Draft Lists Of NDIS Supports

Consultation on draft lists for supports related to section 10 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024.

23 August 2024

PWDA responded to consultation on the draft lists for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Supports related to section 10 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 ('NDIS Amendment Bill').

Both the PWDA Board and our national membership did not support the NDIS Amendment Bill, therefore we do not support the draft lists provided of NDIS supports.

Alongside other national DROs, we expressed strong concerns about several aspects of the draft lists in a joint letter to Minister Shorten, including but not limited to the lack of engagement and consultation, the potentially significant impact on participants and how the draft lists will be implemented and reviewed.

We have strong concerns about;

• participant access,
• the safety and inclusion of people with disability,
• how the proposed changes will impact choice and control, and
• how the proposed changes interact with other elements of the overarching framework the NDIS Amendment Bill will introduce.

There is little support for the draft lists in the disability community because of the potential for implementation of the lists to reduce the safety and inclusion of people with disability and increase costs. Continued access to supports for people with disability is necessary and non-negotiable.

What we would like to see instead of draft lists

Our solution is for the lists to be replaced by clear guidance issued by the NDIA for each category of support in the draft lists and maintaining the current reasonable and necessary test for deciding on what supports the NDIS will provide.

This solution has multiple benefits and improves:

• The quality of decision-making by providing robust advice to decision-makers on how they interpret correctly what is a reasonable and necessary support
• The NDIS participant experiences of NDIS planning and review processes, and
• The reduction of costs associated with resolving poor decision-making and seeking justice and recourse through the Administrative Review Tribunal.

Read the full submission for more.

Our expectations if draft lists are required:

Despite our deep opposition to the NDIS Amendment Bill and the draft lists of NDIS supports, if the draft lists are implemented instead of our solution above, we strongly urge the following to occur:

1. Introduce a pilot/trial period to support the robustness of transitional

   arrangements

2. Co-produce a disability reform roadmap with the disability community and national DROs
3. Ensure all existing supports and plans in the previous planning framework are honoured
4. Rolling any participants to foundational supports must only occur when effective and available
5. All future consultations and processes must be accessible.