[dbaust] National Disability Insurance Scheme Update 15
- From: Erika Webb <erikaweb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Erika Webb <erikaweb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 20:03:51 -0700 (PDT)
National Disability Insurance Scheme Update 15Sent: Friday, 4 May, 2012 9:26
AMFrom: "National Disability Insurance Scheme" <fahcsia.news@xxxxxxxxx>
Update 15 - 2 May 2012
Dear Friends,
It has been an important week for our work towards a National Disability
Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
On Monday the Prime Minister announced that an NDIS will be launched in mid
2013, (See Item 1 at Prime Minister Launching the NDIS end of this NDIS Update)
(http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/launching-ndis-sydney?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email)
with the funding to be announced in next week’s budget. This was warmly
welcomed by the thousands of people in attendance at the Every Australian
Counts Make it Real rally in Sydney, and at rallies across the country.
We want Australians with disability, their families and carers to start
benefiting from an NDIS as quickly as possible – because we understand how long
people have waited for change.
An NDIS will mean that for the first time, Australians with significant and
permanent disability will receive lifetime care and support, regardless of how
they acquired their disability.
On Tuesday I announced the first three of our expert groups to help inform the
design of an NDIS. (See Item 2 Designing the National Disability Insurance
Scheme at end of this NDIS Update)
(http://www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/mediareleases/2012/Pages/Designing_NDIS_010512.aspx?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email)
They will work with the NDIS Advisory Group to provide expert advice on the
design of key elements of the scheme including eligibility and assessment,
quality safeguards and standards and a national approach to choice and control
for people with disability.
And yesterday I was honoured to deliver the keynote address to the National
Disability Services conference— Preparing for the New World—in Adelaide. (See
Item 3 Address to the National Disability Services Conference at end of this
NDIS Update)
http://www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/speeches/2012/Pages/jm_s_nat_disab_services_conf_3may2012.aspx?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email
In this speech I announced our fourth expert group, which will consider the
challenges facing our disability workforce and sector. (See Item 4 Engaging
the disability sector to build a National Disability Insurance Scheme at end of
this NDIS Update)
http://www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/mediareleases/2012/Pages/disability_sector_build_ndis_030512.aspx?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email
It is essential that our workforce and our disability sector is well prepared
to handle the transition, and this expert group will help us identify the best
ways to achieve this.
The advice of people who know what it’s like to live with disability will be a
key part of building this scheme – as will the advice of families and carers,
disability care workers, service providers and representative organisations and
advocates.
Thank you to all those Australians who joined the rallies around the country
calling for an NDIS. Your voices have been heard and we look forward to working
with you to make an NDIS a reality.
Jenny Macklin and Jan McLucas
You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to receive updates
about the National Disability Insurance Scheme via a form on the NDIS or
FaHCSIA websites.
Our mailing address is: FaHCSIAPO Box 7576Canberra Business CentreCanberra,
Australian Capital Territory 2600
Item 1.Media release - Prime Minister Launching the NDIS, Sydney - MON 30 APRIL
2012http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/launching-ndis-sydney?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email
Prime Minister
It’s a great day to join everybody here. And everybody here is someone with a
powerful story.
A powerful story about what it’s like to live a life with a disability.
A powerful story about the lives of their family and their friends.
The lives of disability care workers and service providers.
And we know disability can be for a lifetime.
Which is why a lifetime of care and support for people with disability makes
sense.
But we’re all here today because we know that’s the aspiration but we also know
today it isn’t like that.
You know this already from the stories of your own life.
The system is unfair, it’s under funded, it’s fragmented and it’s inefficient
and we can do better.
We’re all here as Australians and we all know that this is a great country.
Australia is a country where we can be good at solving problems like the ones
we’ve been hearing about today.
We’re a country when we all see that something needs to be done, when we see
that there are people who are missing out, when we understand that there’s
something that we can do, we’re a country that’s really good at getting it done.
Once, old age used to mean disadvantage.
So this country said, our country said - Australians are missing out, there’s
something we can do.
And a hundred years ago through the pension, and then more recently through
superannuation, we’ve made sure that old age doesn’t have to mean being left
behind.
Once, sickness used to mean disadvantage.
