Page 709 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 26 February 2013
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they acquired their disability or based on where they live. The NDIS provides equity so that people with disability will receive the care and support they need over their lifetime regardless of where they live.
The NDIS will not only support those in our community who most need our support; it will contribute very positively to the whole community by assisting those people with a disability who can work to enter or get back into the workforce. It will also help the carers of people with a disability by providing funding for support services.
From July 2014 eligible ACT residents will begin to transfer to the NDIS. We expect 2,500 Canberrans with disability and enduring psychosocial disability to begin to receive this support during 2014-15. The number of people supported by the NDIS is likely to increase to approximately 5,000 by June 2016. In the meantime, from July this year, the ACT and Australian governments will invest $10.6 million to respond to the demand for disability services that we know exists today. Our government is committed to working with the sector to improve the choice and control that people with disabilities, their families and carers have over the care and support they need.
In preparing eligible Canberrans for choice and control under the NDIS, one of the key groups that were initially focused on was young people aged 18 to 25 with high and complex needs who have left school and are transitioning to adult lives. These young people will receive additional supports for their engagement in meaningful daytime activities, such as vocational, recreational and social activities, in accordance with their whole of life goals and ambitions. We will assist these young people and their families to make use of flexible disability support services that aim to provide meaningful activities for the young people and certainty for their families.
Our enhanced service offer in the ACT will enable eligible people to have access to a broad range of support which will seek to improve quality of life and independence while also providing a break for their families and carers. The types of supports and services to which people may have access will include aids and equipment, modifications which increase their independence, access to daytime activities to enhance community inclusion, and respite services.
The NDIS is a significant change to the way support services are funded and provided and will impact on people with a disability, their families and carers. It will require a transition for those who provide services and for governments as well. Transition programs are being developed with all of these groups to ensure that they are ready for the NDIS.
We do not walk down this path alone. The commonwealth government will contribute to enhanced disability service delivered in the ACT from July this year while we prepare for the transition in July next year when the first client comes through the entry gateway of the NDIS transition agency. The commonwealth has committed to investing $12 million in the ACT in sector preparation and workforce development. Nationally there is $122.6 million for this important preparation and strengthening of the community sector.
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