NDIA Accountability Project

Advocating for improved co-design and clarity in NDIS assessments

‹ PrevPage 1 of 3 · Source p. 1Next ›

Explainer: Amendments to the “Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1” Bill

Co-design and consultation for legislative instruments

  • With regard to the (amendments that have been passed which- require the Minister to have regard to the principle of co-design in subsection 4(9A) of the NDIS Act when making legislative instruments establishing:

     how needs assessments will be conducted; and
  the method to be used in calculating a participant’s budget.)

  • We are concerned that (these amendments do not legally require the Minister to co-design these instruments - they would only require the Minister to have regard to the value of co-design.)

  • We would then be strongly in favour of (the proposed amendments that would require the Minister to provide a statement describing the nature of the consultation, the people and organisations consulted, and a summary of the views expressed by those people and organisations, for all legislative instruments made under the NDIS Act)

Replacement assessments

We would strongly support (amendments for the Bill to clearly define a participant’s right to a replacement needs assessment)

We would strongly support that a (participant’s right to at least one replacement assessment should be legislated in the Bill).

Constraints on obtaining supports, spending funds and plan management

We would strongly support (An amendment from Dr Ryan (that) proposed that the power to impose conditions on how a participant obtains supports should only be used by the NDIA where it is “reasonably necessary” to achieve a specific purpose consistent with the objects of the Scheme, and where to do so would not be “unduly burdensome” for a participant)

Taking into consideration that

  • (The Senate Committee acknowledged the community is very concerned about the potential impact of these new powers. Accordingly, the Committee recommended the Government provide clarity on the circumstances in which the new NDIA powers will be used.)

  • (The Government has not introduced amendments or provided further clarity on these other new NDIA powers.)

Further we would strongly support the

(Amendments that have been proposed by Senator Lidia Thorpe which relate to consultation with the First Peoples Disability Network when making legislative

Page Content

(instruments and NDSI Rules, enshrining representation of a First Nations member on the NDIA’s Board, and access to supports for people with disability in custodial settings.)

Yours sincerely

Mike Wootten and Julie Love