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Minutes of the Independent Advisory Council to the NDIS

Meeting 8 — 21 April 1.30pm to 4.30pm, hosted on MS Teams

Members

  • Ms Robyn Kruk AO (Principal Member)
  • Ms Leah van Poppel (Deputy Chair)
  • Ms Sharon Boyce
  • Ms Jennifer Cullen
  • Mrs Judy Huett (for item 6 only)
  • Dr Leighton Jay
  • Ms Tricia Malowney OAM
  • Mr James Manders
  • Ms Sam Paior
  • Ms Liz Reid AM
  • Mr Mark Tonga

Expert Adviser

  • Dr Ben Gauntlett, Disability Discrimination Commissioner

NDIA Representatives

  • Mr Martin Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer
  • Mr Oliver Bladek, Deputy CEO, Design, Digital and Strategy
  • Dr Sam General Manager, Policy, Advice and Research
  • Ms Liz™”

1. Minister for the NDIS

1.1. Principal Member’s welcome

The Principal Member opened the meeting at 1.30pm.

The Principal Member acknowledged the Traditional Owners of the lands on which Members, Expert Adviser and attendees were meeting.

The Principal Member noted apologies from Ms Allan-Zinner and Ms Mahmic who were unable to attend the meeting. The Principal Member advised Mrs Huett was also an apology, although noted she will attend for session six.

The Principal Member noted the additional information available in the Resource Centre on Diligent including:

  • Participant Reference Group report from Ms Malowney
  • Council Out of Session advice (Jan to Mar 21) report from Ms [OCR Correction: ’Ms 0 ™=s=

Independent Advisory Council

and meaningful communications on Scheme reforms, at key steps the NDIA takes, to increase community confidence in the transparency of decision making.

  • Council wants to see lives transformed by the NDIS in line with the vision of the Productivity Commission’s Report on Disability Care and Support. Members want to work with the Minister, the NDIA Board and the NDIA to present participant and community concerns in a constructive way. Council wants to ensure the Scheme is sustainable and is run using both insurance principles and a human rights approach.

Equity and Inclusion:

  • Council stressed the importance of ensuring the NDIA and NDIS are equitable and inclusive. Members said they want to see broad-ranging representation of people with disability, including women, people who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or culturally and linguistically diverse. Additionally, members stated that people with disability from rural and remote areas of Australia need to have equal access to and benefit from NDIS supports, just like their urban counterparts.

  • Council noted that community confidence would be strengthened if people with disability were appointed to the NDIA Board and to leadership positions within the NDIA. Council also noted that the disability community boasts viable Board candidates who have great skill, lived experience and governance acumen.

The Minister stated her aim is to make sure the NDIS Reforms are done well and are in line with the fundamental principles of the Scheme, ensuring the NDIS is available for generations to come.

Minister Reynolds acknowledged the sustainability challenges for the NDIS, noting the complexity of issues and suggested a detailed discussion on the sustainability challenges with Council would be beneficial.

The Minister said understanding the results of the IA pilot will be important, and encouraged Council to engage with this work.

Minister Reynolds thanked Council for their open and honest advice, their willingness to support her and the Agency and is looking forward to working closely with Members to ensure we deliver a Scheme where people with a disability can live their best lives.

The Principal Member thanked the Council members who presented the reports to the Minister — Ms Van Poppel and Ms Reid and the support of Ms =

ACTION 1: Principal Member and Secretariat to liaise with Minister’s office to schedule a meeting with Council on Scheme Sustainability and Scheme Reform.

ACTION 2: Secretariat to provide Minister Reynolds with Council’s submission on the National Disability Strategy.

2. Principal Member

2.1. Minutes, matters arising and declarations of interest

National Disability Insurance Agency

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Council Reports

3.1. Members and Expert Adviser: Snapshot of issues and concerns

Council noted the updated register of conflicts of interest circulated in advance of the meeting.

