Page 4372 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (10.05), by leave: I thank the Assembly for the opportunity to provide an update on the national disability insurance scheme. I am bringing information about the national disability insurance scheme again to this place because it is important that all members of the Assembly understand the size of the reform and the complexity of the work which is being undertaken nationally and locally to implement the changes and to manage the challenges and maximise the opportunities the national disability insurance scheme offers our community.
In my last ministerial statement on the NDIS in September, I informed the Assembly about the outcomes of consultation with people with disability, their families and carers and the provider sector on what supports they wanted and needed to move in to the NDIS and operate in a brave new world of control and choice. I outlined the enhanced service offer, the first round of which had only just closed. Since then, I have had the pleasure of announcing successful recipients—some 800 people with a disability. The second round has recently closed and is now being assessed.
I also outlined the investment in housing the ACT government is making to support the NDIS and the new models of housing being developed to provide more and better housing options for people with a disability. Today I will provide an update on the major pieces of sector and scheme development which we are undertaking to be ready to move our whole system across to the NDIS over the two years of launch from July of next year through to July of 2016.
The ACT government’s investment is occurring at a national and strategic level. It involves a massive direct financial investment, but it is also the investment of our attention, energy and advocacy. Our investment is occurring within and across the ACT community. And finally, but arguably most importantly, our investment is occurring at the individual and personal level.
As the supports and services used by people with a disability progressively move from the historical funding arrangements through block-funded government contracts paid in advance to fee-for-service invoicing arrangements paid in arrears, we must also ensure that the interests and wellbeing of people with disability are safeguarded. Indeed, during the launch phase, the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act requires existing ACT safeguarding mechanisms to operate until a nationally consistent approach is developed and implemented with the full rollout of the scheme from July 2019.
Safeguards are the protections around people which minimise the risk of harm and which protect people’s right to be safe. Equally important, safeguards enable people to have their own voice and ensure that voice is heard and respected. These safeguards include the legislation, regulation and policy which mandate the rights of people with a disability and the processes which guide the delivery of services. This work includes identifying the safeguards which will remain the responsibility of the commonwealth government with which the ACT specific safeguards must dovetail and work together. We also have the benefit of being able to look to and learn from the other launch sites.
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