Page 4373 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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The ACT NDIS task force along with the Human Rights Commission have completed a substantial body of work to identify how current ACT safeguards will transfer to the national disability insurance scheme environment. We could have put all our investment into dealing with complaints once the NDIS was up and running in July 2014. But, instead, we are taking the initiative and getting in front of the game. I am delighted that the Human Rights Commission has been able to be involved at the front end, or system-build end, so to speak, because it gives the ACT the ability to build a human rights compliant NDIS system.
In the ACT the requirement of funded providers to meet the national disability standards is a contractual requirement contained in the providers’ funding agreement with the ACT government. The challenge is how we can maintain that requirement to meet the standards when the government no longer has contracts with providers because their funding comes from the National Disability Insurance Agency or individuals with an NDIS package. How we meet the challenge is a work in progress.
We are also looking at the range of consumer protections in the ACT to ensure they will meet the needs of people with a disability in an NDIS environment where they will be able to use their package to purchase services and supports which are not just specialist disability services, such as Jim’s Mowing service if they choose to live independently or gym memberships or holidays instead of respite. We do this work understanding that safeguards need to be tailored to people individually. Personal support networks of family and friends are paramount, and the only fail-safe safeguard comes from the people around who care for and about us.
We are investing in our providers to ensure that people have access to the supports and services they need when they need them and which look and are delivered in a manner that best works for them. We are doing this by working with our community partners through National Disability Services, the Mental Health Community Coalition and the ACT Council of Social Services and drawing on the advice of the ACT NDIS expert panel.
We understand our community disability service providers are comparatively small and many are likely to find the transition from government contracts and block funding to an invoicing arrangement under the national disability insurance scheme challenging. In partnership with the commonwealth we will invest in the business capacity of local providers to assist them to be better positioned to respond to the potential increased demand of their services.
In partnership with the commonwealth we will also invest in developing business systems to manage within a new financial operating environment. It is also important that we invest in those organisations which need to redevelop their service models and staff skill base or develop new service offers for a national disability insurance scheme person-centred market.
In looking at the disability workforce in the ACT, there are approximately 1,900 full-time equivalent staff, many of whom will require information and development to prepare for the cultural shift the new market environment will bring. We will also
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