NDIS: top of COAG agenda this week

The Council of Australian Governments will meet in Canberra on Wednesday, 25 July 2012.  It is expected that the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be high on the agenda.  


The Every Australian Counts campaign last week collected more than 6000 messages from people with disabilities and their carers about the urgent need for implementation of the NDIS, to lobby COAG. This statement from Every Australian  Counts summarises the progress so far and the next steps urgently needed. John Della Bosca (Director of Every Australian Counts) says:

“These messages are a snapshot of a system in crisis. Stories of eternal waiting, the ‘confusopoly’ of red tape, our older carers anguished about what happens to their loved ones when they can no longer look after them, our children waiting years for basic equipment, young people with disabilities consigned to live in nursing homes and people with disabilities stripped of their basic human rights on a daily basis.”

...  Hundreds of thousands of Australians with serious disabilities, their families and carers are counting on (COAG) to lock in the NDIS for the future.”

Both NSW and Victoria's State Governments have made firm proposals about where launch sites for the NDIS could be located in their States, including about 15,00 people with disabilities in the first round.