NDIS taskforce rejects mandatory registration of providers

Bill Shorten has been advised to reject the mandatory registration of all NDIS providers, a key reform proposed by the government’s major review into the scheme.

A government taskforce has rejected a plan for mandatory registration of NDIS providers.

Bill Shorten has been advised to reject the mandatory registration of all NDIS providers, a key reform proposed by the government’s major review into the scheme.

A taskforce commissioned by the National Disability Insurance Scheme Minister to examine provider and worker registration under the scheme said “not all providers … should be registered”.

The taskforce, chaired by human rights lawyer Natalie Wade and including professor Alan Fels, said it came to its view against mandatory registration after hearing from more than 2700 people, many upset about the proposed change.

“I acknowledge that the proposal to introduce mandatory registration of all providers, as put forward by the NDIS Review, caused significant distress to the disability community,” Ms Wade wrote in the report’s foreword.

“The prospect of being ­required to use only registered providers immediately took the community back to dark times, when scarce resources and an ­absence of self-determined choice and control were commonplace when accessing disability supports and services.”

The NDIS review proposed a four-tier model for mandatory registration based on the level of risk, which would be determined by, among other things, the level of personal interaction the provider has with the NDIS participant.

The recommendation caused an outcry among many disability advocates and NDIS participants, prompting Mr Shorten to commission the taskforce.

The taskforce said the review’s model provided a “useful framework”, however under its alternative model NDIS participants would be able to register themselves as having “self-directed support” and then engage unregistered providers.

“Self-directed supports, where a person with disability or their nominee directly engage their workforce to support them in their everyday needs, is critical to realising the human rights of people with disability,” Ms Wade said.

Mr Shorten said he would carefully consider the recommendations as the government considers its final response to the NDIS review.

“Upholding the rights of people with disability is at the centre of both the NDIS review and disability royal commission’s recommendations, and this includes respecting and recognising the choices NDIS participants make about managing their supports,” he said.

“The experiences of people with disability were an important part of how the taskforce made their recommendations, and we will continue to keep people with disability at the centre of how we move forward as we consider this independent advice to government.”

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Mr Shorten also met South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and Tasmanian Premier Peter Rockliff on Friday to discuss concerns from the states that they were being sidelined on key decisions regarding the $44bn scheme.

Mr Malinauskas said this week that the NDIS changes contained in legislation before the Senate gave the federal government ­“absolute authority” in determining the extent of the scheme, even though the states would be saddled with providing many of the disability supports required outside the NDIS.

After Friday’s meeting Mr Malinauskas said the discussions had been “fruitful.”

The registration taskforce was strong on the need for providers to be subject to the highest level of registration.

“This should be implemented immediately, noting the significant risk to participants of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in these services and the importance of Scheme integrity,” the taskforce report said.