Dear Committee Chair & Members,
Thank you for the opportunity to lodge this Individual Submission with you as part of the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s current enquiry into the NDIA’s intention to introduce Independent Assessment Panels onto Participants like myself in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Firstly to introduce myself to you, my name is David Cunningham; I am a 42yr old manual wheelchair user who has Cerebral Palsy along with associated dystonia in my right leg and visual impairment being blind in my right eye. I have been a prominent Participant, Customer and Reform Advocate in the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2015 and am here today to strongly oppose any introduction of Independent Assessment Panels on Australians like myself who are Participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
In my experience to date in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, of the Care Plan Review Meetings I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure to endure, the only one that was positive at all for me was my most recent one as part of my appeal conciliation proceedings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in June, 2020.
I can safely say to you that the rest have been an incompetent, botched, penny-pinching exercise built deliberately to impede my life goals and potential not to mention frustrate the meeting of my needs which are growing as I get older in years.
The astounding thing is knowing that the NDIA Board and Agency has done very little to address this systemic system failure and moved now disappointingly to attempt to outsource their own in-house disability awareness training challenge to their proposed independent assessment panels.
I believe and submit to you that this decision by the NDIA constitutes a dereliction of its duty of care towards participants such as myself; it’s also an affront to both the spirit and intent of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and its Act of 2013.
Furthermore, I submit to you that if the National Disability Insurance Scheme is about selfdirection, choice and control then clearly these ideas should apply equally to the NDIA board and agency just like they do with us Participants - we need them to move toward upskilling our own disability knowledge base through robust In-House Disability Awareness Training Systems (IDATS) including suitably able participant engagement from across Australia representing all types of disabilities so those involved will be better placed to redress any systematic failures relating to Care Plan Review Meetings.
I’d request at this junction that it be noted by the Joint Standing Committee the yet unanswered Urgent Questions I submitted to the Ministerial Office of Hon Stuwert
Independent Assessments
Submission 28
Robert, MP on the 14/9/2020 in an email, the exact questions are here listed below for your consideration:
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What was the rationale behind the Productivity Commission’s recommendation in favour of Independent Assessment Panels in the NDIS?
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What work has been carried out by the NDIA Board on investigating the fairness and consistency of Participants Care Package Plans?
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Does the NDIS have its own In-house Staff Awareness Training System? If not, Why not?
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When was the first Independent Assessment Panel Pilot?
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Why hasn’t the Pilot Report been released to the Taxpaying Public?
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Has there been a Cost-benefit Analysis done between Independent Assessment Panels and an In-house Staff Awareness Training System? If Not, Why Not?
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How does the NDIA propose to gain participants compliance with the Independent Assessment Panels?
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What are the internal review and appeal mechanisms available to Participants should they receive an adverse review?
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How do the Independent Assessment Panels comply and compliment Sections 17A and 31 of the NDIS Act 2013?
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Will Independent Assessment Panels be subject to review after a scheduled timeframe?
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Exactly how will Independent Assessment Panels contribute to the Disability Awareness and Knowledge Base of the NDIS?
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Exactly what will be the annual monetary contractual amount be to the successful tender for Independent Assessment Panels?
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How vigorous was the Competitive Tender Process undertaken by the NDIA for Independent Assessment Panels?
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How were Participants included in the Competitive Tender Process for Independent Assessment Panels in the NDIS?
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How was the Participant Impact Statement carried out for Independent Assessment Panels in the NDIS? And, When will this Statement be released to the Taxpaying Public?
and,
- Exactly how has the NDIA determined the bonafities and competencies of the successful tender for Independent Assessment Panels in the NDIS?
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Submission 36
Further to these yet to be answered urgent questions, I managed to achieve some progress on the question of Participant Engagement in in-house disability awareness training when I received the following response from the NDIA’s General Manager of the Participant Experience Design Division, Brett Bennett, who gave the below commitment in his letter of the 9/10/2020;-
“Off the back of your feedback this is something we’re going to explore.”
This being said above, I would strongly submit to you that the NDIA board and Agency have already signalled a possible willingness to admit the fundamental error of their ways and adjust course accordingly in the more self-empowering process of self-education.
I believe wholeheartedly that this is the more fruitful and constructive methodology for the Agency to adopt and introduce into the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
For in the end, its all about empowerment, and the best empowerment always starts at home!
Finally, I can confirm my consent to have my Individual Submission made publically available as I sincerely commend it to you extending my thanks once again.
I look forward to reading the Joint Standing Committee’s Final Report and Recommendations and await the Australian Government’s considered and favourable response.
Yours sincerely, david Cunningham. NDIS Participant, Customer & Reform Advocate.