Post by bear on Aug 22, 2023 21:02:54 GMT 7
NDIS treated as a 'Magic Pudding' by governments and disability service providers, review co-chair says
The NDIS has become an "oasis in the desert" for people with disability, Bruce Bonyhady said.
One of the original architects of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) says it is being treated as a "limitless Magic Pudding" and local, state and territory governments need to do more to support all people living with disability.
Key points:
Bruce Bonyhady is co-chairing a review into the NDIS
He says there needs to be an 'urgent rethink' of how children are supported
Advocates say people with disability must not wear the cost of any NDIS changes
Bruce Bonyhady, who is co-chairing a review of the scheme, spoke in Newcastle today and said governments expected the scheme to take full responsibility for Australians with disability, making it an "oasis in the desert".
While he described the NDIS as a "policy miracle", change was "necessary".
"We must stop thinking of the NDIS as though it is a limitless Magic Pudding," Professor Bonyhady said.
"What has become clear is that – often without intending to – governments, service providers, and some people with disability and their families, have all started to treat the NDIS as a limitless resource.
"Ironically, governments – while funding the NDIS and worrying about its increasing costs – keep helping themselves to new slices of the NDIS."
Professor Bonyhady referenced the classic children's book, which depicts the story of a never-ending pudding, ahead of handing down a review into the NDIS later this year.
Work still needed on the NDIS
The federal government commissioned an independent review of the $35.1 billion scheme last year, and has repeatedly warned that its growing cost was making it unsustainable.
The NDIS was established in 2013 to fund support for people with disability, with the goal of helping participants build their skills and independence to achieve their goals and participate in society.
More than 600,000 Australians participate in the NDIS, but the Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) said this represented a portion of the more than 4 million Australians who lived with disability.
Advocates have warned a focus on the cost downplayed the enormous benefit it provided to society, as well as the economic benefit it provided by enabling more people to participate in the workforce.
DANA director of policy and advocacy El Gibbs said cuts to disability support in state, territory and local governments amid the NDIS rollout saw "huge gaps" in services.
"All governments have also failed to make sure that public mainstream services are accessible and inclusive of people with disability – transport, health, housing, education and more," she said.
"The original design of the NDIS included work to make sure the rest of our public services are fully accessible and inclusive, but this work hasn't happened.
"Now is the time for ensuring people with disability can go to school, to work and spend time with their friends, just like other Australians."
In his speech, Professor Bonyhady said for some, decisions on supports had been "unfair and inconsistent" and a "combination of line-by-line planning and participant demands for control and choice have blurred the definition of 'reasonable and necessary supports'".
WATCH IN LINK
Duration: 1 minute 39 seconds1m 39s
Video: Supporters of the NDIS say the benefits of the scheme have been forgotten in recent discussion about its cost.
'Urgent rethink' of children's NDIS support
Professor Bonyhady said the NDIS supported far more children than it was intended to and flagged that the review could recommend that governments set up more community-based services to help families.
As of June, about 100,000 children younger than seven were receiving funding through the NDIS, data released by the NDIA this week revealed.
The data also showed that 6.1 per cent of children aged between seven and 14 in the general population were NDIS participants.
Professor Bonyhady said there needed to be a "complete and urgent rethink" when considering early intervention and highlighted the need for mainstream services to provide support.
Challenges the NDIS faces:
It is an 'oasis in the desert' for people with disability
Its fundamental purpose – delivering reasonable and necessary supports – has become unbounded and, therefore, some service demands and types are increasingly unreasonable and/or unnecessary
It supports far more children than projected
Its markets are not working, and as a consequence, its sustainability is being questioned
Source: Professor Bruce Bonyhady's speech
He said 20 per cent of children experienced learning difficulties, developmental concerns, developmental delay or were found to have disabilities, making it a "mainstream issue".
"We want children with developmental concerns and delays to be identified as early as possible in mainstream settings through vaccinations and other check-ups," he said.
