“BETTER LINKAGES BETWEEN NDIS AND MAINSTREAM SERVICES”

“The NDIS can not be used as an excuse for mainstream services “to drop the ball”, when it comes to catering for the needs of people with disabilities”-Melissa Ryan

The introduction of the NDIS and its often complex interface with many mainstream services has made navigating multiple systems more difficult. Many of the issues raised consistently by people with disability stem from the failure of government agencies to agree on shared responsibilities and working arrangements under the current Applied Principles and Tables of Support to Determine Responsibilities of the NDIS and other service systems (APTOS).

The principles, roles and responsibilities outlined in APTOS have not translated into consistent collaboration on the ground. The underlying structure of APTOS may be part of the problem - it assumes people with disability will be supported by the NDIS or another system. In reality, they need support from both. This leaves people with disability confused about how and where to find and use supports, and in some cases with no access to support at all.

Clear responsibilities and effective coordination between agencies are critical for all people with disability. Mainstream services often have their own eligibility criteria and access requirements, which can be inconsistent and contradictory. In some cases, access to one support can preclude access to another complementary or necessary support, such as access to assistive technology, supports for children with developmental delay, or some supports provided in educational settings.

Without sufficient planning and integration, people with disability can experience not only complexity and inconvenience, but also negative health outcomes and risks to safety and wellbeing.

There remain significant problems with how the NDIS interacts with specific mainstream service systems

When issues occur at specific intersections of the NDIS and mainstream services, this can create confusion and ambiguity for participants. At best this is frustrating and time consuming. At worst it can put the health, wellbeing and safety of people with disability at significant risk.

Despite being the subject of repeated calls for change over the last ten years, the problems remain significant. We have heard about challenges that remain unresolved at the interfaces between the NDIS and the transport, child protection, justice, school education, hospitals, aged care and mental health systems.

Stronger inclusion and accessibility requirements across governments are needed to reduce discrimination and uphold the human rights of people with disability, outlined in the UNCRPD and DDA.

Governments should significantly increase inclusion and accessibility, including through legislation, disability action plans, and service standards. The needs of people with disability should be more genuinely considered as a part of government policy making processes, rather than treated as an afterthought or ignored entirely.

Governments must develop a unified and contemporary approach to disability rights, discrimination and inclusion legislation. This should consider the proposed Disability Rights Act, and ensure that the DDA and state and territory legislation are complementary of one another and achieve meaningful change to the lives of people with disability.

A multilateral schedule under the proposed Disability Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) should be developed that strengthens and clarifies core principles, provides detail on shared responsibilities and updates and corrects existing individual responsibilities. It will set the foundations for how service systems will work together and be held accountable. It should include how shared planning and funding would work, how performance would be monitored and evaluated, along with feedback loops to update the instruments used to assign responsibilities. The new schedule would replace the APTOS.