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We’ve listened to what has been said before

There have been many reviews of the NDIS since it started 10 years ago.

We will not ask you to repeat what you've said before.

But we would like to know what you are feeling about the NDIS now.

For many people with disability, the NDIS has been great.

But for many people, the NDIS hasn't worked or hasn't worked well enough.

We want to hear the good and bad.

We have heard about:

  • long delays in making decisions;
  • unexplained changes to plans;
  • lots of red tape;
  • confusing and complicated information and processes;
  • too many changes made too quickly;
  • lack of help to work your way through the scheme; and
  • not enough focus on what needs to be done to make sure people with disability have what they need to be independent and live a good life.

Here are some examples of what has been said before:

"For many of its participants, the NDIS is helping to improve their social and economic outcomes, increasing their ability to live an ordinary life and achieve their goals and aspirations. However, the implementation of the NDIS has not been smooth and it is evident that the pressure of rolling the scheme out across Australia has directly impacted the NDIA's ability to provide a consistent, effective and high quality service delivery offering"

– Review of the NDIS Act report (June 2019)

Figure 1 (description below)

Figure 1. Some areas identified as opportunities for improvement

Shared power and decision making

Figure 1. Some areas identified as opportunities for improvement (text version)

"There is a severe lack of trust in the people who matter in government policy making and a disbelief that they are genuinely interested in the experiences and views of people with disability and their supporters."

– Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Inquiry into Independent Assessments (2021)

"I feel we have been spoken to, we've been spoken about … I feel that we have been totally disregarded when it comes to meaningful consultation".

– Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Inquiry into Independent Assessments (2021)

Complex systems and processes

"Dealing with the processes to having my plan approved – I was on a verge of having a mental and emotional breakdown. The stress it caused was not fair."

– NDIS participant, regional Queensland

Service Access

"As a provider who operates across disability and aged care, I find different sets of definitions, rules and requirements confusing. Duplicative reporting is also inefficient and makes it difficult to work across sectors."

– Provider, Aligning regulation across the care and support sector 2021

"NDIS workforce turnover has been high relative to other sectors. If turnover remains at this historical level, it is expected that the NDIS will lose around 213,000 workers by 2024."

– NDIS National Workforce Plan: 2021-2025

Informal and formal safeguards

"Service systems focus their resources too narrowly on compliance and managerial approaches in responding to, instead of preventing, abuse. It is essential to have preventative measures, to complement safeguards."

– Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, 2021

Service quality and continuity

"The ongoing need for reasonable and necessary support for people with profound disabilities needs to be considered by the Commission to ensure their safety and wellbeing."

– Mother and Legal Guardian of Participant

Interfaces with mainstream services

"Clearer boundaries must be set around 'who supplies what', and services only withdrawn when continuity of service is assured."

– National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Costs, Productivity Commission 2017

Sustainability

"Managing the financial sustainability of the scheme requires participants feeling well supported by the scheme and the broader community continue to perceive the scheme as providing appropriate benefits in line with its costs."

– Current Scheme Implementation and Forecasting 2022, Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme

Previous reviews of the NDIS include: