NDIA Accountability Project

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MINUTES OF THE INDEPENDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE NDIS MEETING 6 OF 2020

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MINUTES OF THE INDEPENDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE NDIS

MEETING 6 OF 2020

26 May 2020 11.00am to 1.30pm, hosted on the Microsoft Teams platform

DOCUMENT 12

Independent

Members

  • Mr John Walsh AM (Principal Member)
  • Ms Sylvana Mahmic
  • Ms Jennifer Cullen
  • Ms Janet Meagher AM
  • Mr James Manders
  • Prof Anne Kavanagh
  • Ms Liz Reid
  • Ms Sue Salthouse
  • Ms Kerry Allan-Zinner
  • Ms Judy Huett
  • Mr Kevin Cocks AM
  • Ms Leah van Poppel

Expert Advisers

  • Dr Ben Gauntlett, Disability Discrimination Commissioner
  • Mr David Moody, National Disability Services
  • Ms Ara Cresswell, Carers Australia
  • Ms Jane Flanagan, Disabled People’s Organisations Australia

NDIA Representatives

  • Ms Estelle Pearson, Board Director
  • Prof Jane Burns, Board Director
  • Mr Jeremy Dean, DCEO Participant and Planning Experience
  • Mr Oliver Bladek, Deputy CEO Design, Digital and Strategy
  • Ms Sarah Johnson, Scheme Actuary
  • Dr Sam redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant General Manager, Advice, Research and Evaluation
  • Mr Luke redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant General Manager, Partner & Contact Centre
  • Mr Hassan redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant General Manager, Strategy & Priorities
  • Ms Sumone redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager Strategy
  • Mr Peter redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Strategic Advisor ECEI and Autism
  • Ms Kathy redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager, Subject Matter Experts and Advice
  • Mr Chetan redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Enterprise Strategy Director
  • Ms Fiona redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Director, Independent Advisory Council
  • Ms Marina redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Secretariat Independent Advisory Council
  • Ms Jaklin redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Project Officer, Advice, Research and Evaluation
  • Ms Jodie redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Council Secretariat Support Officer

Attending

  • Commissioner Graeme Head AO, NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
  • Mr Aaron redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Nous Consulting
  • Ms Belinda redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant AM, Council Consultant

Apologies

  • Mr Ross Joyce, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
  • Mr Martin Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer

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Independent Advisory Council

[ndis]

1. Principal Member’s Welcome & Open

1.1. Principal Member’s Welcome

The Principal Member opened the meeting at 11.00am.

The Principal Member acknowledged the Traditional Owners of the lands on which Members, Expert Advisers and attendees were meeting. Later in the meeting Council member Jennifer Cullen also acknowledged National Sorry Day.

The Principal Member acknowledged the tragic death of NDIS participant, Ann Marie Smith, and the terrible circumstances that led to this.

The Principal Member welcomed Board Directors Estelle Pearson and Jane Burns.

1.2. Confirmation of Minutes and Declarations of Interest

Council members and expert advisers noted the updated register of conflicts of interest circulated in advance of the meeting. S47F- personal privacy

The Council approved the minutes from the meeting held on 12 May 2020; and noted the Register of Matters Arising.

1.1. Commissioner’s Update

Commissioner Graeme Head AO also acknowledged the death of redacted: s47F - personal privacy and noted the Commission is examining its regulatory processes in relation to this case, as well as working with other systems outside the Commission’s remit.

The Commissioner provided a brief overview of the Commission’s response to COVID-19, including its regular communications with providers and information for both providers and participants, to ensure continuity of support services during the peak of the outbreak. In response to Ms van Poppel’s question on notice about inconsistent application of physical distancing by SDA providers, Commissioner Head noted that the Commission received very few complaints in relation to COVID-19 and none related to poor practices on that matter. The Commission plans to take formal steps to understand people’s experiences in such settings. The Commission will also start a short to medium term program of work looking at participants who may need to continue in isolation, and how to respond to the ‘new normal’ and ensure participants and providers continue to be adequately supported.

Commissioner Head notified the Council that the commencement of safeguards arrangements in Western Australia has been deferred to 1 December 2020.

In response to a question raised by Ms redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant on behalf of the Self-Management Reference Group (SMRG) on restrictive practices and direct employment, Commissioner Head explained that there are two classes of supports deemed as having unique risks associated with them, for which the use of unregistered providers would not be available, irrespective of plan management. These supports included the provision of SDA and those related to specialised behaviour supports which require the use of restrictive practices. Commissioner Head noted the Commission has a flowchart demonstrating this and committed to circulate it to Council.

