Call for Action on NDIS Rollout
11 December 2014 at 3:28 pm
The supporters of Every Australian Counts campaign have sent over 1000 emails calling on the State and Federal Disability Ministers to clarify when the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be rolled out.
On Friday the Ministerial Council on Disability Reform which includes all State and Territory Ministers will be meeting to discuss the progress of the NDIS.
This week Federal Assistant Minister for Social Services Mitch Fifield said that there will be no delay to the rollout of the NDIS unless requested by the State and Territory Governments.
Every Australian Counts Campaign Director, John Della Bosca said: “Tomorrow is a great opportunity for the State Ministers to tell Senator Fifield that they have no interest in a delay. In my opinion we can have the timetable locked in tomorrow, once and for all.”
“The Ministers and their departments must work flat out so that by the first COAG meeting of 2015 they are ready to announce the comprehensive blueprint to take the NDIS to every Australian who needs support.
“In just over 18 months’ time, the NDIS is due to start expanding from 30,000 participants in the trial sites to 460 000 around the country. People with disability, their families and carers need to know how and when they will be included in the NDIS.”
“The NDIS is life changing and will provide excellent opportunities, but uncertainty about how the scheme will be implemented is an issue for many families.”
John Della Bosca said people with disability, their families and carers have fought long and hard for the NDIS, and now they need ministers to see it through.
“The disability community is sending our politicians a clear message prior to the Ministerial Council on Disability reform tomorrow. The time for talking is coming to an end. It’s time for action, we want the Ministers to outline the full rollout strategy for the NDIS.”
Earlier this week a new report found that Australia’s disability sector is dysfunctional, and transforming it is complicated, arduous and stressful with the National Disability Insurance Scheme currently "immersed in problem-solving".
Called the State of the Disability Sector, the report was launched by National Disability Services, the peak industry body for non-Government disability services at a national CEO conference in Melbourne which hosted 550 sector leaders.
“The resilience of disability service providers is being tested. Ambitious reforms, a tight fiscal environment, rigid program rules and uncertainty about wage setting in supported employment make for a complex operating environment,” NDS Chief Executive, Dr Ken Baker, told the Conference.
