On 27 March 2024, the Honourable Bill Shorten MP tabled the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 (Bill) in Parliament.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024 has been introduced into Parliament. The Bill is the first of several legislative changes proposed in response to the final report 'Working together to deliver the NDIS’ delivered by the 2023 Independent Review into the NDIS. We outline the key components of the Bill.
The Bill is the first of several legislative changes proposed in response to the final report 'Working together to deliver the NDIS’ delivered by the 2023 Independent Review into the NDIS (NDIS Review). The NDIS Review was led by Professor Bruce Bonyhady AM and Ms Lisa Paul AO PSM, who delivered their findings in December 2023 and made 26 recommendations. We outlined detailed information on the findings and recommendations of the NDIS Review in our earlier article 'Release of the Final Report of the NDIS Review'.
The Bill response to recommendation 3 of the NDIS Review which called for a fairer and more consistent approach to accessing and participating in the NDIS. The Bill also seeks to partially implement recommendations 5, 6, 7 and 17 of the NDIS Review which broadly recommend:
- better support for people with disability to make decisions about their lives,
- the creation of a continuum of support for children and their families,
- introducing a new approach to NDIS supports for psychosocial disability, and
- developing and delivering a risk-proportionate model for the visibility and regulation of providers and workers, and strengthening the regulatory response to existing and emerging quality and safeguards issues
The Bill proposes to amend the NDIS Act in the following three main ways:
Clarifying the NDIS access requirements and the supports that the NDIS will provide to participants
The Bill will shift the focus on access to the NDIS from diagnoses to a needs-based assessment. The Bill will amend the NDIS Rules to clarify whether a person is eligible and should apply for NDIS support, and what to do if their circumstances change. It was also expand the provisions related to the methods or criteria to be applied when making decisions about the disability and early intervention criteria and the matters which must or must not be taken into account.
The Bill also proposes a new definition of 'NDIS Support' which seeks to narrow the authorised supports (that is, what will or will not be funded by the NDIS) for all participants. A support will only be an NDIS support if the support:
- is necessary to support the person to live and be included in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation of the person from the community
- will facilitate personal mobility of the person in the manner and at the time of the person’s choice
- is a mobility aid or device, or assistive technology, live assistance or intermediaries that will facilitate personal mobility of the person
- is a health service that the person needs because of the person’s impairment or because of the interaction of the person’s impairment with various barriers
- is a habilitation or rehabilitation service
- is a service that will assist the person to access a support covered by subparagraph (iv) or (v)
- will minimise the prospects of the person acquiring a further impairment or prevent the person from acquiring a further impairment
- is provided by way of sickness benefits.
This new definition provides greater clarity on what support participants can access through the NDIS and confirms that thins such as holidays, groceries, payment of utility bills, online gambling, perfume, cosmetics, standard household appliances and whitegoods will not qualify as NDIS supports.
Creating a new model for calculating a reasonable and necessary budget for participants
The Bill proposes to phase in a new reasonable and necessary budget framework which will support new framework plans for participants. Under this proposed approach, participants will receive funding based on whether they accessed the NDIS through their disability or early intervention requirements, or both. The NDIA will be required to specify whether a participant has accessed the NDIS on the basis of their disability or through early intervention which will, in the long term, enable the establishment of a separate early intervention pathway into the NDIS.
The new proposed needs assessment process will also impact the method for calculating the total amount of a participant's funding which will be specified in the legislation and NDIS Rules. There is further work to be done in this regard, with the Commonwealth Government indicating its intention to continue consultations with people with disability, the disability community, health and allied health technical professionals, and with all States and Territories.
Providing greater power and flexibility to the NDIS Commissioner
The Bill provides expanded powers to the NDIS Commissioner to protect participants from abuse, harm and neglect and to improve safeguards against fraud. The proposed changes enable the imposition of conditions on approved quality auditors to not employ or engage a person against whom a banning order has been made, and to enable the NDIS Commissioner to delegate their regulatory powers to certain positions to provide greater flexibility in enforcement and compliance.
What comes next?
While the Bill proposes a significant amount of changes, as it has only been tabled, there are no immediate changes which will take effect.
The Bill will now be considered by Parliament, before changes can be made to the NDIS Rules. The Commonwealth Government has indicated its intention to engage in a co-design and consultation process with the disability community to design, make and update NDIS Rules and legislative instruments.
If you have any questions about these proposed changes, we would be more than happy to discuss.
We will continue to keep you updated as this reform journey progresses.
