NDIA NEWS

January - Changes to the NDIS Board

Four new members have been appointed to the Board with effect from 1 January 2022; Ms Leah van Poppel; Dr Peta Seaton AM; Ms Meredith Allan and Dr Denis Napthine.

February - Free Rapid Antigen Tests

The Australian Government has commenced distributing 1.2 million rapid antigen tests to high risk residential disability care settings, with five million test kits to be delivered by June this year.

March - International Women’s Day

Toowoomba has selected the top 100 influential women and they include a number who are closely associated with BigDog including Kim Stokes, Alyse Nelligan and Sharon Boyce.

April - Disability Employment

Recruitment agency Randstad has partnered with Get Skilled Access, founded by disability advocate Dylan Alcott, to launch RecruitAble, said to be a ground-breaking recruitment program for people with disability. Supported by $2.43 million in funding from the Federal Government, the national pilot and new website will allow the estimated 2.1 million people with disability of working age, gain more employment opportunities.

May - Partners in the Community

The Australian Government is seeking suitable community based organisations to help deliver the NDIS partners in the community (PITC) program. Services will be delivered in 74 service areas across Australia for a 5 year period from July 2023. This will further improve participant access to support in their local communities. (This was later cancelled by Labor)

June - What were the original intentions?

The NDIS was intended to bring specialist disability services under a single umbrella, moving away from the previous fragmented and ineffective disability system and to serve three communities: 1. For every Australian 2. For all people with disability and carers 3. People with significant disabilities

July - Special Schools

The disability royal commission is looking at the experiences of children and young people with disability in different schools across Australia. This includes mainstream schools as well as so-called “special schools”.

August - NDIS and NDIS Commission

The requirements of the NDIS Commission were not well aligned with the NDIA’s planning processes or with the pricing arrangements.

September - Get the Cowboys

The Federal Government is reviewing a loophole that has allowed 90% of NDID Providers to be unregistered.

October - Practice Alerts

12 new Practice Alerts have been released by the NDIA including Polypharmacy and Dysphagia. NGO Training Modules are available

November - Federal Budget

An additional $11.2m for Disability Representative Organisations. There is also an extra $21.2m to be provided over 3 years for individual advocacy support during NDIS appeals.

December - NDIA v Davis

The impact of this should not be underestimated, as it has the potential to significantly expand the population eligible for NDIS support.