Half of NDIA board members with disability after new appointments

People with disability will soon comprise half the board of the National Disability Insurance Agency which runs the $34bn a year NDIS.

Larrakia Nation chairman Richard Fejo. Picture: Keri Megelus

People with disability will soon comprise half the board of the National Disability Insurance Agency which runs the $34bn a year NDIS.

And the 12-member NDIA board will have a First Nations representative for the first time, with the appointment of Larra­kia man Richard Fejo from the Northern Territory.

Dr Fejo, who lives with a disability, joins West Australian disability advocate Joan McKenna Kerr as new members of the board, after their appointments were announced by NDIS Minister Bill Shorten.

Mr Shorten said the appointments, made in close consultation with state and territory disability ministers, take the number of people with a disability on the board to six out of 12.

“I congratulate both new appointees, who are passionate and longstanding advocates of ­people with disability, and their families and carers,” he said.

“I am particularly proud this government has appointed a First Nations representative to the NDIA board. It’s also the first time the NDIA board has had representation from the Northern Territory and we are ­addressing the rarity of WA representation.”

Ms McKenna Kerr, who has worked for more than two decades in the disability sector, is chief executive of the Autism Association of WA. She was a member of the NDIS Independent Advisory Council and of the Commonwealth NDIS Advisory Group.

Dr Fejo is chair of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation and of the Australia Day Council NT.

A senior elder at Flinders University, he sits on the International Relations Committee for the City of Darwin.