NDIA Accountability Project

Occupational therapist and mother advocates for NDIS amendment to ensure supports for children with disabilities

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024

Submission 184

I am writing to request that the ‘Getting the NDIS Back on Track Bill” is scrapped and that new legislation is developed after genuine consultation, and in codesign with persons with disabilities, their carers, the organisations that represent them and the States of Australia.

As an occupational therapist who works with NDIS participants and a mother of two children with disabilities, I am acutely aware that the scheme requires amendment to ensure that all individuals with disabilities receive the reasonable and necessary support they require into the future.

The government continues to talk about scheme sustainability, and it has become clear that this bill is about cost cutting at the expense of the human rights of persons with disability. There are many ways the NDIS scheme can be improved without removing participants from the scheme, who have already proved they have permanent and significant disabilities.

Firstly, current statistics demonstrate that 75% of cases at the AAT are overturned (in favour of the participant) and these statistics do not include the cases that are settled at conciliation, prior to the AAT. The amount of money spent on external law firms, review of decisions when the evidence is often provided in the first Occupational Therapy Report is ridiculous.

I don’t think any reasonable person would argue that the opportunities for fraud need to be eliminated and that only reasonable and necessary supports should be provided.

I refer to the NDIS Community of Practice submission for detailed information related to the issues with the NDIS bill as it currently stands. At a minimum I request that the following amendments be made to the NDIS bill before it is passed by parliament.

The Bill must:

  • Provide a definition of ‘assessment of support need’.
  • State that assessors will be qualified allied health professionals working within their scope of practice.
  • State that the assessors will be independent in the performance of their functions
  • State that the assessment of need will be carried out in good faith, irrespective of the cost of identified support needs.
  • State that where the assessment finds identified supports to be the responsibility of another system (e.g., health or education), that this is clearly stated in the assessment report, and it must be evident that these systems have capacity to meet the identified need.
  • State that the assessment will include the ’whole of person’s support needs, not limited to a single impairment (s)
  • Ensure that a copy of the full assessment report will be provided to the participant.
  • State that the participant has the right to at least one replacement assessment; and additional assessments if priors were found to be flawed.
  • State that the assessment report will include a review date.

Please do not pass the NDIS bill. People with disabilities lives depend on the government to get this right to ensure they will be supported to live “an ordinary life” now and in the future.