NDIA Accountability Project

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MINUTES OF THE INDEPENDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE NDIS MEETING 2 OF 2020 31 March 2020

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FOI 24/25-0546 DOCUMENT 4

Independent Advisory Council

MINUTES OF THE INDEPENDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE NDIS

MEETING 2 OF 2020

31 March 2020 11.00am to 1.00pm

Members

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

Expert Advisers

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

NDIA Representatives

  • Mr Martin Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer
  • Dr Sam redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant General Manager, Advice, Research and Evaluation
  • Maryanne Diamond, General Manager Disability Advocacy
  • Mr Richard redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager Strategic Communications Media and Marketing
  • Ms Justine redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Senior Project Officer Participant Reference Group
  • Ms Taryn redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Senior Strategic Communications Officer, Communications and Engagement Division
  • Ms Fiona redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Director Independent Advisory Council

Secretariat Independent Advisory Council

  • Ms Jodie redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Council Secretariat Support Officer
  • Ms Jaklin redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Project Officer Advice Research and Evaluation

Attending

  • Ms Belinda redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Council Consultant

Apologies

  • Ms Leah Van Poppel
  • Mr Kevin Cocks

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1. Principal Member’s Welcome & Open

1.1. Principal Member’s welcome

The Principal Member opened the meeting at 11.05am.

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

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 and confirmed they had no additional conflicts to declare.

The Council approved the minutes and actions arising from the meeting held on 17 March 2020, subject to some minor corrections identified by members.

1.3. Covid-19 Update

Martin Hoffman, NDIA Chief Executive Officer, provided an update on the latest developments in relation to the NDIA response to COVID-19.

Mr Hoffman said that the NDIA is communicating regularly with participants about the changes affecting participants in response to the coronavirus outbreak. In relation to providers, Mr Hoffman noted that the NDIA has increased the price for key daily living and care support items, as well as paying one month’s billing in advance.

The Council also raised questions at the level of understanding of the support needs of people with disability when they access the health system, noting advice and ongoing communications may be needed between the NDIA and the Department of Health.

In relation to the impacts on the disability workforce, Dr Gauntlett stressed the importance of participants having a contingency plan in the case they are left without support, and the role of the NDIA in communicating and educating participants on how to set this up. Mr Hoffman agreed and said that the NDIA has already been working with a number of platform providers to increase capacity, encouraging direct providers and participants who self-manage to register with these platforms as a source of additional workforce.

Ms Cresswell urged the need for an increase in the number of hours support workers on a student visa are legally allowed to work, noting the requirement to limit participant’s interactions with different support workers makes this a priority.

Action 1: Mr Hoffman to respond to the following questions taken on notice:

“What measures, if any, are in place for participants and providers residing in the 76 remote Indigenous communities with travel restrictions in the Northern Territory?”

“Currently, only participants and plan nominees can seek a plan review, leaving those participants with complex needs and without formal support unable to seek a review (in the past advocates were able to seek a review on behalf of a participant). How is the NDIA supporting these participants? Case study: VALID, the peak disability organisation in Victoria representing people with intellectual disability and their families, provides advocacy and support to participants who live in State Government Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) who do not have family, unpaid supporters or legal guardians to assist with decision-making. These participants do not have a Plan Nominee because they have no-one to

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nominate and do not have guardians because there are no major decisions required for which the Victorian Tribunal would appoint one. They cannot however make simple NDIS decisions without full assistance and are therefore unable to seek a review due to change of circumstances.

2. Participant Reference Group

2.1. ‘Participants First’ - Updated Participant Reference Group Engagement Model

Maryanne Diamond, General Manager Disability Advocacy, briefed the meeting on the new model for the NDIA to engage with participants as part of the Participant Reference Group (PRG).

The Principal Member noted that Sylvana Mahmic, Council member, is the Council representative on the PRG.

The Council welcomed the new engagement model as a step towards using the voice of participants proactively and effectively by the NDIA, noting there were other issues still to be resolved. Examples of these included ensuring a steady rotation of participants to allow different voices to be heard; supporting participants to build their leadership skills to effectively contribute to the PRG and remunerating participants for their involvement.

The Council also offered assistance with the recruitment of participants as part of the members’ and expert advisers’ roles in the community.

Action 2: The Council to provide further feedback out of session to Ms Diamond.

3. Council Communications

3.1. Council Communication Strategy

Richard redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager Strategic Communications Media and Marketing, consulted with members on the Council’s Communications Strategy.

Members endorsed the suggested change from the acronym ‘IAC’ to ‘Council’, as the abbreviated form for the Independent Advisory Council.

Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant sought Council’s feedback in relation to the Council narrative, their role and purpose. The Council noted their role as a main stakeholder for the NDIA, providing feedback on NDIA projects but also their ability to initiate advice and inform the NDIA, as stated in the legislation. Ms Meagher also noted the Council is solution-focused, bringing the issues people with disability experience to the attention of the NDIA and producing a response from the Agency.

The Principal Member noted that the Council has access to confidential information and the need to filter any sensitivities when making information publicly available.

Council members also raised concerns at the proposed ‘individual’ promotion of Council members via various communications channels, with Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant clarifying that the aim is to raise awareness of the Council’s work, not the individual members.

The Principal Member also noted the opportunity for the Council to reach a wider range of participants, which could then engage with the NDIA via the PRG; suggesting Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant to link this Strategy to that of the PRG presented by Ms Diamond.

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Action 3: Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant to discuss the strategy with Ms Diamond, and provide the Council with an updated communication plan for feedback out of session.

4. Meeting Close

4.1. Other Business

The Principal Member noted the update provided by Ms Salthouse in relation to her participation as Council representative at the February NDIS Advisory Group on Market Oversight, run by the Department of Social Services.

4.2. Other Business

The next meeting is scheduled on 14 April, to be hosted on the Microsoft Teams platform

The meeting closed 1.12pm.

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FOI 24/25-0546 DOCUMENT 5

MEETING AGENDA

INDEPENDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE NDIS

Date: Tuesday 14 April 2020

SESSION 1: PRINCIPAL MEMBER’S WELCOME & OPEN 11.00am-12.00pm

  • ITEM 1.1 Principal Member’s welcome
  • ITEM 1.2 Confirmation of Minutes and Declarations of interest
  • ITEM 1.3 COVID-19 update

SESSION 2: NATIONAL DISABILITY STRATEGY 12.00pm-1.00pm

  • ITEM 2.1 Revised approach to a new National Disability Strategy
    Presenter: Stephen redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager Disability Policy, DSS

SESSION 3: MEETING CLOSE 1.00pm-1.05pm

  • ITEM 3.1 Other Business

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