The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) aims to provide significant, ongoing support to Australians under 65 with permanent disabilities, promoting independence and maximizing community participation. Although the scheme is transformative and critical for the disability sector, it faces implementation challenges and requires full funding commitment from the government. Collaborative design efforts are underway, with launch sites planned for mid-2013, but ongoing advocacy and stakeholder engagement are crucial for its success.

1. NDIS: What, When, Where and
Making it Real for all Australians
Presentation to field AGM
Bruce Bonyhady AM, Chairman, Yooralla
16 November, 2012

2. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Themes and Overview
 The NDIS is transformative, complex to implement and not yet secure
 Productivity Commission Report Key Findings; a great leap forward
 Eligibility
 What benefits are included?
 “Reasonable and Necessary” Supports
 What is not included and “boundary challenges”
 Implementation Challenges
 Funding-Making it Real for all Australians
 Conclusions, Questions, Answers and Discussion
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3. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Productivity Commission Report-July 2011
 “The current disability system is underfunded, unfair, fragmented and
inefficient, and gives people with disability little choice and no certainty
of access to appropriate supports”
 The NDIS is relevant to everyone, not just those with disability today, as
every 30 minutes an Australian is diagnosed with a significant,
permanent disability.
 A National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) should be established
progressively between now and 2018/19 to provide reasonable and
necessary support to all Australians with a significant permanent
disability under age 65 which affects self-care, mobility, communication
or self-management and requires significant on-going support
 Alongside the NDIS, a National Injury Insurance Scheme (NIIS) should
be established to cover new people who acquire catastrophic injuries
and provide an umbrella for existing compensation schemes
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4. National Disability Insurance Scheme
NDIS Leapfrogs Current Reform Directions
 NDIS builds on current reform directions, including individualised
funding and Commonwealth and State agreements to move towards
national assessment criteria and portability
 Frames disability as an issue for everyone. It is an entitlement
scheme, providing “universal” insurance, in an area of market
failure. Private insurance is not available, so a Medicare type
scheme makes good policy sense
 NDIS will take an investment approach. (Minimise lifetime costs,
maximise lifetime opportunities, prioritise early intervention, etc)
 NDIS will double funding
 Fits with the national agenda to boost participation and productivity,
where possible; not passive welfare. With rights come responsibility
to engage to maximum capacity in work and community. Tough love
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5. National Disability Insurance Scheme
NDIS Design, Implementation and Launch
 Highly collaborative technical design work is being undertaken by the
Commonwealth and States to get ready for launch on 1 July 2013
 Five Launch Sites agreed: Victoria (Barwon Region, 5,000 people),
NSW (Hunter Region, 10,000 people), ACT (5,000 people), SA (Age 0-
14 cohort) and Tasmania (Age 15 -25 cohort)
 COAG Select Council Advisory Group has been appointed to advise
on Scheme design and work with Commonwealth and States. Four
Expert Groups established: Eligibility and Assessment; Quality and
Safeguards; Workforce and Sector Capacity; and, Control and Choice
 Work is well advanced on defining key terms such as scope of
eligibility and “reasonable and necessary” benefits. Little progress on
NIIS. Draft legislation due in two weeks. Go to www.ndis.gov.au and
for updates and Your Say
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6. National Disability Insurance Scheme
NDIS: Tiers and Eligibility
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7. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Draft Eligibility Statement
1. The individual resides in Australia and is an Australian citizen; and
2. The individual is less than 65 years of age on entry to an NDIS; and
3. The individual has a disability that is attributable to an intellectual, psychiatric, cognitive,
neurological, sensory or physical impairment, or a combination of impairments; or is a child
with a global developmental delay; and
4. The impairment/s:
a. is permanent or likely to be permanent; and
b. results in a substantially reduced functional capacity of the individual to
undertake activities of daily living; and
c. impacts on the individual’s participation in the community or employment; and
d. may be of a chronic episodic nature and result in the need for ongoing or long
term episodic support; and
5. The support needs will persist for the foreseeable future and are not more appropriately
met by other systems including education, health and/or palliative care.
