said.

People With Disability Australia president Marayke Jonkers. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

PWDA deputy chief executive Megan Spindler-Smith said the announcement had “come very fast” and ahead of a formal response to the NDIS review – due by the end of the year – as well as the registration taskforce’s final report.

“There are some concerns as to why these particular things are being put into play now, when (Labor) doesn’t necessarily even have a response yet to the actual registration taskforce report … or the review,” she said.

“We also need to understand the impact to the … 9000 people currently living in unregistered SIL. What does this mean for those people?

“Do they have to go through eligibility criteria all over again to then go on to the registered version? From a safety perspective, we just don’t want anyone homeless.”

Independent chair of Every Australian Counts George Taleporos urged the government to ensure the move to register providers did not lead to smaller organisations or sole traders being pushed out of the market, given they had less capacity to take on extra regulatory burdens.

Mr Shorten and the acting head of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, Michael Phelan, have sought to assure advocates that the new registration process would “not … be what it is today” and that smaller organisations would not face the same demands as large companies.