Action 1: The Secretariat to liaise with the Commission and circulate the flowchart on restrictive practices to Council and SMRG members.

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Independent Advisory Council

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2. Sustainability

2.1. Scheme Sustainability and Financial Trajectory

Ms Sarah Johnson, Scheme Actuary, briefed the Council on the Scheme’s sustainability and financial trajectory.

Ms Johnson referred to the recently released 31 March 2020 quarterly COAG report noting a consistent overall growth in Scheme costs, above Productivity Commission (PC) estimates, which does not correlate with improved participant outcomes.

Ms Johnson advised the Agency would be undertaking a number of initiatives to enable Scheme sustainability over time, including a review and reset of the Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) Strategy, as the large number of children becoming NDIS participants is driving some of the cost pressures.

Board Directors Estelle Pearson and Jane Burns commented the aim of the initiatives is to take the NDIS back to what was originally intended, and added the importance of focusing on supporting participants to live their best life. The Principal Member noted Council (past and present) has long advocated for a reasonable and necessary package of supports and a focus on outcomes for children, to improve Scheme sustainability.

Ms Liz Reid suggested a possible cause for the large increase in children within the Scheme might be that they are not accessing available mainstream or community supports external to the NDIS.

Council suggested a focus on innovative models to improve participant outcomes and cost efficiency.

3. Scheme Actuary

3.1. NDIS Data on Rural and Remote Participants

Ms Johnson presented the NDIS data on rural and remote participants, and provided an overview of the analysis completed on participants from the Far North region in South Australia.

Council members thought the analysis was very informative and noted the findings were consistent with other rural and remote communities nationally, noting that meeting basic needs (food or shelter) is a priority as a fundamental need, together with any disability- related need. Members noted the data showed many participants in the region still have a poor understanding of the Scheme and their plans, highlighting the importance of evaluating a number of ILC-funded projects within these communities.

Ms Jennifer Cullen raised the importance of assertive outreach and the remote community connector program to enhance engagement and support for participants within these communities.

4. Early Childhood Early Intervention

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Independent Advisory Council

[ndis]

4.1. Early Childhood Early Intervention Review

The Principal Member opened the session by acknowledging the longstanding interest of Council in ECEI, and the extensive work of Professor Anne Kavanagh, Ms Ara Cresswell, Ms Sylvana Mahmic and Ms Belinda redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant over the last six months in providing advice to the Minister and developing the formal advice to the NDIA Board.

Ms Mahmic provided a brief overview of Council’s advice ‘Promoting best practice in early childhood intervention in the NDIS’ which was presented at the May Board meeting.

Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant gave an overview of the management response to Council’s advice, noting the NDIA was now in a position to look in more detail at some of the issues and their causes. Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant clarified the intent of the management response, and agreed that a clearer statement of the NDIA position would be to change the Agency position from ‘Partially agreed’ to ‘Agreed, partially actioned’, with regard to a number of Council recommendations. Members also highlighted the endemic mismatch between policy and practice and noted that the challenge of changing practice is not fully reflected in the response.

Ms redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant also noted that the response in relation to best practice and the use of natural settings in the child’s development seems contradictory, as it states that the NDIS does not favour one modality (natural settings) over another (clinical settings) however it endorses best practice advice (which indicates preference for natural settings).

The Principal Member commended the expertise of Council members on the issue and suggested the NDIA collaborate with Council on the ECEI Strategy Reset project, maintaining Member involvement throughout the process. Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant agreed that this would be a welcome collaboration.

Action 2: Mr Dean and Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant to engage with a subgroup of Council Members to progress the ECEI Strategy Reset, and the implementation of the management response to Council’s advice.

5. Meeting Close

5.1. Other Business

The Principal Member noted that the Participant Advocacy division has requested Council’s feedback on the new Participant Service Charter. The Principal Member asked Members and Expert Advisers who would like to be involved to contact the Secretariat.

The Principal Member notified the Council of a request from the Disability Royal Commission Chair, for Council to provide a submission to the NDIA Board in response to the Employment Issues Paper recently released by the Commission. The Principal Member noted a subgroup would be created for this work and asked Council to forward their interest to the Secretariat.

The next meeting is scheduled on 9 June, to be hosted on the Microsoft Teams platform

The meeting closed 1.24pm.

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