Hearing on NDIS visits Geelong

A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) visited Geelong this week, and a group of local participants have called for an immediate stop to the proposed rollout of mandatory independent assessments.

The Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS is holding public hearings across Australia about the proposal, which will introduce assessments of a person’s functional capacity to inform decisions about eligibility for the NDIS and about funding in a participant’s plan.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) proposes to introduce independent assessments as part of the NDIS access and planning processes this year.

The Corangamite NDIS Reference Group was one of three organisations to make presentations at the Geelong hearing, held at the Rydges hotel on Tuesday this week.

In their submission, the group – which is comprised of scheme participants, families of scheme participants and professionals in the field – agree that there needs to be more fairness and consistency within the NDIS but the NDIA and Department of Social Services “has not provided sufficient evidence that independent assessments will achieve this”.

Their concerns include:

• An individual’s ability to advocate for themselves or have others advocate on their behalf will still influence the independent assessment process and quality of the outcome, submitting complaints about the process, and so on
• The assessments will vary depending on length of time an assessor spends with the participant, and the expertise of the assessor is relevant to a particular participant’s disabilities
• Why an individual cannot use their own treating specialist to complete a standardised assessment, andWhy the NDIA will not be more transparent about what they will fund to ensure greater consistency in the scheme – “Instead, it has created a system that favours an ability to advocate”.

Tuesday’s hearing also invited individuals with lived experience of disability to make short statements, including those who have been through recent independent assessment pilots, their family members and their support networks.

In a statement ahead of the hearing, Corangamite Labor federal member Libby Coker urged the Coalition to postpone the introduction of independent assessments and “instead, engage with people with disabilities what they believe is fair and right”.

Shadow Minister for the NDIS Bill Shorten also spoke about the scheme at a community forum in Ocean Grove yesterday (Wednesday, May 5).