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Meeting minutes for Equity and Inclusion Reference Group

Meeting 2 — 8 November 2023 10.00am - 4.00pm

Hosted at NDIA Richmond office and via MS Teams

Reference Group Members

Leah van Poppel, Principal Member & Co-Chair Jennifer Cullen Tricia Malowney George Taleporos Mark Tonga Judith Drake Denton Bowles Margherita Coppolino Suzy Trindall Clare Gibellini Kalena Bos

NDIA staff

Gemma redacted: s47F - personal privacy, Assistant Director, Independent Advisory Council (IAC) Secretariat redacted: s47F - personal privacy, Assistant Director, IAC Secretariat Matilda redacted: s47F - personal privacy, Communications Officer, IAC Secretariat Corri McKenzie, Deputy CEO, Service Design and Improvement (session 3.1)

Attending

Liz Reid, IAC Member (session 3.2) James Manders, IAC Member (session 3.2) Samantha Jenkinson, IAC Independent Consultant redacted: s47F - personal privacy 2 Captioners

Apologies

Barbel Winter

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Session One - Pink

1.1 Principal Member’s welcome and open

Ms Leah van Poppel (Leah) opened the meeting and Acknowledged Country.

Leah welcomed Samantha Jenkinson who is attending the meeting online. Samantha is the new IAC Independent Consultant

Leah noted this meeting will not have a Co-chair and Co-chairs for each Reference Group will be chosen once the Minister for the NDIS confirms the IAC’s membership.

redacted: s47F - personal privacy

Session Two - Purple

2.1 Minutes, Actions and Conflicts of Interest and Terms of Reference

Dr George Taleporos (George) noted that session 4.1 of the minutes need to record more clearly that members of the disability community may not identify themselves as part of LGBTIQA+ community and the NDIA need to ensure it also hears their voices.

Members approved the minutes with this update.

Members noted new conflicts of interest:

redacted: s47F - personal privacy

Session Three - Orange

3.1 Reform for Outcomes - Overview

Leah welcomed Ms Corri McKenzie, DCEO of Service Design and Improvement in the NDIA. Corri talked about the NDIA’s Reform for Outcomes (RFO) work. She noted:

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This work aims at to make the experience of being in the NDIS better for people with disability.
NDIA is working in co-design with the IAC and Disability Representative Community Organisations (DRCOs) on what changes should be made to improve the participant experience.
6 co-design working groups have been set up to work on different parts of the RFO.
RFO is focussed on what the NDIA can do now, not things that need change to government policy or the NDIS Act
Through the RFO the NDIA is considering how the changes NDIA makes will impact different groups of people and communities. The NDIA must respect intersectionality when working with people and developing their plans. This means enabling NDIA staff to work with participants differently and be aware of issues.
The Co-design Advisory Group is looking at how the NDIA does co-deign. The Advisory Group is helping the NDIA work out how co-design has been done in the past, how the co-design process is going now, and what needs to be done to make co-design better.

Members noted:

There needs to be broad engagement with the community, so they can better contribute to co-design.
There also needs to be support available to increase the ability of individuals when they start to work in co-design.
The NDIA needs to respect intersectionality when working with people and developing their plans.
It is important to think about intersectionality when support systems interface, such as disability and health. For example, an autistic person going into a planning meeting needing support for dentistry.
It is positive to have an NDIA DCEO speaking in a positive way about an intersectional approach. This also needs to translate to a cultural shift with those on the ground, such as planners and Partners in the Community staff.

Action 1: The Equity and Inclusion Reference Group agreed to provide themes around intersectionality from reports from the ground to the different co-design groups.

Session Three - Blue

3.2 Reform for Outcomes – Talking about Reform for Outcomes topics

Fraud

James Manders (James) joined the meeting to talk about the topic of Fraud.

James said that the co-design working group on fraud is thinking about fraud on a scale from a deliberate criminal act through to softer forms of fraud such as misuse of funds, and misleading practices (sometimes called sharp practices).

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James gave an update on the co-design working group to date:

The current focus of the working group is creating a campaign that goes out to participants, plan managers and support coordinators to help identify fraud.
The campaign will include communications agreed by the group and working with participants in sharing the support for decision making framework.
Working with support Providers other than plan managers and support co-ordinators will be the next step.

