Page 353 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 17 February 2015
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Disability ACT and Therapy ACT staff have had the opportunity to participate in development workshops provided by the Lighthouse Business Innovation Centre. These workshops have offered advice to people interested in establishing a private practice or business, with personal mentoring available. Opportunities for Therapy ACT staff to undertake secondments in the community sector have also been available to assist with employment transition to practitioner roles outside government.
A number of people in Disability ACT and Therapy ACT have taken up these opportunities, and I expect that many others will do so over the next year. It is wonderful to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well in our disability sector, and I know there are some really excellent staff who are taking the opportunity to do something new and develop a service that people with disability will want to engage with.
In conclusion, the launch of the NDIS last year was a result of much preparation and planning. But there is still a lot to learn as we continue to transition to this new world of service delivery for people with disability. As the scheme continues to build this year we will see more people getting access to services that are person centred and individually tailored to fit their needs.
I would like to thank everybody who has worked with us to get to this point. It would not be possible without the collaboration, dedication and perseverance of people with a disability and their families, government agencies, community organisations and the NDIA. You have all worked hard to make the NDIS a reality here. I know it is not all smooth sailing, but the NDIS is a reform that is overwhelmingly supported by our community and everyone in this place. The ACT government is committed to making it work. Again, on record, I thank all those service providers, families and people that are working collaboratively and so hard to make sure the NDIS fulfils the optimism with which we launched it last year. I present the following paper:
National Disability Insurance Scheme—Implementation report—Ministerial statement, 17 February 2015.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Urban Renewal and Minister for Tourism and Events) (10.22): I thank Minister Burch for that comprehensive update on the implementation of the NDIS in the territory. As Minister Burch indicated, 1 July 2014 was a very significant date in the territory’s history, with the NDIS trial beginning in the territory.
The NDIS is a new way of providing community linkages and individual support for people with a permanent and significant disability. Let me be clear that this is a visionary policy that was advocated by a federal Labor government and delivered by Prime Minister Gillard as a way to properly care for some of the most vulnerable members of our society and to help them lead their lives to the fullest.
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