To Whom It May Concern

Dear Sir/Madam

I write to you as brother and full time Carer for our Sister ( along with our brother ) in sheer frustration and exasperation as to how it has come to this where it is a always a constant fight with the NDIA and their Lawyers to obtain needs and more importantly her articulated wishes.

I want to start by saying we have some amazing Support from the Offices of Mr Shorten and Mr Khalil and their respective wonderful Staff and this has been a great comfort of immeasurable significance.

We have lost both mum in 2015 and more recently our Father in May 22 both due to illness and is finding it extremely difficult to cope as both my brother and I likewise.

 has been very anxious and not comfortable at all having strangers in the house and I, along

with our brother have been doing all her care needs full time.

We have been seeking permission from the NDIA to have myself recognized as her Official paid Carer under her Plan without asking for any additional funding as this is already contained within her current Plan. We have complied to and met the NDIA Guidelines of extreme exceptional circumstances of dad passing whom lived with and also the Religious/Cultural reasons of why it is not appropriate for to have a stranger come into the house and provide her personal care and yet it has been completely dismissed and there is now an AAT Hearing on the 15 December all adding more anxiety and mental stress on our sister as well as us by extension.

 has already articulated to all that she does not want anyone else to care for her except her

2 brothers which seems to be completely ignored. The NDIA was a Department set up by Minister Shorten and others to allow for Participant Choice and flexibility and this is clearly not what is happening.

Our other concern is the fact that I am currently showering my sister standing up in the bathtub which is completely unacceptable and extremely dangerous because we have been going back and for the with the NDIA about the emergency repairs to allow her to safely live in the house. has ample funding in her current plan and we have lost many many months in wasted emails and approvals etc. The current quote we have submitted has been rejected because of

• things like the NDIA requesting Full House Plans to be submitted when the issues are only in the Bathroom/WC area.
• We do not have access to plans which would cost in the order of $3k to produce. This clearly has no relevance to the areas of concern.
• Why was it deemed safe for to be showered in an standard existing Shower size but is not now acceptable ? For us to comply with the requirements, the cost would be approx. 3 x the current quote because it would mean major works to the external brickwork, framing, window etc.

I am a qualified Engineer and this is beyond words as to this being a huge reason why the system is broken. We need this urgently actioned as it is quite dangerous for health and safety to be showered in the bathtub standing up. It not acceptable that we would need to increase the cost of the repairs to approx. $45-$50 K so that it meets their requirements.

We are trying to limit the costs and allow the NDIS to function adequately cost wise

We have already submitted a plan for the layout of the bathroom and WC needs and this was approved and submitted via a qualified and very experienced OT that physically assessed the house and approvals for existing quote works so this is now just a complete waste of time. What would happen if were to fall and injure herself whilst people were delaying this to be actioned?

There must be a system of discretionary process allowed to be implemented in each individual case and circumstance instead of the one size fits all Policy that is currently being applied in our case for our sister.

We can provide more information if needed via who is Support Coordinator and further submissions as well as a Senior Representative from our Church

Please treat these matters urgently

• My brother and myself have joint responsibilities and blessings in caring for our beautiful sister and we will always do whatever we can to see that her needs and choices are met and indeed her wishes which have sadly been ignored and not once has she been spoken to directly from any Staff Member of the NDIA which is very disrespectful to be honest.

• It has been a complete and utter nightmare and a failure on the part of the NDIA to even acknowledge wishes and needs and that she has competently articulated all of this to a Senior Member of the AAT which is something that we did not even ask for.

• The Agency of the NDIA is completely disjointed and I will not accept the awful narrative they have written to us via multiple layers of Lawyers . It was disrespectful and offensive.

Simply put:

We have asked for assistance to resolve this matter in moderation and did not seek the AAT

Ministerial Representation on behalf of was made from the Office of Minister Shorten and MP Peter Khalil is also working on at the same time the NDIA is telling us we cant have NDIA matter assessed by anyone when it is before the AAT yet the NDIA themselves sent us numerous emails telling us of the Ministerial Representation made on behalf of and that they have 21 days to investigate but may take longer

Decision was made to not grant the approval for me to be her Paid Support Worker through the NDIA Plan without any direct consultation with either or myself and pushed onto the AAT with internal and external layers of Lawyers engaged by the NDIA telling us we don’t need Lawyers to proceed to the Case Conference. This is beyond logic or comprehension

Please know we are doing our best for despite no consultations made with us and given no choice

The NDIA

Documents public information advising of how we can be able to access rights and wishes as to how she gets cared for and by whom

We are grateful we have a platform like this to help our sister and will always advocate for her as did our late parents

•   Support Coordinator        has been absolutely exceptional in her advocacy for
  

and is likewise frustrated in the lack of consultation on this matter from the NDIA