Friday, 20 December 2013

News and commentary on the NDIS (13)

You can change the name, but the scheme must remain
Every Australian Counts, 13th December 2013
Following the COAG meeting today, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) ‘launch sites’ will be renamed ‘trial sites’. 
The term ‘launch’ was initially selected over the term ‘trial’ by the Productivity Commission as a message to the community and policy makers that there would be no turning back once the rollout of the NDIS began ... read the full statement here.
Prepare for a cheaper, slimmer NDISAnnabel Crabb, The Drum (ABC News), 17th December 2013
Joe Hockey has given his strongest hint yet that the NDIS may be joining the NBN as a piece of national infrastructure that the Coalition wants to deliver at a lower cost ...

Senator Mitch Fifield,Melbourne, 18 December 2013
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Disability Reform Council (the Council) met today in Melbourne. The meeting was chaired by Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield, Assistant Minister for Social Services, and Senator the Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO, Assistant Treasurer. 
All jurisdictions reaffirmed their strong commitment to implementing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) across Australia ... read the full text of the Communiqué here
NDIS is investment in Australians
Every Australian Counts, 18th December 2013
The Every Australian Counts campaign for the NDIS welcomes the statement from Minister Fifield this afternoon that: “The Coalition is committed to delivering the National Disability Insurance Scheme in full.” 
John Della Bosca, Every Australian Counts Campaign Director, said: “We can all assume that every Australian expects the NDIS to run efficiently and at the lowest cost to taxpayers. Every Australian also expects our parliament to deliver the NDIS in full as promised ... We know we have strong advocates in Prime Minister Abbott and Minister Fifield as well in Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Shadow Minister Macklin. They have proven their passion about improving the lives of people with disability and their families" ... read the full statement here


Nine News, 18th December 2013
Finance minister Mathias Cormann insists the federal government has not withdrawn its support for the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) ...

The NDIS should be referred to as an investment, not a costStella Young, Ramp Up 18h December 2013
... The Productivity Commission report stated that an NDIS would result in an additional 320,000 people with disabilities employed in 2050, which translates to an additional $32 billion or one per cent of GDP. Additionally, people who are currently locked out of the employment market because they are unpaid carers for family members with disabilities can join the workforce. ... An estimated 80,000 people will be employed to provide direct support to people with disabilities, bringing with it a $1.5 billion increase in GDP ...

NDIS: disability commissioner warns against cutbacks
The Guardian, 18th December 2013
Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, has warned the government against feared cutbacks to the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS), saying he did not want “people having only two showers a week” and being “effectively stuck in their homes” ...

Govt says NDIS will not be part of funding cuts
Louise Yaxley, The World Today (ABC Radio) 18th December 2013
... the Federal Government is insisting today that it will not cut any of the funding that it's announced for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, despite its tough talk over the state of the budget.


Lexi Metherell, AM (ABC Radio) 19th December 2013 
The Federal Government is being warned against overreacting to signs of higher than expected costs in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) ...

Anne Stephens and India Bohanna, The Conversation, 18th December 2013
... Without political will and bi-partisan commitment from all tiers of government to address the chronic gaps in infrastructure and health-care delivery, the NDIS scheme can’t deliver on its promises in very remote Indigenous communities ...

People supported from the fringe into the NDIS
NSW CID E-News, December 2013
NSW CID continues its advocacy for the NDIS to reach out and be responsive to people with intellectual disability living isolated lives on society’s fringe – people who are unlikely to know about the NDIS and seek assistance from it. 
The Intellectual Disability Rights Service has also been active on this issue and has recently supported some of its clients in Newcastle to get funding packages from the NDIS launch site. The key factor here has been that the IDRS worker has the trust of the individuals and has supported them right through the NDIS eligibility and planning processes. 
This kind of trusted support may be essential for people on the fringe to access the NDIS. NSW CID is taking up with the NDIS how to ensure this support is available.
Choice, control, and inequality
Professor Eric Emerson, Ramp Up, 13th December 2013
Although the NDIS has choice and control embedded in its philosophical foundations, there is a risk it will simply benefit people with disabilities who are already more advantaged, writes Professor Eric Emerson ...

National Disability Insurance Scheme News, Issue 5 - December 2013

Living a Good Life - Personal Support Networks (6 videos, online)
Southern Cross University, 2013 (Supported by a grant from the NDIS Practical Design Fund)
In these six videos (about 15 minutes each) people with disabilities and their personal network members explain their experience of living a good life.

Breaking Down Barriers  - online video of a webinar 
NDIS, 10 December 2013
The National Disability Insurance Agency held an interactive webinar on Tuesday 10 December. People with disability, carers, advocates, support providers and community members contributed to a lively discussion about breaking down barriers.

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