Media Release by The Hon Jane Prentice MP

Disability Reform Council achieves significant agreement to support the rollout of the NDIS

Joint Media Release with:

  • The Hon. Jane Prentice MP
    Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services

    • The Hon Christian Porter MP, Minister for Social Services
    • The Hon Jane Prentice MP, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Disability Reform Council (DRC) met today in Sydney and made a number of important decisions to strengthen overall disability reform to support people with disability, their families and carers.

This included agreement to:

  • continue commitment to the National Disability Strategy;
  • a national quality and safeguard framework to ensure a safe environment and quality supports for all NDIS participants; and
  • the roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and the NDIA to encourage greater market development.

Minister for Social Services, Christian Porter, said the agreement from all large jurisdictions to a new national framework for future quality and safeguards is of particular significance and will ensure that people with disability, their families and carers can be assured of a safe and high standard of service delivery.

“This framework has been two and a half years in development, so agreement in its final form is a very significant and positive step forward for the NDIS,” Mr Porter said.

State and territory DRC members also acknowledged the significant issues in the first two months of the transition from trial to full NDIS scheme since 1 July and agreed to work closely with the NDIA to resolve current issues and get plans approvals back on track.

Mr Porter released the independent review into the implementation of the MyPlace portal, after discussing the report and its recommendations with state and territory DRC members.

“I’ve discussed the findings with my state and territory colleagues, and Governments will be working closely with the NDIA to help the Agency set up the required systems so we don’t encounter similar problems in other areas of the roll out,” he said.

“The review shows there was no single system failure – rather, the frustrating ICT issues arose from a series of compounding events, linked to deficiencies in the NDIA’s governance, operations, change management and communication.

“As at 31 August, more than 15,000 people had been deemed eligible for the scheme since 1 July 2016, with more than 4,000 people in the planning process and more than 1,600 people with approved plans.

“The NDIS is a large and complex reform, and I don’t think that anyone should underestimate the importance of what the NDIA has delivered so far, or the scale of task ahead of it during transition.”

Assistant Minister for Disability Services, Jane Prentice, said the recommendations of the report focus on continual quality improvements at the NDIA. This will embed their service delivery operating model and build their capability to successfully manage change.

“The impact and scale of recent issues was unacceptable for NDIS participants, their families, carers and providers,” Mrs Prentice said.

“Governments will support the NDIA through a process of continual improvement, to build systematic approaches to managing change and guiding people through new processes.”

The independent review into the implementation of the MyPlace portal can be found at: https://www.dss.gov.au/node/49881

The DRC Communique can be found at: https://www.dss.gov.au/node/49896