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Premier
Level 11, 15 Murray Street, HOBART TAS 7000 Australia
GPO Box 123, HOBART TAS 700i Australia
Ph: +61 3 6233 3464 Fax: +61 3 6234 1572 Tasmanian
Email: Premier@dpac.tas.gov.au G overnment
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29 JAN 2012
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs
PO Box 6100
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Sir/ Madam
On behalf of the Tasmanian Government, we are pleased to make this submission to the Senate
Standing Committees on Community Affairs’ inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Bill 2012 (the NDIS Bill).
Tasmania supports the establishment of a NDIS and continues to work collaboratively with the Commonwealth Government and state and territory governments to develop the NDIS and to implement the July 2013 launch.
The Tasmanian NDIS launch will provide support to all Tasmanians with disability between the ages of 15 to 24 years of age who are assessed as eligible to receive individual funding arrangements or packages of support through an NDIS. It is estimated that the launch will provide support to
approximately | 000 current and potential clients.
Tasmania is supportive of an NDIS that offers greater choice, control, and national consistency for people with disability, their families and carers. We acknowledge the need to legislate a number of elements of the Scheme, and appreciate the efforts made by the Commonwealth Government drafters to consult with states and territories. However, there remain a number of concems with the NDIS Bill as it is currently drafted and with the drafting process. These concerns are the tone of the NDIS Bill; the lack of subordinate instruments; limited stakeholder consultation; and the compensation provisions.
(i) Tone of the NDIS Bill
Tasmania notes that throughout the drafting process, the Commonwealth Government have made efforts to soften the tone of the NDIS Bill. However, the overall the NDIS Bill is still prescriptive and bureaucratic and a number of the provisions could place a considerable onus on individuals, their families and carers.
Of particular concern are a number of provisions in Chapters 3 and 4 regarding participant plans and administration, whereby the NDIS Launch Transition Agency (the Agency) can require participants to undertake potentially onerous tasks including extensive information provision and record keeping within timeframes and processes set and controlled by the Agency.
13/1585/1
Examples include clauses 26 and 36 relating to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’s requests for information to inform assessments and prepare participant plans; and section 46 ‘Acquittal of NDIS
amounts’, relating to the retention of transaction records (this links to section |182(4), which provides
for debt recovery if records are not retained).
Other sections potentially have onerous and punitive impacts for families and carers, for example sections 55 to 57 relating to the powers of the CEO in regards to requiring information from persons other than participants, and the consequences they may face should they not comply with the CEO’s requests.
Tasmania acknowledges the need for robust Agency processes but is concerned that detailed prescription of these matters in legislation may limit participants’ choice and control, and the flexibility for the Agency to respond to people’s differing circumstances and requirements. The NDIS should not create additional and inflexible layers of bureaucracy for people with disability, their families and carers,
(ii) Subordinate Instruments
The lack of accompanying legislative instruments makes it difficult to consult with stakeholders on the more detailed elements of the NDIS. tt has also made it difficult to assess how the NDIS Bill will interact with state and territory legislation.
(iii) | Stakeholder Consultation’
Jurisdictions were given a very limited timeframe in which to consult key stakeholders on the draft NDIS Bill. Stakeholders have also advised that there was insufficient time and information to allow meaningful analysis and comment on the draft NDIS Bill. It is important that state and territory governments and the community are given sufficient time to provide input into the development of the NDIS Rules.
(iv) | Compensation
The NDIS Bill empowers the CEO of the Agency to require participants to seek compensation if the ‘CEO believes they may be entitled to it; and enables the agency to recover NDIS related costs from compensation payments. This could place a heavy personal and financial burden on participants, their families and carers. This also creates potential financial and administrative risks for other compensation schemes. More broadly, in regards to compensation schemes, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the interactions between the NDIS, jurisdictional ‘no fault’ injury insurance schemes, and the proposed National Injury Insurance Scheme.
Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to the inquiry and | wish the Committee well in
this important work. The Tasmanian Government is committed to the establishment of an equitable, robust and sustainable NDIS and will continue to work with the Commonwealth Government and state and territory governments to reach agreement on these issues, largely through the development of the NDIS Rules.
Yours faithfully