Australia: PWDA Says Centre Co-design, Choice And Control To Get Registration Right

PWDA has deep concerns about today’s proposal for all NDIS platform providers, support coordinators and Support Independent Living (SIL) providers to be registered. While the Albanese Government has committed to consultation with the disability community and a period of transition, PWDA remains concerned the proposal will impact the choice and control and availability of supports to people with disability in a system that is already in crisis.

PWDA believes this new regulatory model is premature, coming in advance of the government’s formal responses to the NDIS Review and the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce Report being released, and the lists of what supports can and cannot be funded by the NDIS being finalised.

PWDA President Marayke Jonkers is calling for genuine co-design with people with disability so any changes to registration are done right.

“We can’t compromise people with disability’s access to reasonable and necessary supports or choice and control over their providers. Co-design is the only way we will get this right. The government has only committed to consultation which far too often is a one-sided conversation. This could result in unintended consequences that have very real impacts on our day-to-day lives,” Ms Jonkers said.

PWDA welcomes the proposal to register Supported Independent Living (SIL) providers but emphasises implementation must be focused on the people it will directly impact.

“Our members support the registration of Support Independent Living (SIL) providers but only if changes are implemented in a way that does not compromise participants access to safe and stable housing. We need clarity on what registration will mean for the 9,000 participants using unregistered SIL providers. If we don’t get this right people could be at risk of homelessness,” PWDA Deputy CEO Megan Spindler-Smith said.

PWDA is particularly concerned some of the best proposals from the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce Report will be ignored.

“The taskforce’s recognition of centring people with disability’s will and preference when it comes to deciding which providers are the right fit for our needs was welcome. Under this proposal we’re concerned overregulation could trump participants capabilities when it comes to making decisions about their supports,” Spindler-Smith said.

PWDA is concerned today’s announcement will lead to further volatility in a system that is already at breaking point.

“We’ve already seen NDIS providers and support workers exiting the market because of uncertainty, pricing volatility, and market barriers. We know many providers are struggling to keep their doors open, especially in rural and regional areas where providers are already thin on the ground. We don’t want to see no options for participants or people being turned away by providers under understandable pressure,” Jonkers said.

PWDA will advocate to be active participants in the consultation process. The Disability Representative Organisation wants to work with the government to deliver balanced and tiered registration that centres people with disability’s capability to enact choice and control over how and where they get supports that ultimately enable them to live free and equal lives.

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