MINUTES OF THE INDEPENDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE NDIS

MEETING 4 OF 2020

28 April 2020 11.00am to 1.30pm, hosted on the Microsoft Teams platform

Members

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

Expert Advisers

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’s Organisations Australia
Ms Ara Cresswell, Carers Australia

NDIA Representatives

Mr Martin Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer
Mr Oliver Bladek, Deputy CEO Design, Digital and Strategy
Dr Sam redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant General Manager, Advice, Research and Evaluation
Ms Chris redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Chief Counsel, Corporate Services and CFO
Mr Michael redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager, Compensation & Recoveries
Ms Liz redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant A/g General Manager, Provider and Markets
Dr Lloyd redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Director, Assistive Technology
Ms Kathy redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager, Subject Matter Experts and Advice
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 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 AM, Council Consultant

Apologies

Ms Jennifer Cullen

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Independent Advisory Council

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.

The Principal Member welcomed Leah van Poppel redacted: s47F- personal privacy, and Kathy redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Branch Manager Subject Matter Experts and Advice, who will be supporting the Council Secretariat team.

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. Ms Jane Flanagan declared that the National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) is in contract negotiations with the NDIA to deliver the National Community Connector Program for CALD communities.

The Council approved the minutes and actions arising from the meeting held on 14 April 2020.

The Principal Member noted the outstanding actions related to support coordination. Dr Sam redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant General Manager Advice, Research and Evaluation, said that the NDIA is progressing a program of work around support coordination, and will be seeking the opportunity to re-engage with the Council in early May.

In relation to the outstanding action of ‘Council to return to the topic of training’, the Principal Member noted this had been covered at the Intellectual Disability Reference Group and committed to circulating the papers.

Action 1: The Secretariat to circulate the IDRG papers related to training.

1.3. COVID-19 Update

Mr Martin Hoffman, NDIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Mr Oliver Bladek, Deputy CEO (DCEO) Design, Digital and Strategy, provided a brief update on the latest measures implemented by the NDIA to support participants and providers during COVID-19.

Mr Hoffman acknowledged the contributions of the Council to the NDIA response to COVID-19, noting the change to more frequent, shorter Council meetings enabled timely consultation with and feedback from Council.

Mr Hoffman said that there was general support for the NDIA’s response to participants and providers to ensure continuity of supports, with the Agency now focusing on determining what the ‘new normal’ will involve. He also noted the NDIA was on track to meeting some, if not all, of the Participant Service Guarantee benchmarks proposed in the Tune review by the end of June.

The Council raised the positive impacts of the increased use of technology during COVID-19, including more frequent and better access to service delivery in remote areas, and the opportunity to have ECEI services delivered remotely into the home, as recommended in best practice.

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Independent Advisory Council

The Council welcomed the Minister’s announcement of the low-cost assistive technology (AT) measures for continuity of supports during COVID-19, and suggested consideration of the measures becoming permanent. Mr Bladek noted that this would serve as an initial test on plan flexibility to gain valuable learnings that would enable increased flexibility in others areas. Members suggested consideration of families that may require access to more than one device, such as families with multiple members with disability.

Mr Hoffman noted the extensive work being led by Mr Bladek to review and rewrite the operational guidelines and practice guidance, which will bring consistency of decisions and transparency, contributing to flexibility, and asked Council’s input into the process.

Mr Hoffman raised the issues of financial sustainability for the Scheme, noting data shows an increase in participant spend of around 14-15% per year in some areas over the last few years, and the need for the NDIA to understand what is driving this and how to best manage it.

Action 1: Mr Bladek to consult with the Council on the review of the NDIA operational guidelines and practice guidance.

Action 2: Mr Hoffman to further discuss with the Council the Scheme’s sustainability and financial trajectory.

2. Assistive Technology

2.1. Flexible Provision of Assistive Technology (AT) Supports

Liz redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant A/g General Manager, Provider and Markets and Lloyd redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant Director AT provided an update on the policy for the flexible provision of AT supports, endorsed by the NDIA Policy Committee in December 2019.

Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant noted that the Joint Standing Committee Review of Assistive Technology recommended that the NDIA enable a hire and rental approach to AT, through which specific cohorts would benefit. Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant said that the main purpose of this policy was to give the market confidence to set up the necessary infrastructure for this approach to work, ensuring participants would receive ongoing funding for capital supports.

Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant said that early trials have proven successful, with participants negotiating the changing needs on AT supports directly with providers, and no involvement required from the NDIA. The Council was supportive of rent/loan schemes however suggested that Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) and Family Organisations (FOs) would be well placed to manage and run with these models. The NDIA is now looking to trial the ‘try-to-buy’ model.

The Council provided feedback that the policy in its written form does not reflect the positive intent in enhancing participant flexibility as verbalised by Mr redacted: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant. Ms Mahmic noted that this carries the risk of the policy being incorrectly interpreted and implemented, potentially reducing the choice and control of participants.

Ms Salthouse recalled previous involvement and informal advice of Council on AT, which called for a holistic approach to AT services, moving beyond AT products and their affordability to include services for participants to have the information and knowledge required to make informed decisions and truly have choice and control.

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