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And in the meantime, the rorting goes on and on to the tune of millions of dollars.
And in the meantime, the rorting goes on and on to the tune of millions of dollars.At least with Labor in power, these issues can be addressed, in a civil and balanced manner by the media.
'Not a sustainable proposition': Government to block sex work services from NDIS
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten confirms he will ban sex work from being accessed through the disability insurance scheme, which advocates say would rob participants of the freedom to control their own lives.www.abc.net.au
In short:
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten will ban sex workers from being accessed using NDIS funding.
Disability advocates say it will put the choice of which people with a disability have sex in the hands of the government.
What's next?
A Senate committee is scrutinising broader NDIS reforms, and has invited state premiers to weigh in.
Just one of the many rorts that are taking place.'Can't get my head around it': NDIS participant and workers blow whistle on alleged $300k overcharge by provider
National Disability Insurance Scheme provider Katrina Chivell denies any wrongdoing after allegations from a former client and two former workers that she overcharged the NDIS by roughly $300,000.www.abc.net.au
Well we are starting to get some outcomes regarding the NDIS.At least with Labor in power, these issues can be addressed, in a civil and balanced manner by the media.
'Not a sustainable proposition': Government to block sex work services from NDIS
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten confirms he will ban sex work from being accessed through the disability insurance scheme, which advocates say would rob participants of the freedom to control their own lives.www.abc.net.au
In short:
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten will ban sex workers from being accessed using NDIS funding.
Disability advocates say it will put the choice of which people with a disability have sex in the hands of the government.
What's next?
A Senate committee is scrutinising broader NDIS reforms, and has invited state premiers to weigh in.
Typical when it comes to the public purse (NDIS) just an open cheque book.Well we are starting to get some outcomes regarding the NDIS.
It split the disability community — now we have more information on this controversial area of NDIS reform
Hundreds of thousands of participants and businesses that are part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme should be subject to a tiered, risk-proportionate registration process, a government-appointed taskforce recommends.www.abc.net.au
From the article:
Hundreds of thousands of participants and businesses that are part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) should be subject to a tiered, risk-proportionate registration process, a government-appointed taskforce has recommended.
The recommended system
Tier 0 – Purchase visibility: No registration requirements are needed and applies only to goods purchased from retailers, such as ramps from hardware stores, where no support is provided to the participant. Authorities would have visibility over this via real-time purchasing arrangements.
Tier 1 – Basic registration: Worker screening not needed. Subject to complaints process and must report incidents. This tier is for those providing lower-risk supports, such as sole traders and those with limited one-on-one contact with people with disability.
Tier 2 – Self-directed registration: This would apply to participants or their guardians who directly contract all their supports, such as service for one arrangements. Workers don’t have to register, but the participant or self-director will.
Tier 3 – General registration: Worker screening needed. This tier is subject to the complaints process and must report incidents. It could apply to providers offering supports that require skill and training, such as complex bowel care or injections, and those involving significant one-on-one contact with people with disability.
Tier 4 – Advanced registration: Worker screening needed. This tier is also subject to the complaints process and must report incidents. It could include those offering supports and services in high-risk settings or in closed settings like group homes.
Providers at a glance
- At the end of 2023, only 6.7 per cent of service providers were registered (13,287 registered vs 186,244 unregistered)
- Unregistered providers currently don't have to go through audits, risk assessments or compliance monitoring to receive payment with NDIS funds
- Registration is currently voluntary and there is no incentive to sign up
- Providers who've attempted to register have complained about the bureaucracy and associated costs
The one thing that I personally would like to see is means testing.It's good to see Bill is getting people off the welfare teat, this is the sort of rationalisation that the Coalition can't get done, but needs doing badly.
More children start exiting NDIS as scheme shows signs of slowing
The latest NDIS quarterly report reveals scheme spending came in $600 million below the budget estimate – the first time it has beaten the forecasts.www.theage.com.au
Children are exiting the National Disability Insurance Scheme in growing numbers and 25,000 fewer Australians joined this financial year than the one before, in signs Bill Shorten’s reforms to the $42 billion program could start to slow its steep growth curve.
The latest NDIS quarterly report reveals scheme spending for 2023-24 came in $600 million below the budget estimate. The number of new participants grew 8 per cent but dropped below a double-digit increase for the first time in years.
The signs of moderation come as Shorten, the NDIS minister, seeks to push through major changes to the scheme that will temper growth further, including by limiting the type of support people can access. He faces a backlash from state premiers and disability advocates, although he is closer to securing Coalition support to get his bill through the Senate.
The new list of NDIS “in and outs”, which is open for public consultation this month, clarifies that daily living costs such as rent, household items, insurance costs, petrol and groceries should not be funded by the scheme. Lifestyle purchases such as alcohol, gambling, cigarettes, toys, sex work, clothing, beauty services and holidays will also be ruled out.
It also makes clear that mainstream health services – such as diagnostic assessments, pharmaceuticals and palliative care – should be funded outside the scheme, as should treatments for addiction or eating disorders. Similarly, education costs such as school fees, teaching aids or learning supports that focus on education, textbooks and school refusal programs will not be the responsibility of the NDIS.
The support list is one of several major changes Shorten wants to introduce, in addition to new needs assessments, longer plans and capped budgets that have strict limits on how much funding can be spent annually, with the money released in intervals.
The reforms act on last year’s NDIS review and are designed to limit the scheme to an 8 per cent growth trajectory by 2026. It has previously grown at up to 20 per cent a year, making it one of the federal budget’s biggest expenses.
