Disability advocates warn of NDIS bill privacy peril

Disability advocates have accused the Morrison government of failing to consult with them over major changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme legislation.

NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds. Picture: APH

Disability advocates have accused the Morrison government of failing to consult with them over proposed changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, declaring the proposed amendments could contravene the human rights of participants.

People with Disability Australia president Samantha Connor told a Senate inquiry scrutinising the legislation on Monday she had serious concerns about parts of the Bill that would allow information to be shared across government authorities, threatening the privacy of scheme members.

“We have serious concerns with the amendments and believe they should not go ahead. They have the potential to cause serious harm,” she said.

“They could breach our rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”

The changes, introduced to parliament last month, follow the death of Adelaide woman and NDIS participant Ann-Marie Smith, who died from septic shock, malnourishment, severe pressure sores and multi-organ failure in April last year.

The Morrison government is hoping to strengthen reporting and information-sharing requirements to help prevent another death like Smith’s. But advocates fear the changes could have unintended consequences.

Ms Connor flagged concerns that new operational guidelines could be used “punitively against NDIS participants” and be used to obtain information about the psychiatric history of participants to “refuse people a guide dog if they’ve made a suicide attempt in the past 12 months”.

The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations’ expert adviser, Natalie Wade, told the committee it and other groups were not consulted before the Bill was introduced to parliament – an oversight she called “a serious and significant threat to the human rights of people with disability”.

Greens senator Jordon Steele-John asked why stakeholders, including the Department of Social Services, did not consult with peak bodies and disability advocacy organisations.

DSS senior department official Luke Mansfield assured the committee that, should the Bill pass, stakeholders would be consulted before the new regulations were up and running.