Disability community says no to key NDIS review proposals

The disability community is revolting against key recommendations in the NDIS review.

A 12-month review into the $40bn a year NDIS handed down in December made 26 recommendations to be implemented over the next five years.

The disability community is revolting against key recommendations in the NDIS review, with a survey by leading advocacy group Every Australian Counts finding nearly 70 per cent of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with the proposal to make provider registration mandatory.

A 12-month review into the $40bn a year scheme handed down in December made 26 recommendations to be implemented over the next five years that went to access, workforce, pricing and the need for more support outside the NDIS.

However, several recommendations have been met with alarm by some sections of the disability community and criticism that the proposed reforms will limit participants’ “choice and control”.

In a survey of nearly 1400 people – more than 70 per cent of whom were NDIS participants and family of participants – 68 per cent of respondents opposed the recommendation for all service providers to be registered. At present, only about 15,000 providers of disability services are registered; more than 150,000 are not.

Participants accessing unregistered providers, such as support workers, point to being able to form more personal relationships with individuals or small organisations providing services as opposed to big service providers, most of which are registered.

The survey also found 45 per cent of respondents disagreed or disagreed strongly with a recommendation that people who need 24/7 support should be funded at a ratio of one support worker to three participants except in ­extraordinary circumstances.

Only 14 per cent of respondents agreed with this recommendation, with many raising safety concerns when it came to shared supports. “The assumption all people with a psychosocial disability can be safely and effectively cared for under a 1:3 model of support is not only grossly flawed and inadequate, it presents a significant risk of harm to participants and carers,” one employee of a service provider said.

Every Australian Counts chair and member of the NDIS independent advisory panel George Taleporos said the survey signified that “the NDIS review was out of step with what our community wants”.

“Our community has spoken and said that the review recommendations pose serious threats to the key principles of choice and control that we fought so hard for by recommending changes that take away our autonomy and control over our own lives,” he told The Australian.

“Our community have said a strong ‘no’ to any changes that will impact on our ability to be in control of where we live, who we live with and who provides our support.”

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said all participants and providers would benefit from the new design, which “will ensure the level of regulation matches the risk”.

“The historic independent NDIS review said the current provider system wasn’t working and recommended a more modern regulatory system be designed in its place,” he said.

Opposition assistant NDIS spokeswoman Hollie Hughes said Labor needed to understand that “choice and control around the choice of provider is absolutely key”. “The current registration model would limit the number of small businesses and sole providers servicing an already thin market,” she said.