The latest quarterly report shows signs that growth is moderating.
“I welcome the NDIS investment coming in $600 million less than was forecasted and provisioned for,” Shorten said.
There were 50,765 extra Australians on the NDIS in June this year than the year before, taking the total number to 661,267. This represented a fall in participant growth from the year before, when there were 75,847 additional people on the scheme.
The proportion of five- to seven-year-old children using the NDIS – the biggest age group as a share of the population and one of the fastest growth areas – also remained stable over the past six months, at 12.4 per cent of boys and 5.6 per cent of girls in that age group.
Last year, the proportion of young children on the scheme grew by as much as 1 percentage point in three months.
The agency attributed the stabilising figures to more children than usual leaving the scheme, as well as a higher number of participants exiting in general.
“More participants, especially those on the early childhood pathway, are seeing the benefits of early intervention,” the report said.
“Of the participants who have left the NDIS, some have built capacity through their NDIS supports and are living a more independent life, while others are continuing to receive supports from outside the scheme.”
It also said people were changing their spending as the agency had started proactively contacting people who appeared at risk of exceeding their plan limits.
The latest data bodes well for Shorten, who has invested his political capital in dampening the scheme’s growth so it does not blow out to a forecast $100 billion within a decade.
But disability advocates have argued his restrictions could make it harder for people to get the support they need, while state governments are nervous about being on the hook for billions more in disability spending.
Shorten said this week he understood the disability sector was anxious about change.
“They have muscle memory,” he said. But he said no other country made the per capita investment in disability that Australia did.
“I want this scheme to be here in the future. So going to this issue of ripping off the Band-Aid, I will do just about everything to try to convince the states to like what we’re doing,” he said.
Shorten said he was having constructive discussions with the Coalition and working on amendments that could guarantee its support for the legislation.
The uproar would be deafening under different circumstances.At least with Labor in power, these issues can be addressed, in a civil and balanced manner by the media.
Long overdue changes. Though plenty more needs to be done to get rid of the shonks and sharks.Well it will be interesting to see how this reduces the cost. Eventually common sense prevails and secondly it is allowed to be applied.
A major NDIS change has just been finalised. Here's what you need to know
Significant changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme start kicking in this week. Here's what you need to know.www.abc.net.au
What's changing?
The most high-profile change is a clear definition of "NDIS support" – in other words, what can and cannot be funded by the scheme.
The list of approved supports, which you can see in full here, is extremely detailed and largely includes items or services directly linked to managing a disability.
It includes eligible and accredited assistance animals, specialist disability housing, assistance for household tasks and early intervention supports for children.
Things that won't be covered are services which are "not evidence based", or directly linked to someone's disability, such as childcare fees, crystal and wilderness therapy, and day-to-day living costs such as rent, groceries and bills.
If a participant needs something to manage their disability which isn't on the list, they can make a request to the agency that runs the scheme, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
@moXJO The whole of NDIS has been shambolic since its inception.They went quiet on ndis, but it's wasting money like water.
Deaf people don't need cleaners to clean their house. Nor should we be paying for hookers.
Companies that don't send workers to a client are still charging anyway. This whole thing is a bloody mess. The entitlement is off the charts.
So if you are unlucky to get paralysed after working your whole life you pay for your own but not if you end up tetraplegic after a 18y old stolen car joyride?The one thing that I personally would like to see is means testing.
I wonder just how many who can pay their own way are on the jelly bean wagon, when they shouldn't be.
I know first hand of someone with plenty of investment money and who is getting a sizeable chunk of NDIS support yearly.
But because they system lacks checks and balances that one would assume should be there, for them it is all ok.
And how many years has that taken????It's a shame Bill is retiring, just when he has started doing something useful, in politics.
Bill Shorten flags NDIS changes to music and art therapy funding, prompting concerns about costs
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has flagged changes to the way music and art therapy are funded, raising concerns about access for participants.www.abc.net.au
This should be a no brainer when it comes to cost savings and getting it right.The uproar would be deafening under different circumstances.
NDIS participants could be made to pay cost of mandatory 'needs' test, in an eleventh-hour revelation
With an impending vote on an NDIS overhaul, the federal government reveals it has left the door open for an NDIS "needs assessment" to be paid by participants, which disability groups say could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.www.abc.net.au
In short:
The fee for a mandatory NDIS assessment could be passed on to participants under reforms designed to rein in spending
The eleventh-hour revelation has shocked disability groups, who have demanded a pause on the NDIS bill.
What's next?
The NDIS bill is before the Senate, with the government in negotiations with the Coalition.
It is always dependent on whether the media agree or not, fortunately we have Labor in so the changes quietly go through. Hopefully they get another term to really sort out the NDIS.This should be a no brainer when it comes to cost savings and getting it right.
I have to agree. I don't like everything Labor is doing. In fact I'm strongly opposed to a lot of stuff.It is always dependent on whether the media agree or not, fortunately we have Labor in so the changes quietly go through. Hopefully they get another term to really sort out the NDIS.
Absolutely IMO, even on the energy side of things, if Labor were to be removed now, there would be a never ending ongoing claim that if Labor had stayed in the renewable transition would have happened in the next term.I have to agree. I don't like everything Labor is doing. In fact I'm strongly opposed to a lot of stuff.
But the NDIS needs to be cut by billions. It's an absolute rort right now. I think another term is probably needed
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