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Several audience members at the meeting expressed their frustrations with the existing NDIS, and their fears about tightened eligibility processes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe agency treats everyone – providers and clients alike – with hostility,\u201d one woman said.<\/p>\n
Mr Shorten said the changes needed were not politically-driven.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not ideological fixes, a lot of them \u2013 it\u2019s just common sense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you make an application, they should spend more time with you in the pre-planning phase than the planning interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing worse than asking for a plan, having the meeting, and then getting back a plan that you think must be for someone else; you think it must be a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media afterwards, Mr Shorten said there was a particular challenge for the 8,703 NDIS users in the Barwon region, who had a take up rate of 59-64 cents in the dollar on their packages – lower than the national average of 69 cents in the dollar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Morrison Government has no concept of what workforce development means,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can have a great career working in disability, in the caring economy, but this government isn\u2019t training enough people to work in disability, there\u2019s not enough allied health professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SHADOW Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Bill Shorten says the changes needed to fix the scheme are \u201cjust common sense\u201d and are especially needed in the Geelong region. Mr Shorten has made several recent public statements criticising the proposed reforms of the scheme, and spoke about the topic at a community forum […]<\/p>\n