Council approved the minutes from the meeting held on 19 March 2021 and noted the matters arising. Additionally, the Principal Member queried the questions on notice raised to Ms Johnson at the last meeting. The Secretariat confirmed the Office of the Scheme Actuary will respond in writing and they will be circulated when received.

Council Members said the overwhelming views from the community is relief on the pause of the IA implementation. They noted that this provides an opportunity to better understand and consider the IA process and improve communications and engagement with the community and sector.

Members also highlighted concerns about:

  • Difference in provider rates for the general public compared to NDIS participants
  • Insufficient feedback from the Agency in instances where Assistive Technology applications are rejected
  • Worker screening in WA
  • Changes in SDA decision making by the NDIA

Scheme Reform

4.1. Scheme Reform Consultation

Mr Hoffman briefed the Council on where the Agency is at as a result of the recent Ministerial announcements. Mr Hoffman noted that:

  • The Agency will not launch IAs in July
  • The IA pilot is still continuing, noting the importance of the pilot in understanding the process and gathering valuable feedback from participants on their experience.
  • Legislation is complex and timing is uncertain

Dr advised Council that work will continue, building Agency capability to implement Scheme reforms on access and planning. He noted the NDIA now has the opportunity to:

  • focus and reflect on future engagement with Council, stakeholders and participants
  • further review the submissions received from the public consultations

Independent Advisory Council

to the ndis

National Disability Insurance Agency

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Disability Strategy

Independent Advisory Council

mae nidis,

The Council queried the Personalised Budget Tool (PBT), how the PBT relates to the assessments and also its impact on Scheme sustainability. Additionally, Members said a public consultation on the PBT was needed.

Members raised concerns from the community that some IA Pilot participants believe the pilot results will impact their current plans. Dr “en confirmed IA pilot information is not being used to inform participant plans and Members suggested communication around the pilot needs to be clearer.

Members stressed the importance of providing IA participants with a summary document to assist them in understanding their results as the reports received are quite complex.

5.1. National Disability Strategy Advisory Council

Mr presented an overview of the proposed approach to establishing a National Disability Strategy (NDS) Advisory Council to align with the commencement of the Strategy late in 2021.

Council thanked Mr for the opportunity to provide feedback and raised a number of items for consideration, including:

  • not all states have a Disability Advisory Council, what happens in those states?
  • membership requirements should include:
    • minimum of 60% of membership with lived experience of disability
    • the Chair being a person with disability
    • a representative from the Independent Advisory Council to the NDIS, who is a person with disability
    • Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander representation
    • Culturally and linguistically diverse representation
  • an active reference group structure and expert advisers to ensure diverse representation — be transparent on skills, capability and expertise
  • frequency of meetings should be monthly
  • NDS Advisory Council progress report tabled in Parliament yearly to ensure support and accountability
  • NDS Advisory Council update included as a standing item at the Disability Ministers Meeting
  • goals, strategies, key performance indicators and assessments are set by people with disability.

National Disability Insurance Agency

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6. Advice Implementation

6.1. Support for Decision Making

The Principal Member advised Council that the Secretariat is working with the Agency to establish a process to monitor the progress of the implementation of Council’s advice, to ensure it is on track.

Dr i provided an update on the implementation of Council’s advice on Support for Decision Making. Dr™”“”“” advised Council that the paper on Support for Decision Making Framework will be released for public consultation in late May.

Council raised concerns around the timing of public release with the Home and Living consultation paper, noting the audience is the same and they may not be able to respond to both.

Council stressed the importance of using simplified and clear language in the consultation papers, noting people with an intellectual disability have the right to understand the information and are the primary audience of this consultation.

Members said the nuances surrounding support for decision making, especially for participants with complex support needs, are poorly reflected in the framework.

7. Meeting close

7.1. Other Business

The Principal Member thanked all Members for their hard work out of session in the lead up to this meeting with the Minister. Additionally, advising the group the Secretariat will be in contact once details on the follow-up meeting with the Minister is confirmed.

7.2. Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled 18 May 2021 from 12.00pm-4.30pm.

Delivered by the National Disability Insurance Agency

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