The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No.1) Bill 2024 passed Parliament on 22 August 2024. This means that these reforms will become law and come into effect 28 days after Royal Assent.
Since the NDIS reforms were announced, VMIAC has been strongly advocating for people with psychosocial disability. VMIAC provided numerous submissions to the Government where we:
- made it clear that we did not support the Bill.
- called for the Government to meaningfully engage and co-design the reforms alongside the disabled community.
- advocated for a whole-of-person approach to identifying and supporting people, including supporting a range of disabilities instead of just a ‘primary’ disability.
- criticised the early intervention pathway as the pathway for people with psychosocial disability to access the NDIS, citing concerns of discrimination against people with psychosocial disability.
- criticised the strict definition that the Bill adopts around NDIS supports.
- raised concerns around how transitioning from federally managed to state-managed foundational supports will be handled and the risk of people losing access to, or being unable to access, the foundational supports that they need.
Despite VMIAC raising these concerns, none of them have been addressed in the legislation.
VMIAC is deeply disappointed that the NDIS reforms have been passed, and shares the concerns raised by the PWDA that these reforms may have devastating and long-term impacts on people with disability.
For example, despite federal, state and territory governments reaching agreement to pass the Bill, there has been no discussion of how transitional supports will be provided as the system navigates through the changes. This is particularly concerning for NDIS participants with psychosocial disability, given how foundational supports underpin the early intervention pathway that has been set-up for people with psychosocial disability.
VMIAC is calling on the Government to commit to co-develop with people with disability all future NDIS reforms. This is essential for the Government to repair the fractured relationships with the disability community, that have been negatively impacted by the lack of co-design in drafting this Bill. Failure to do so will lead to people with disability being disempowered by the system that is supposed to support them.
VMIAC will continue to advocate for the rights of people with psychosocial disability, provide updates and engage with our members as this work continues.