Read more: The NDIS review has identified five key areas of concern — here's what it means and what happens next
"Early intervention needs to be based on best-practice evidence and principles; needs to be built around a key worker; and – unless there is a need for clinical intervention – needs to be delivered mainly in homes, early childhood settings and schools."
Professor Bonyhady said it was important that any changes following on from the review were carefully staged and clearly communicated.
"I deeply understand that every person with disability, their families and carers crave certainty," he said.
At a separate speech in Melbourne, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten called for unscrupulous providers to "stop taking the scheme for a ride" by overservicing or charging unnecessary fees.
"I happen to believe that if we run the scheme in the best interest of participants, some of the legitimate sustainability issues and the too rapid growth [will] resolve itself," he said.
'Disability doesn't start and end with the NDIS'
Professor Bonyhady delivered his speech at a community forum in Newcastle, as part of the NDIS review's consultation process.
Attending the forum to learn more about the review was Lake Macquarie man Dave Belcher, who has been on the scheme since its inception.
The wheelchair user said he had a positive experience receiving supports like specialised technology, but was aware that was not the case for everyone.
"There's still many, many people who cannot access the scheme and those people are basically left to fend for themselves," he said.
Mr Belcher, who is with the Community Disability Alliance Hunter, said he felt optimistic, and the team overseeing the review had "real skin in the game" with people like Professor Bonyhady at the helm and Kurt Fearnley as the NDIA Chair.
"This review isn't getting done by nameless, faceless bureaucrats somewhere," he said.
"The scheme was drifting off the course that we as participants had hoped it would be on, so I think a review was very much needed."
And he hoped all people with disability outside the scheme would eventually have access to inclusive services and supports.
"Disability doesn't start and end with the NDIS," he said.
"It has to be an all of society, all of government approach to disability support, so even those that may not be experiencing an individual plan on the NDIS still are supported, still have opportunity within their community to live the lives that they choose."
www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-22/concerns-about-ndis-raised-by-co-chair-of-review/102758296
The NDIS has become an "oasis in the desert" for people with disability, Bruce Bonyhady said.
One of the original architects of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) says it is being treated as a "limitless Magic Pudding" and local, state and territory governments need to do more to support all people living with disability.
Key points:
Bruce Bonyhady is co-chairing a review into the NDIS
He says there needs to be an 'urgent rethink' of how children are supported
Advocates say people with disability must not wear the cost of any NDIS changes
Bruce Bonyhady, who is co-chairing a review of the scheme, spoke in Newcastle today and said governments expected the scheme to take full responsibility for Australians with disability, making it an "oasis in the desert".
While he described the NDIS as a "policy miracle", change was "necessary".
"We must stop thinking of the NDIS as though it is a limitless Magic Pudding," Professor Bonyhady said.
"What has become clear is that – often without intending to – governments, service providers, and some people with disability and their families, have all started to treat the NDIS as a limitless resource.
"Ironically, governments – while funding the NDIS and worrying about its increasing costs – keep helping themselves to new slices of the NDIS."
Professor Bonyhady referenced the classic children's book, which depicts the story of a never-ending pudding, ahead of handing down a review into the NDIS later this year.
Work still needed on the NDIS
The federal government commissioned an independent review of the $35.1 billion scheme last year, and has repeatedly warned that its growing cost was making it unsustainable.
The NDIS was established in 2013 to fund support for people with disability, with the goal of helping participants build their skills and independence to achieve their goals and participate in society.
More than 600,000 Australians participate in the NDIS, but the Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) said this represented a portion of the more than 4 million Australians who lived with disability.
Advocates have warned a focus on the cost downplayed the enormous benefit it provided to society, as well as the economic benefit it provided by enabling more people to participate in the workforce.
DANA director of policy and advocacy El Gibbs said cuts to disability support in state, territory and local governments amid the NDIS rollout saw "huge gaps" in services.