So again this country, this country, our country said - Australians are missing
out, there’s something we can do.
And thirty years ago, through Medicare, we made sure that being sick doesn’t
mean that you get left behind.
I’m tremendously proud of these great Labor reforms, which responded to real
community needs and shaped a better future.
Now we’re here today because it’s time to respond to another group of
Australians who are missing out.
You’re here today.
People with disability, your family, your carers, people who aren’t getting a
fair go in today’s Australia.
In today’s Australia, disability does mean disadvantage.
Over 400,000 Australians have significant and permanent disabilities that
require ongoing care and support.
Today, more than 100,000 of you get no help through the current arrangements.
A hundred thousand Australians with disability are left behind altogether by
government disability care, left to rely entirely on family, friends and other
informal support.
The nearly 300,000 Australians with a disability who do get care, can’t be sure
that you get the care you need.
Instead, you basically get a ticket in what can be a very cruel lottery.
A lottery where access to services and support depends on your postcode or on
the cause of your disability rather than on your need.
Disability doesn’t discriminate – it could happen to any of us.
Any one of us could fall off a ladder, or have a stroke.
Any one of us could have a child or a grandchild born with cerebral palsy or
Down syndrome.
We know Australians are missing out.
All of you here, and around the country, have raised your voice, you’ve
campaigned magnificently.
And no one can say today, that the current system is good enough or it’s fair
enough.
The system is broken.
And now – we also know that there’s something we can do.
Because of your campaign, because of the work we asked the Productivity
Commission to do, because of the work of Jenny Macklin, we know there is a
practical, affordable, long-lasting solution.
That’s why we’re all here today.
For just one reason.
Because we know Australia is ready for a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
So friends, I’ve come today to join you for one purpose.
Today I can announce that in the May Budget, my Government, your Labor
Government will fund our share for the launch of the National Disability
Insurance Scheme.
We will do our part.
And of course we will be working with the States and Territories who are
willing to do theirs.
We will launch a full year sooner than the Productivity Commission suggested.
That means from the middle of next year, select launch sites around the country
will begin serving around 10,000 people with disability.
Growing to 20,000 people from the middle of 2014.
Places where people with significant and permanent disability, their families
and carers will have their needs assessed, and will start to receive
personalised care and support.
And the work of these launch sites will give us the vital lessons we need to go
ahead with national roll-out when our discussions with the States and
Territories are done.
Friends, this is good news today - good news for Australia and it’s happening
for two reasons.
First, because of the unity, the courage of the disability community.
And second because we’ve listened to you, Labor has listened to you. I’ve
listened to you and I’ve heard your message of change and it’s time to make it
real now.
So I want you to promise me one thing: promise me you won’t stop campaigning,
and I promise you, we won’t stop working.
You are saying – something has to change.
Today, I’m saying – you’ve waited long enough.
Because people with disability are missing out – because we have a plan which
will work – Australia is ready for a National Disability Insurance Scheme.Thank
you.
Item 2Designing the National Disability Insurance Scheme - Date: 1/05/2012
http://www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/mediareleases/2012/Pages/Designing_NDIS_010512.aspx?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email
Joint Media Release with: Senator Jan Mclucas, Parliamentary Secretary for
Disabilities and CarersGai Brodtmann MP, Member for CanberraAndrew Leigh MP,
Member for FraserThe Australian Government today announced three expert groups
to help inform the design of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The expert groups will work under the NDIS Advisory Group to help the
Australian Government design a scheme that meets the lifetime care and support
needs of people with significant and permanent disability.
Minister Macklin and Member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh today visited the Woden
School for children with disabilities in Canberra to discuss the Gillard
Government’s commitment to have an NDIS start in up to four locations from July
2013.
The Gillard Government is committed to delivering this fundamental reform to
ensure people with significant and permanent disability receive lifetime care
and support, regardless of how they acquired their disability.
We have been clear that we need the expert advice of people with disability,
their families and carers to help design this scheme.
The expert groups include people with disability, their carers, advocates,
service providers and other sector experts.
The expert group members bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to help
people with disability, their families and carers, and the disability service
sector, get ready for this change and to make sure the scheme works for them.
They will advise on the design of key elements of the scheme including
eligibility and assessment, quality safeguards and standards and a national
approach to choice and control for people with disability.