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8. National Disability Insurance Scheme
NDIS: What benefits are included?
 “Reasonable and necessary” support package ($ amount) based on agreed
goals, independent assessment process and benchmarking
 Personal care and support
 Therapy, aids, equipment and home modifications
 Access to training, development, education, community and work
 Families/Carers to receive tailored support, including a choice to work or
provide informal care, based on age-appropriate caring roles
 Local Area Co-ordinators (including for Tier 2), independent advisers,
advocacy and case management to support decisions, if required
 Lifetime planning, including early intervention and support at transitions,
recognising that needs will change or be episodic
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9. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Draft of “reasonable and necessary” supports:
a. are designed to support the individual to achieve their goals and
maximise their independence;
b. support the individual’s capacity to undertake activities of daily living
to enable them to participate in the community and/or employment;
c. are effective, and evidence informed;
d. are value for money;
e. reflect community expectations, including what is realistic to expect
from the individual, families and carers; and
f. are best provided through an NDIS and are not more appropriately
provided through other systems of service delivery and support,
including services that are offered by mainstream agencies as a part of
their universal service obligations to all citizens.
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10. National Disability Insurance Scheme
NDIS: What is not included?
 Income support (DSP)
 Access to complementary systems which must be universal and support
people with disabilities:
 Education
 Health
 Employment, aligning the employment goals in the DES with the
NDIS, including potentially an additional weighting for Tier 3 in DES
 Ageing, should be seamless and allow for aging in place
 Housing needs new investment and innovation in accessible social
housing, shared equity models, key ring support models, etc
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11. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Implementation Challenges
Managing expectations
Rapid implementation timetable
Embedding insurance principles
Cultural change, so that people with disabilities are in control
Diversifying supply, attracting new workers and services
New quality framework for a market
Strengthening safeguards; Care Concerns Unit
Funding
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12. National Disability Insurance Scheme
NDIS Funding
 In the 2012-13 Budget the Commonwealth Government committed
$1 billion to the NDIS, but this is really just more of a lottery!
 The Federal Opposition is supportive. Tony Abbott is “Dr Yes”.
Andrew Robb is strongly committed. Joe Hockey is now supportive
 The Commonwealth and States have not agreed the full scheme
funding of $7.5 billion
 The last COAG meeting was a watershed in the history of practical
disability rights and power in Australia. Many ordinary Australians
said “Enough! Just do it!” and this secured launch sites in Victoria
and NSW
 The Commonwealth will need to fund and underwrite the full
Scheme, as recommended by the PC, which is a huge challenge,
given declining revenues and other expensive priorities, e.g.
Gonski. We will need YOUR support
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13. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Scale of Funding Needed …
Fully funded NDIS in Operation
Fully funded NDIS in Operation
$7.5
Billion
2018
$5.9
Billion
2017
$3.9
Billion
2016
Budget support for NDIS
Budget support for NDIS $2.4
Billion
2015-
$900 Budget
Million $363M
$550
$50 2014-
Million
$10 Million Budget
2013-
Million 2012- $363M
Budget
2011 Budget $345M
$83M
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14. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Conclusions
 Very exciting time- we are on the threshold of a transformation built on
universal insurance and entitlement to reasonable and necessary support
 The Commonwealth has contributed $1 billion to start the NDIS and five
States are participating in Launch Sites
 Enormous effort is going into detailed scheme design, which is complex.
Keep up to date and have your say by going to www.ndis.gov.au
 There is light and hope. Preparing carefully for the NDIS is essential
 However, there is still no commitment to full funding so you must keep
reminding our politicians, State and Federal, Labor, Liberal, National Party
and Greens that they must deliver the FULL NDIS
 Thank you for your interest and support. Go to
www.everyaustraliancounts.com.au Sign up EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
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15. National Disability Insurance Scheme
Questions
&
Discussion
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