Page 711 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 26 February 2013
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will qualify for funding under the NDIS have not had the opportunity to make basic decisions in their lives and, as a result, lack decision-making skills and experience. This research project is trialling formal decision-making based on a recently developed South Australian supported decision-making model, within the legislative environment of the ACT.
In this phase of development it is important that we work collaboratively across government and non-government. There is still work to do before advice can be given about exactly what will happen to every individual, every organisation, every carer and every family—which, of course, is what everybody does want to hear. The scheme requires coordination between the ACT and commonwealth governments and with our community partners.
As I said, the scheme requires coordination between the ACT and commonwealth governments and with our community partners. To this end we have established the NDIS Expert Panel, which is providing expert advice to the NDIS Taskforce and to me as minister. I had the pleasure of joining the expert panel last week to hear firsthand their advice on how we can ensure that the voices of all people with a disability are heard. The NDIS Expert Panel is made up of members drawn from across the community sector. It includes business leaders, advocacy groups, mental health experts and people from culturally diverse backgrounds as well as carers and people with a disability. It is a key consultative forum which provides strategic advice on issues affecting people with a disability, their families, carers, natural supports and funded service providers. The panel first met in September of last year and has met monthly to discuss the design and implementation of the NDIS in the ACT.
In addition to the expert panel, the NDIS Taskforce held two public forums last year and is engaging with our partners in the community sector through a number of forums, both large and small, about the detail of how the NDIS will affect their organisation and how we can work together to make the transition a positive one. This consultation and engagement will continue as we prepare for the launch of the NDIS here in the ACT.
From July 2013 the ACT will be offering enhanced disability services. That day will not be the end of the journey. There is still much work to do, but we have started to put in place a fundamental part of the social safety network, not just for those with a disability but for our whole community.
Madam Speaker, I look forward to providing further updates to the Assembly as we move through these most significant changes. I present the following paper:
National Disability Insurance Scheme—Ministerial statement, 26 February 2013.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Health and Minister for Higher Education) (10.30): I will make a few
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