NDIS Brings 150 Jobs to Western Sydney

Western Sydney will be the location for the head office of the new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Quality and Safeguards Commission.

Minister for Social Services Christian Porter said the head office would be established through the first half of 2018, creating up to 150 jobs in western Sydney.

“Western Sydney will provide an excellent home base for the important work of the new NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission,” Porter said.

“The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is being established to oversee the delivery of quality and safe services for all participants in the NDIS.

“Being in western Sydney will allow the commission to access the significant skills and experience of the local disability sector workforce, including staff from state-based systems.

“It’s absolutely vital that those entering the NDIS have confidence that they will receive quality services and that we have a rigorous regulatory framework covering those providing services and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission will provide that confidence.”

Porter said apart from the establishment of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission in western Sydney, the NDIS was providing a “jobs bonanza” for the area as the market in disability grew to meet the demand generated by the NDIS.

“The job market for the provision of services to people in the NDIS in New South Wales is doubling from almost 30,000 full-time equivalent positions in 2016 to almost 59,000 full-time equivalent positions in 2019,” he said.

“It’s estimated that up to 3,300 of those additional positions will be in western Sydney.

“So, not only is the NDIS ensuring we are doing the best we can for people with disability, their families and carers, it is also driving the creation of a new service market and, as a consequence, significant numbers of new jobs in the disability sector will benefit communities in western Sydney.”

The NDIS has previously said that it has already exceeded 100,000 participants, on its way to approximately 460,000 participants when it reaches full scheme in 2020, including about 140,000 in New South Wales.

The Turnbull government allocated $209 million in the 2017-18 Budget for the establishment and operations of the commission over four years.

It will commence operations in 2018 and take responsibility for each state and territory as they reach full scheme.

The government said the commission’s work would be underpinned by the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework .

In February 2017, the Disability Reform Council released the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework that addressed many of the issues raised during the 2015 Senate Inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings.

The framework was developed in consultation with people with disability, carers, providers, and peak bodies over a three-year period.

“Once operating nationally, the commission will bring together the nine current systems operating across Australia, providing a single approach for regulating the NDIS across the country,” the minister said.