Page 3482 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
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ensure that this includes details of the number of providers registered and details of the services that will be available, to be provided to Members out of session if necessary.”.
Yesterday I provided a brief update to the Assembly on the readiness of providers to commence early intervention services in preparedness for the 2015 school year. As I said yesterday, the national disability insurance scheme has gone out to tender for these services. As I said yesterday, and I will say it again today, the NDIA is finalising this tender process, and it should be completed within the week.
Mr Wall asked in his closing remarks for me to provide details of those providers—through either ignorance or just skipping through the reality of this. This tender process is being managed through the NDIA. It is not mine; it is being managed by another organisation.
Mr Wall: There’s the blame shifting.
MS BURCH: Mr Wall is trying to say I am shifting the blame to someone else. The reality is that an independent commonwealth body, the National Disability Insurance Agency, have had carriage of that tender. It is for them to run and to make the decisions on. They are very close to announcing, as I said yesterday, the successful organisations that will be providing early intervention programs to our young ones next year.
Again, as I said yesterday, I will inform the Assembly and families of the results of that tender process as soon as I am able to do so. If Mr Wall thinks that I am not as keen as he is to get the information out to families, he is simply mistaken. I am sorry to keep repeating myself; however, Mr Wall appears not to understand that there is a tender process underway, being run by that commonwealth agency, and as soon as they finish their important work the information will be available to Canberra families.
This is the first time that the national disability insurance scheme has undertaken a procurement-style process for services anywhere in Australia. As such, it is essential that the proper time and care are taken to finalise this tender process in the interests of ACT families. The ACT government and the NDIA are focused on ensuring the best outcomes for families who will be accessing these services in the future.
I believe that the opposition, regrettably, is more interested in scoring political points against me and, in doing so, is creating a heightened level of uncertainty for families. Indeed all the change attached to the national disability insurance scheme raises questions for families. It would not be unreasonable for families to have various levels of concern and questions about this change. That is not unreasonable, and I have been doing all that I can, as have the National Disability Insurance Agency and Disability ACT, to be up-front and provide as much information as is available in a timely manner.
Let me be clear about exactly what this tender process has involved. It has involved numerous market soundings, the development of the tender conditions and appropriate advertising, an industry briefing, the evaluation of submissions, recommendations and
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