Page 208 - Week 01 - Thursday, 10 February 2022
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proposal to introduce mandatory independent assessments and the associated legislative reform changes were developed and progressed in the absence of co-design and engagement with people with disability.
I note that despite the significant financial contribution that the ACT government makes as a partner in the scheme, I was better informed about progress on more than 100 drafts of the legislation by the media than I was by the former commonwealth minister for disability.
As the Minister for Disability, I am the ACT representative on the disability reform ministers forum. Along with many people with disability and the sector, I was overjoyed when the commonwealth announced, in the disability reform ministers communique from the 9 July 2021 meeting:
Ministers agreed Independent Assessments would not proceed. Ministers agreed to work in partnership with those with lived experience of disability through the Independent Advisory Council and disability representatives, on the co-design of a new person-centred model that delivers consistency and equity in access and planning outcomes, consistent with the legislative requirements for assessments as set out under the National Disability Insurance Scheme 2013 Act.
Fast forward two months from this announcement to 9 September 2021, when the commonwealth released further proposed legislative reform, this time targeting the way a person’s plan—the fundamental structure that provides certainty for a person about what supports they receive—was to be reviewed, and further concentrating decision-making power in the commonwealth minister and the CEO of the NDIA.
The legislative reform consultation process of the commonwealth was not co-designed with people with disability, and it was open for consultation for only four weeks, during the height of the ACT’s COVID-19 lockdown. I did ask the commonwealth minister to show a little kindness to the Canberra community during this difficult period by allowing more time for submissions, but Minister Reynolds was not willing. It is critical, moving forward, that the commonwealth, in the interest of transparency and providing genuine co-design opportunities for people with disability and the disability sector, will allow for reasonable time frames for engagement and consultation with people with disability so that their voices are heard, learned from, and consequently shape the future of this person-centric scheme.
I submitted to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs inquiry into the Participant Service Guarantee Bill 2021 on behalf of the ACT government. I also appeared as a witness, along with the Deputy Chair of the Disability Reference Group, C Moore, to reinforce the view that the commonwealth has not kept its commitment to co-design, which it made only in July 2021. At that time all disability ministers agreed to work, in partnership with those with lived experience of disability through the Independent Advisory Council and disability representatives, on the co-design of a new person-centred model that delivers consistency and equity in access and planning outcomes.
The ACT did, however, acknowledge that the commonwealth incorporated co-design in the proposed legislative reform changes from October 2021, which will bring the
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