Page 1890 - Week 06 - Thursday, 5 June 2014
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Clause 7 omits section 6(2)(c) as it references the territory as the funder of disability accommodation. In the NDIS environment, the territory will no longer have a funding relationship with accommodation providers.
Clause 9, section 8A, inserts a new definition to provide that an operating entity for a visitable place by an official visitor is defined in the Official Visitor Act 2012.
In clause 9, section 8A, definition of a visitable place, paragraph (a) omits the reference to territory as a funder.
Clause 11, section 8C(1), provides that notice of a visit must be given to an operating entity at least 24 hours before a visit. This is in recognition that the director-general will no longer have a funding relationship with the provider.
The ACT government currently funds and regulates a range of disability services, excluding employment services. This bill confers power onto the territory to monitor those services against a regulatory framework.
The current landscape of government-funded disability services is complex and varied. Not all of the disability services currently funded and regulated by the ACT government are funded under the Disability Services Act 1991. In fact, they sit across three directorates: the Community Services Directorate, Education and Training Directorate, and Health Directorate. Contracts across these three directorates will be phased out as a result of the introduction of the NDIS.
When analysed as a whole, the current regulatory environment is also complex. Program areas in each directorate require disability services to meet different industry and service standards. This reflects the diversity of types of service that the ACT government funds and regulates.
In seeking to maintain existing safeguards and quality standards, it is necessary that the solution adequately capture the suite of relevant service types and standards. The bill also needs to accommodate and capture the growth in the sector, including relevant new providers entering the market. This bill achieves those objectives.
There are an additional three instruments that will sit under the bill. They contain significant content, which goes to the operation of the act. The government was on the front foot in tabling a copy of the draft instruments in May to provide members with context and transparency regarding how the bill will interact with subordinate instruments.
As I touched on earlier, the instruments comprise draft regulation that establishes the penalty provisions for non-compliance; two disallowable instruments which set out the service types that fall within the scope of the act; and the standards that apply to those services. Section 12 of the Disability Services Act 1991 authorises the development of regulation that will support this bill.
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