Review of NDIS targets delays

DISABILITY advocates say the Federal Government must act urgently on waiting times and bureaucracy, following an independent review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The review by former Finance Department secretary David Tune found the scheme was plagued with long waiting times, red tape and inconsistent decision-making.

The Morrison Government has accepted changes must be made for the “frustrated” users and said it was considering the review’s 29 recommendations.

Every Australian Counts campaign director Kirsten Deane said the time for talk was over with urgent action needed to fix the scheme.

“There is nothing new in this report, there are no surprises,” Ms Deane said.

She said the Government had known about the scheme’s problems and solutions for a long time, while people with disabilities and their families have remained patient.

“That patience is clearly running out and they want to get the scheme back on track running the way that it should,” Ms Deane said.

“We’ve still really got a long way to go.” The review also said legislation was “silent” on how soon the National Disability Insurance Agency, which runs the scheme, needed to make decisions on claims.

The Government needs to cut legislative barriers in the NDIS Act, which do not allow for flexible decisions on care packages, the review said. Transparency, consistency and timeliness were all flagged as issues. While the scheme worked for most adults with a physical disability, it struggled to help those with a psychosocial or development disability.

“There is still a long way to go before the NDIS is a mature system,” the review said.

Labor’s NDIS spokesman Bill Shorten said it was time the Government stopped making

WE DIDN’T NEED YET ANOTHER REVIEW TO TELL US THIS GOVERNMENT’S NEGLECT OF THE NDIS IS HURTING PEOPLE BILL SHORTEN

piecemeal announcements and got serious about fixing the scheme.

“We didn’t need yet another review to tell us this government’s neglect of the NDIS is hurting people with a disability,” Mr Shorten said.

He pointed to budget figures released in September which showed the Government’s coveted budget surplus had come at the cost of a $4.6 billion underspend on the NDIS.

Long wait times for access to the $22 billion-per-year scheme have been a constant complaint from users, with a recent report finding 1200 Australians died between 2016 and 2019 while waiting for a package.