Members noted:

The NDIA should promote self-management and support participants’ awareness on the appropriate and flexible use of their funding.
Any NDIA communications campaign about fraud should provide information on the complaints process, with a view to prevent risk for participants who may unintentionally misuse funding.
The NDIA should investigate the auditing process used by providers and continue to work closely with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission as part of their co-design work on fraud.
There is a need for a campaign for NDIA frontline staff, working in regional and remote areas about supporting First Nations participants to self-manage their funds.
There should be a softer approach or ‘circuit breaker’ for participants who may unintentionally misspend funds.

Action 2: Members to send examples of good and bad practices from the provider community to Secretariat, particularly about plan managers and support coordinators.

Workforce Capability

Liz Reid (Liz) joined the meeting to talk about the co-design work on NDIA Workforce Capability.

Liz gave an update on the work of the Workforce Capability co-design working group so far:

The aim is to design solutions and make an action plan for the NDIA.
The work is just gaining momentum. The agreed themes are:
- Planner specialisation
- Training and support for partners
- Improved guidance material for staff
- Minimum standards for staff joining the NDIA

Members noted:

Delegates also need to be better trained. Training should be customised to be very specific to a role. Skills need to include excellent communication skills, ability to have difficult conversations, and trauma informed practice.
People with disability need to be delivering training and involved in the interview processes for new staff.

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HumanAbility are a resource to find out qualifications available to people with disability. For example, Holmesglen TAFE have a new disability qualification that does not have the requirements for any physical lifting etc. This makes the course accessible to some people with physical disability who otherwise couldn’t do Certificate IV in Disability.
The importance of customised employment and relaxing some education requirements.
Concerns about the ‘cultural load’ carried by people with disability in the NDIA.
The NDIA should implement the ‘Sunflower Scheme’ for people with hidden disability.

Action 3: Secretariat to give Liz’s details to Denton for follow up discussion.

Action 4: Secretariat to collate all comments and forward to Liz. Particularly about what is working well and what can be done better.

Session Four - Orange

4.1 Issues Members have heard in their communities

NDIS access and planning

Some NDIS planners seem to encourage participants aged 60 years and over to move to My Aged Care without letting them know they are ineligible to access the NDIS once they transition.
Reports that asking for evidence from occupational therapists can delay the access and planning process. This is because there are not enough occupational therapists.
A continued concern that assessments to access the NDIS can be expensive and are not refundable. This could mean that children are missing out on early intervention.
Some families in the defence force find it harder to access the NDIS. This is because they move across Australia or overseas for work, making it difficult to gather evidence for access and to get support from local providers.
There needs to be more NDIA staff who better understand people with intellectual disability and their needs for access and planning.
Planners don’t see self-employment through micro-enterprise as a vehicle for social inclusion. They only see success as financial independence, not building personal and social skills. Planners sometimes view micro-enterprise as a hobby, so they don’t approve core supports.
Some people with psychosocial disability are concerned that changes in the future to the NDIS will make it harder for them to gain access.
NDIS letters about plan rollovers are confusing, and people think they need to use the funding they already have for another 12 months.

NDIS service and supports

NDIA should improve the way it responds to accidental or minor misuse of plan funding by participants who self-mange.
Some prisoners with disability find it difficult to access supports through their NDIS plan before they leave prison, to help them transition back into the community.

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There is a shortage of occupational therapists who specialise autism. Recognition this is also a problem for other disability types.
Some LACs do not call back when participants contact them.
Some people with intellectual disability don’t feel like they are in control, the planner is.

The NDIA, disability community and other services

The health system should better inform people with disability and those who help support them about getting important primary health checks.
Some people in the community are confused about PACE, the new NDIA computer system. The NDIA should share clear information about PACE, including information in Easy Read.
Concerns some participants are discharged from hospital with nowhere to go due delay in Supported Independent Living/ Specialist Disability Accommodation funding decision.

Action 5: Identify if PACE will improve the messaging going out to people regarding plan rollover.

Action 6: Identify what the NDIS is doing to support Defence families, including support for children.

Action 7: Identify what support is available to participants who have a microenterprise.

Session Five – Green

5.1 Participants who are ageing

Leah welcomed Samantha Jenkinson to lead this item. Samantha explained that she was just starting to plan the IAC advice about participants who are ageing.

