Media Release by Senator the Hon Jan McLucas

National Disability Insurance Scheme Rules released

Joint Media Release with:

  • JENNY MACKLIN MP, Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Minister for Disability Reform

The Gillard Government today released further detail of the rules that will guide how the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) works for people with disability, their families, carers and service providers.

The rules support the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill, which is currently before the Australian Parliament. The Bill establishes the NDIS, including eligibility criteria and what constitutes reasonable and necessary support, and the NDIS Agency to deliver the scheme.

The rules provide a further level of detail on how the NDIS will work, including how people with disability will be able to access the scheme, and how the Agency will determine what supports are reasonable to meet a person’s needs.

They also provide a guide to what kinds of supports will be funded, and what supports are best delivered by other systems of support, like the health or education systems.

The rules also set out how the NDIS Launch Transition Agency will work with people with disability, their families and carers and how service providers will register with the Agency.

The Gillard Government has provided $1 billion to launch the NDIS from 1 July this year. About 26,000 people with significant and permanent disabilities, their families and carers, will benefit from the first stage of the NDIS.

The five launch sites are the Hunter in NSW, the Barwon area of Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, and the ACT from July 2014.

The Government has been working closely with people with disability, their carers and the disability sector on the design of the NDIS. People with disability, their families and carers will have further opportunity to provide feedback on the rules released today.

These rules will also be able to be adjusted and updated as needed into the future to reflect the experience we gain through the NDIS launch.

The rules are available at www.ndis.gov.au and will be open for public comment until 23 March 2013.

You can have your say on the rules on the ‘Your Say’ online forum at http://yoursay.ndis.gov.au/.