Published 17 August 2024, revised 20 August 2024
On Friday 16 August, AHPA wrote to Michael Sukkar, Shadow Minister for Housing, NDIS, and Social Services, urging him to not support the passage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment Bill, and detailing our most prominent concerns.
Allied health roles in the NDIS
Allied health providers currently have two main roles in the NDIS:
- Contributing expertise to assessments for access to the Scheme and any subsequent reviews of participants’ plans.
- Providing supports and services under allocated plan funding.
AHPA’s concerns with the Bill
Significant legislative change is needed to guide the functioning of the NDIS. However, the current Bill is not fit for this purpose, as demonstrated by the myriad proposed amendments that have been presented since its introduction.
AHPA is particularly concerned about the fundamental lack of detail in the Bill regarding foundational supports and proposed needs assessments. These matters are too important to be left to after passage of the Bill, and to subordinate legislation, which is also subject to less scrutiny.
An equally fundamental issue is that the allied health sector was not consulted in any way before the introduction of the Bill. Despite our continued advocacy, at this stage AHPA is not confident that our members will be appropriately involved in the necessary collaborative processes to ensure that the elements of critical relevance to allied health are part of a strong and fair NDIS.
There are many other aspects of the Bill that could also be highlighted. All risk undermining the Scheme’s principles of participant choice and control, and are likely to further exacerbate provider financial insecurity, and consequent lack of availability of quality supports for participants.
In place of supporting the Bill, AHPA urged Mr Sukkar to call for an exposure draft development process that engages with all stakeholders to facilitate legislation that eases pressures on professionals and prioritises participants.