Members noted:

There needs to be a definition for ‘participants who are ageing’. This also needs to consider that the ageing processes can be different for people from different cultural backgrounds and disability types. For example, First Nations people can access aged care at 50.
There is a need for better coordination and communication between NDIS systems and My Aged Care.
NDIS participants need support to make an informed choice about moving into aged care system.
NDIA should make decisions based on a participant’s needs, not their age.
People with high support needs could be at risk of not having enough supports if they move into aged care, given that aged care funding is often less than funding through the NDIS.
The elder abuse action plan has involved many organisations, for example FECCA, and LGBTIQA+ organisations. The advice should pick this up.
Concerns about people with intellectual disability being pushed into aged care at a young age.
There is a need for more equitable systems. My Aged Care is often viewed as a ‘consolation prize’.
People with disability who transition from the NDIS to My Aged Care may be unable to keep working without NDIS supports to work or run their business.

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Samantha noted the next steps:

Samantha will write a planning document which includes key questions, who to talk to, who would be in a steering group, and a timeline.
A draft of this will be ready for the December IAC meeting.
In March the draft advice will be tested with IAC and the Equity and Inclusion Reference Group.

Action 8: Secretariat to share Samantha’s email address with reference group members.

Session six – Red

6.1 Feedback on Agency Strategy updates

LGBTIQA+ Strategy

Members noted:

It was useful to connect to the new lead of the LGBTIQA+ Strategy team.
There will be an LGBTIQA+ Summit on 18 March 2023.
Concerned that stakeholders they are engaging with are mostly peaks, it would be good to have more representatives who have lived experience and those who are emerging leaders.

Action 9: Provide this feedback to LGBTIQA+ Strategy Team and make sure they are aware of the queer peer group.

First Nations Strategy

The First Nations Advisory Council meeting was postponed due to the Referendum. Now is a time for healing but members are looking forward to reconnecting.

Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Strategy

No comments or questions.

Session Six – Brown

7.1 Other business

Margherita Coppolino gave recognition and support to the First Nations Members of the reference group, acknowledging the recent outcome of the referendum for a Voice.

7.2 End of meeting

Members said they were happy with the format and location of the hybrid meeting today. Suggested improvements are:

Having people in the physical room dial in via a device so they can put their camera on when they talk. This helps people online see them.
An Owl camera device can track people’s faces when they talk.

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Leah closed the meeting and thanked Members for their participation.

Members thanked Leah for her inclusive Chairing today.

The meeting closed at 4.00pm.

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Words we use

Actions: A list of things we need to do. In every meeting we make sure the list has all the things we still need to do on it and nothing we have finished working on.
Co-Chair or Co-Chairs: the Chair of a meeting is the person who leads the meeting. In the Reference Group, we have two people who lead the meeting, so we call them Co-Chairs.
Co-design is when the NDIA will work together with people with disability and the broader disability sector to design policy.
Conflict of Interest: Conflict of Interest Declaration is a document where you need to say all the different ways you are connected to the NDIS. This could include if:
- your work is around the NDIS
- you are a NDIS participant
- you are part of other reference groups that talk about the NDIS

This is because we all need to make sure your job in this Reference Group doesn’t clash with other jobs you do. It is ok to have a conflict of interest, but you need to let the IAC Secretariat know.

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD): Is a person who has a different culture or speak another language that is not English. For example, this can be someone who:
- Is a migrant. They left their country by choice to live and work in Australia
- Is a refugee. They left their country because it was not safe to live there anymore.
Diverse: this means different in some way. Diverse people have personal features or experiences that make them different.
Employment: having a job that pays you for your work.
Engagement: people working together to share their experiences, thoughts, feelings and ideas on a project.
Equity: everyone has the same chance to do or be part of something, no matter their background, identity, or experience.
First Nations: people who identify as Aboriginal Australians or Torres Straight Islanders.
IAC Secretariat: the team that organises the meetings, sends papers and pays members for attending.
Inclusion: something is inclusive when everyone can take part.
Intersectionality: happens when someone is different in more than one way.
LGBTIQA+: the letters LGBTIQA stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer or questioning and asexual. The ‘+’ is for people who are part of the LGBTIQA+ community but don’t talk about themselves using a word from this list.
Matters arising: things that are happening now to do with the Reference Group.
Minutes: notes of what happened in a meeting.
Participants: these are the people that the NDIS helps.
Principal Member: leads the Independent Advisory Council (IAC) and is one of the Co-Chairs of the Reference Group.
Psychosocial disability: disability that affects how you feel, think and interact with others.

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Reference Group: is a group of people who know a lot about something. This group knows a lot about equity and inclusion.
Strategy: planning a better future and how we are going to get there.
Transgender people: people whose gender identity is different from the one they were given when they were born.
Work Plan: is a document that says what the Reference Group will do in the next year, or two years.

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