I congratulate the new expert group members on their appointment, and look
forward to working with them over the next few months to lay strong foundations
for a scheme we can all be proud of.
The expert groups are:
National Approach to Control and ChoiceJeff Harmer, NDIS Advisory Group
(co-chair)Fran Vicary, NDIS Advisory Group (co-chair)Robbi Williams, Julia Farr
AssociationKirsten Deane, National Disability and Carers AllianceLesley Hall,
Australian Federation of Disability OrganisationsSamantha Jenkinson, National
Disability and Carer CouncilAra Cresswell, Carers AustraliaVicki O’Halloran,
Somerville Community Services DarwinDaniel Leighton, Inclusion MelbourneSally
McManus, Australian Services Union
Eligibility and AssessmentRhonda Galbally, NDIS Advisory Group (co-chair)Joan
McKenna-Kerr, NDIS Advisory Group (co-chair)Ros Madden, University of
SydneyJanet Dore, Transport Accident CommissionRobbi Williams, Julia Farr
AssociationTim Moore, Carers AustraliaGraeme Innes, Australia’s Disability
Discrimination CommissionerFrank Quinlan, Mental Health Council of
AustraliaSuzanne Lulham, New South Wales Lifetime Care and Support
AuthorityLesley Hall, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
Quality Safeguards and StandardsLorna Hallahan, NDIS Advisory Group
(co-chair)Bruce Bonyhady, NDIS Advisory Group (co-chair)Stephanie Gotlib,
Children with Disability AustraliaMargaret ReynoldsMarita Walker, Perth
HomecareSally Robinson, Griffith UniversityKevin Cocks, Queensland
Anti-Discrimination CommissionerKelly Shay, United Voice
Item 3Address to the National Disability Services Conference Date: 3/05/2012 -
Speech delivery location: The Hilton Hotel,
Adelaidehttp://www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/speeches/2012/Pages/jm_s_nat_disab_services_conf_3may2012.aspx?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email
AcknowledgmentsThank you, Tim [Walton, National President, NDS].
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we are meeting
on, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
I would also like to acknowledge with us today:
Ian Hunter MLC, South Australian Minister for Communities and Disabilities;
andDr Ken Baker, NDS Chief Executive.It’s a pleasure to be with you this
morning at what is a very exciting time for the disability and carer community.
IntroductionIn just a few days, the federal budget will be revealed.
Though as Australians we have navigated our way through the global financial
crisis better than most, challenges persist as we work to build a strong
foundation for a fairer Australia.
Even as we return to surplus on time, and as promised, in next week’s Budget,
you will see this Labor Government fund our share of the first stage of a
National Disability Insurance Scheme.
We are making an NDIS real.
We will work with the states and territories who are willing to do their part
to launch a scheme from the middle of next year – a year ahead of the timetable
set out by the Productivity Commission.
We’ll make an NDIS real for around 20,000 people with significant and permanent
disability.
This is a big ask – I know each of you are aware of the scale of change.
But I also know how long people with disability, their families and carers have
been waiting for change.
Too often, the story of disability is a story of waiting.
For a new wheelchair, at the end of the phone for a place in respite.
I know this audience understands the frustrations of waiting.
Too often it is you – disability service providers and care workers – at the
end of that phone, doing all you can with resources that can’t possibly respond
to the level of need that’s out there in the community.
You are witness to the frustrations of families on a daily basis.
You feel their frustration – and you feel your own, the frustration of doing
all you can with what is simply not enough.
It’s this frustration that has led the disability and carer community to come
together around a single call for change.
To call for a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Rolling up our sleevesIt’s the unity – and through it the strength – of this
movement that has brought us this far.
In four years, the NDIS has gone from a kernel of an idea to a plan of action.
From the Shut Out report by the National People with Disability & Carer
Council, which shed a light on the fractured system,
To this Government’s request to the Productivity Commission to inquire into the
long term care and support of people with disability,
Through the comprehensive inquiry by the Productivity Commission and the
Independent Panel, including more than 1,000 submissions made over the eighteen
months of the inquiry, and
To the Government’s release of the report – less than a fortnight after it was
received – and the Prime Minister’s announcement that we would take the report
to the Council of Australian Governments.