"All governments have also failed to make sure that public mainstream services are accessible and inclusive of people with disability – transport, health, housing, education and more," she said.
"The original design of the NDIS included work to make sure the rest of our public services are fully accessible and inclusive, but this work hasn't happened.
"Now is the time for ensuring people with disability can go to school, to work and spend time with their friends, just like other Australians."
In his speech, Professor Bonyhady said for some, decisions on supports had been "unfair and inconsistent" and a "combination of line-by-line planning and participant demands for control and choice have blurred the definition of 'reasonable and necessary supports'".
WATCH IN LINK
Duration: 1 minute 39 seconds1m 39s
Video: Supporters of the NDIS say the benefits of the scheme have been forgotten in recent discussion about its cost.
'Urgent rethink' of children's NDIS support
Professor Bonyhady said the NDIS supported far more children than it was intended to and flagged that the review could recommend that governments set up more community-based services to help families.
As of June, about 100,000 children younger than seven were receiving funding through the NDIS, data released by the NDIA this week revealed.
The data also showed that 6.1 per cent of children aged between seven and 14 in the general population were NDIS participants.
Professor Bonyhady said there needed to be a "complete and urgent rethink" when considering early intervention and highlighted the need for mainstream services to provide support.
Challenges the NDIS faces:
It is an 'oasis in the desert' for people with disability
Its fundamental purpose – delivering reasonable and necessary supports – has become unbounded and, therefore, some service demands and types are increasingly unreasonable and/or unnecessary
It supports far more children than projected
Its markets are not working, and as a consequence, its sustainability is being questioned
Source: Professor Bruce Bonyhady's speech
He said 20 per cent of children experienced learning difficulties, developmental concerns, developmental delay or were found to have disabilities, making it a "mainstream issue".
"We want children with developmental concerns and delays to be identified as early as possible in mainstream settings through vaccinations and other check-ups," he said.
Read more: The NDIS review has identified five key areas of concern — here's what it means and what happens next
"Early intervention needs to be based on best-practice evidence and principles; needs to be built around a key worker; and – unless there is a need for clinical intervention – needs to be delivered mainly in homes, early childhood settings and schools."
Professor Bonyhady said it was important that any changes following on from the review were carefully staged and clearly communicated.
"I deeply understand that every person with disability, their families and carers crave certainty," he said.
At a separate speech in Melbourne, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten called for unscrupulous providers to "stop taking the scheme for a ride" by overservicing or charging unnecessary fees.
"I happen to believe that if we run the scheme in the best interest of participants, some of the legitimate sustainability issues and the too rapid growth [will] resolve itself," he said.
'Disability doesn't start and end with the NDIS'
Professor Bonyhady delivered his speech at a community forum in Newcastle, as part of the NDIS review's consultation process.
Attending the forum to learn more about the review was Lake Macquarie man Dave Belcher, who has been on the scheme since its inception.
The wheelchair user said he had a positive experience receiving supports like specialised technology, but was aware that was not the case for everyone.
"There's still many, many people who cannot access the scheme and those people are basically left to fend for themselves," he said.
Mr Belcher, who is with the Community Disability Alliance Hunter, said he felt optimistic, and the team overseeing the review had "real skin in the game" with people like Professor Bonyhady at the helm and Kurt Fearnley as the NDIA Chair.
"This review isn't getting done by nameless, faceless bureaucrats somewhere," he said.
"The scheme was drifting off the course that we as participants had hoped it would be on, so I think a review was very much needed."
And he hoped all people with disability outside the scheme would eventually have access to inclusive services and supports.
"Disability doesn't start and end with the NDIS," he said.
"It has to be an all of society, all of government approach to disability support, so even those that may not be experiencing an individual plan on the NDIS still are supported, still have opportunity within their community to live the lives that they choose."
www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-22/concerns-about-ndis-raised-by-co-chair-of-review/102758296