Back to the NDIS Future
25 September 2013 at 1:59 pm
DisabilityCare Australia has now officially reverted back to the original name of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) under the new Coalition Government – a move welcomed by the Not for Profit sector.
“Going forward, the Agency will be known as the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA),” the CEO of the National Disability Insurance Agency David Bowen confirmed.
“Our approach to re-naming the Scheme and the Agency will be to minimise associated costs by, for example, letting existing DisabilityCare branded stocks run out before ordering replacement stocks bearing the new names.
“The Scheme’s branding, i.e. our colours, font and design will remain the same, and changes will be made in-house to the maximum extent possible.
“With the federal election behind us, we look forward to working with the new government and the Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Mitch Fifield.
“Senator Fifield played an active role in the disability sector during his time as Opposition spokesperson for disabilities and carers, and now takes on the role in Government with significant experience and familiarity of the issues facing people with disability.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was changed to ‘DisabilityCare Australia’ following the NDIS Bill passing the House of Representatives in Parliament In March 2013.
The Coalition is expected to establish a joint parliamentary committee to oversee the implementation of the NDIS.
The President of Not for profit organisation People With Disability, Craig Wallace, has welcomed the move to revert back to the NDIS saying it should never have been changed in the first place.
“DisabilityCare was widely disliked by people with disability as it reflected an attitude that those people who would benefit from the scheme were passive rather than taking control of their future,” Wallace said.
“We understood the link with MediCare and DentiCare but now that the levy has been established to self fund the scheme it’s time to get on with decision making and delivery of the NDIS.”