Each a step on the path to reform. These are our shared achievements.
And while we are making progress – we are not there yet.
I want to acknowledge today that it has taken courage for service providers and
disability care workers to be a part of this call for change.
Because this change is taking the practices of 40 years and turning them on
their head.
It’s putting the power in the hands of people with disability, their families
and their carers.
And that – while desirable – is also confronting.
Disability service providers – through the leadership of NDS – have been
prepared to face the challenges in mounting the argument for change.
And the challenges are significant.
I want to say this to you today – we are very clear about the scale of change
involved in moving to an NDIS.
And it is true to say that this scheme can’t be built without the advice of
experts.
Experts in commercial insurance and in implementation.
But experts also in the lived experience of people with disability, their
families and carers.
Experts in the delivery of care and support services to people with disability,
service providers and disability care workers.
We know that the knowledge to create this change does not lie within government
alone.
We have already announced an Advisory Group to help the Select Council of
Ministers on our path to reform.
And this week I’ve announced three Expert Working Groups to consider the
critical questions of design of choice and control, eligibility and assessment
and quality standards and safeguards.
Each of these groups includes a representative of the disability sector.
Each includes people with disability and carers.
Today, I am pleased to announce that we are establishing an Expert Working
Group to consider, in detail, the particular challenges of change for the
disability sector and the disability workforce.
This group of experts will support the Advisory Group in developing their
advice to the Select Council of Ministers and Treasurers about how we can best
support service providers and disability care workers to make the change.
The group will be chaired by your own Chief Executive, Dr Ken Baker.
Its membership includes David Barbagallo from the Queensland service provider
the Endeavour Foundation, and Gordon Duff from National Disability Services.
It includes representatives from unions and people with disability. It includes
carers. And it includes people with particular knowledge of the challenges of
supporting people with significant impairments arising from mental illness.
We are serious when we say we need the expert advice of the disability
community – and the reverse is also true – we can’t do it without you.
We need the advice of experts within the disability and carer community.
We need the advice of the whole disability community – people who are experts
in the lived experience of disability.
So I urge you to work with the Advisory Group, with the Expert Working groups,
as they engage across the disability community.
I urge you to work through National Disability Services as we progress to make
sure your voice – the voice of experts – is heard.
Ideas into actionBecause we must now turn ideas into action.
A National Disability Insurance Scheme will be a radical departure from the
system you all know today.
It will take an incredible amount of work and of commitment to make it a
reality.
We need to build the system.
We need to support people with disability to transition, to exercise choice and
control over the care and support they receive.
But we also need service providers and their staff to get NDIS-ready – because
a strong and robust disability sector – a sector ready and raring to go in the
new world – is critical to our success.
It’s critical to the change we all want to see.
Many of you will be aware that a scoping study is already in train looking at
the current status of the sector and what needs to be done to prepare for an
NDIS.
This study will be informed by work already undertaken by National Disability
Services in its publication Preparing the Disability Sector for the New World.
This new world is one characterised by a person-centred approach, one that
gives people with disability and their carers choice and control over the care
and support they receive.
One that responds to the individual needs of a person with disability and their
carer.
And of course, one that is appropriately funded to deliver to people with
disability and their carers the supports they need – and to guarantee those
supports will be there for a life-time.
But these characteristics raise questions as well as raising hopes.
How, do we ensure a smooth move from the present block funding and service
centred model to one in which people with disabilities and their carers have
choice and control?
How can we support service providers to focus on delivering great care and
support, and not having to worry about delivering great marketing campaigns?
How do we ensure disability care jobs are good jobs, secure jobs, that build a
career for our staff? How do we become an employer of choice?
And how do we approach new players from health and aged care moving into the
sphere of disability care and support?
Because our preparations for the new world mean preparing for a substantial
increase in the number of people with disability, families and carers who will
receive support.
The current system supports around 295,000 people. We’re looking to increase
that by nearly 50 per cent.
We need to develop service and quality standards that will apply to all support
providers, so people with disability can expect high quality support wherever
they live, whatever their disability or however they acquired it.
We need to upgrade information technology systems to support new practices and
be able to work with the NDIS.
We need to build leadership, managerial and staff capabilities within
organisations.
