Policy and Advocacy Disability Update November 7

IHACPA NDIS Pricing review

OTA attended an in-person workshop hosted by the Social Deck and IHACPA to consult on their advice to government on future NDIS pricing policy.

IHACPA are accepting submissions by 15 November and OTA is in the process of developing a submission calling for urgent, more transparent, responsible and accurate pricing that reflects the true cost of allied health service provision.

IHACPA are hosting in person and online events in November. Find out more here.

New NDIS Legislation

The government has announced another tranche of NDIS legislation that will give more powers to the NDIS Commission, in response to selected recommendations from Disability Royal Commission.

The Bill changes will include:

Increased penalties for providers from a maximum of $400,000 to more than $15 million when a participant is hurt or injured under the providers care. This will bring the maximum penalty for harming an NDIS participant into line with the maximum penalty for harming a worker

Giving the NDIS Commission power to refer providers for criminal prosecution, for example, where there is a serious failure to comply with registration conditions

Strengthening the NDIS Commission’s information gathering powers to improve monitoring and compliance of NDIS providers and others

Expand the scope and application of banning orders to also include people operating in other critical areas of the NDIS, such as auditing and consulting activities.

Legislation is yet to be tabled and will first undergo consultation on an exposure draft in November. OTA will be reviewing the exposure draft once it is published ensuring that any changes affecting OTs are understood to ensure they are proportionate and have no unintended consequences.

You can check out the Government’s Media release here.

Foundational Supports

Consultation has commenced on General Supports, which the government describes as including information and advice, self-advocacy, peer supports, and capacity building. OTA has attended on-line roundtable consultation sessions and will make a submission to this consultation. Submissions close on 30 November.

The Department of Social Services has now expanded the consultation process to consider Targeted Supports for children with developmental delay or disability, families, carers, and kin. These supports are intended to provide a more individualised form of support for people that do not receive National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding. A consultation paper has been released and can be accessed here. This consultation is open until 5 December.

OTA has commenced a project that will seek to identify best practice approaches and models for the delivery of foundational supports across early childhood, psychosocial disability, and assistive technology.

Interested in being involved?

Sign up to be part of the foundational supports community of practice by entering your email address here
Nominate to join our paediatric or psychosocial disability foundational supports advisory group by sending a short email outlining which group you’d like to join and any relevant details about your background and experience in this area. Please send your nomination to policy@otaus.com.au and include the name of the advisory group in the subject line.

Closing date for nominations is Wednesday 20 November.