Meet the new NDIS Taskforce to deliver better outcomes from Monday

Key points:

• The taskforce will provide a report with advice and recommendations in mid-2024

• The final report from the National Disability Insurance Scheme Review contains 26 recommendations and 139 integrated actions to make the system more sustainable

• The taskforce will address issues surrounding NDIS registration and monitor providers

National Disability Insurance Scheme Minister Bill Shorten announced the assembly of a new NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce today.

The taskforce will be headed by lawyer and disability advocate, Natalie Wade; former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Allan Fels; former Australian Council of Trade Unions Assistant Secretary, training and safety expert Michael Borowick and former Administrator of the Northern Territory Vicki O’Halloran.

The taskforce was created in response to the final report from the independent NDIS Review that was published in December of 2023.

Minister Shorten announced that the taskforce will work together with the disability community to deliver better outcomes for participants and provide expert advice to government on overhauling the current registration system.

The government will consider recommendations from the taskforce, set to be delivered in mid-2024, to design a graduated risk-proportionate regulatory model and a new provider risk framework.

“The new regulatory system currently being designed will help ensure no one is invisible or forgotten on the NDIS,” Minister Shorten said.

“Australia can lead the world in a regulation model of disability services, including delivering trail-blazing solutions like we want to achieve with the NDIS.

“To do this, we need to overhaul the current shoddy and inconsistent registration by making it more transparent and targeted to deliver quality and consistent outcomes that reach all groups of participants and providers.”

The disability community and the NDIS provider market will inform the efforts of the taskforce to ensure greater oversight of those responsible for delivering services through the NDIS while continuing to promote choice and control for the participants who receive those supports.

“Together with the disability community, this taskforce will give [the] government advice to design a new regulatory model to close the gaps that currently exist in [the] regulation of the NDIS market for people with disability,” he said.

“We want to reassure participants and their families this is not about removing choice and control, [but] rather delivering quality and safety.

“It is about ensuring participants continue to receive quality supports that recognise their human rights and support their safety and quality of life.

“Australians also reasonably expect the government to know how funding is being spent, whether it’s the NDIS, Medicare or Centrelink.”

The NDIS Review highlighted that clear accountability for administration was needed, in addition to the sustainability of the whole disability eco-system.

“The taskforce, led by Ms Wade, has deep knowledge and experience about the regulation of supports and services used by people with disability in the NDIS and contemporary regulatory practice,” he added.

“The NDIS is about people with disability, not making millions of dollars for some shonky providers. It’s about genuine small businesses, start-ups, people who want to make a difference on a level playing field and a fair go against the fly-by-nighters and quick-buck merchants.”

The taskforce will also work directly with the Department of Social Services, where a specialised Review team has been set up to work through the Review’s recommendations.

The independent NDIS Review Panel travelled to every state and territory — including regional and remote communities — and heard directly from more than 10,000 Australians.

What are you anticipating from the taskforce? Let the team at Talking Disability know your thoughts and subscribe to the newsletter for more information, news and industry updates.

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