And we need to build an NDIS-ready workforce to ensure adequately trained staff
who also have the right values, attitudes and skills to work positively with
people with disability in way that focuses on those people as individuals.
We need to make sure an NDIS doesn’t see the evacuation of informal care, and a
replacement with formal care.
We need to make sure we don’t see the decline of philanthropic donations.
The disability sector has built up strong and vibrant bonds across the
community, which make it a cornerstone of our community sector.
And as you know well, we also need to get the sector ready to meet the
challenges set out in the National Disability Strategy – a ten year roadmap to
improving access and support to people with disability right across our network
of social supports.
A National Disability Insurance Scheme at its strongest is one that works hand
in glove with systems of social support – both formal and informal – right
across our communities.
It’s one that weaves formal and informal care and support, threads
relationships through communities.
And the disability sector – with the experience of decades of relationships and
effort across the community sector – is critical to realising this aim, to
realising the rights of people with disability and carers.
ConclusionI know that the disability community has now passed the baton to
government – but we can’t do this without you.
We need you to keep running alongside us as we head toward the finish line in
designing this scheme.
I know you’ve run a long race already – and that you have invested deeply and
personally in your achievements to date.
But we all need to keep going.
A National Disability Insurance Scheme is about putting people with disability,
their families and carers at the centre of what we do, to give them all of the
opportunities and all of the support they need to live strong, fulfilling and
independent lives.
To create a world which puts choice in the hands of people with disability.
One which provides certainty of individualised care and support over a lifetime.
Which gives people genuine control over the supports they receive.
And allows them to plan for the future knowing that as their support needs
change, the support they get from the system will change as well.
Above all a world which will be a far cry from the crisis driven approach of
the past.
To build this scheme, we need to make sure that people with disability, their
families and carers, that service providers and disability care workers, are at
the centre of our work.
You are the experts in disability – and we need you to work with us as we work
to build an NDIS.Thank you.
Item 4Engaging the disability sector to build a National Disability Insurance
Scheme - Date: 3/05/2012
http://www.jennymacklin.fahcsia.gov.au/mediareleases/2012/Pages/disability_sector_build_ndis_030512.aspx?utm_source=National+Disability+Insurance+Scheme&utm_campaign=a981aef479-NDIS_update_155_4_2012&utm_medium=email
Joint Media Release with: Senator Jan McLucasParliamentary Secretary for
Disabilities and Carers
The Australian Government today announced the members of an expert group that
will help ensure a smooth transition for the delivery of services under a
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The group will provide advice about how the disability sector should be
supported to deliver services under an NDIS, and how the disability care
workforce can be prepared for the change.
The Minister for Disability Reform Jenny Macklin today addressed providers and
members of the disability sector workforce at the National Disability Services
conference, Preparing for the New World, in Adelaide.
The Gillard Government has announced that an NDIS will start in up to four
locations from July 2013.
As part of our work to prepare for this, governments are considering key issues
including the capacity of the disability service sector to meet demand under
the new scheme, and how to support the building of the necessary workforce.
The Australian Government wants to this transition as smooth as possible and to
support the disability sector and its workforce through the change.
This expert group includes people with disability, carers, service providers,
and representatives of disability care workers.
With their extensive experience, these experts are well placed to know what
works, what doesn’t, and what’s important, and their advice will be invaluable
in making sure we get this scheme right.
The advice of these key disability sector experts over the next few months will
critical as we move towards the first stage of a scheme that will provide
lifetime care and support for all Australians with a significant and permanent
disability.
The Government announced three expert working groups earlier this week to
consider the key elements of NDIS design of eligibility and assessment, quality
safeguards and standards and a national approach to control and choice of an
NDIS.
The Disability Workforce and Sector Capacity expert group comprises:
Co-Chairs:Dr Ken Baker, NDIS Advisory Group Dr Rhonda Galbally, NDIS Advisory
Group
Members:Sally McManus, Australian Services Union Gordon Duff, National
Disability ServicesDamian Griffis, First Peoples Disability NetworkDavid
Barbagallo, Endeavour FoundationSue Lines, United VoiceSamantha ConnorDavid
Meldrum, Mental Illness Fellowship of AustraliaKim Windsor
END.
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