We made a submission to the Department of Social Services consultation on the draft lists of ‘NDIS supports’ that, if legislation currently before Parliament were to pass, would define what the NDIS will and will not fund. Our submission highlights structural problems with the draft lists, and identifies issues with the policy and drafting approaches for categories or examples given of ‘NDIS supports’ and ‘non-NDIS supports’.
Given the transitional nature of these lists, and the limited time for their development and consultation with the disability community, they should not make significant substantive changes to the range of supports the NDIS currently funds. However, these draft lists would make significant changes, and in doing so, take an unduly restrictive approach to defining NDIS supports, against the interests of participants. Additionally, these lists as drafted would not provide clarity to participants about what they can spend their funding on.
It is vital that lists defining NDIS supports protect the needs and priorities of people with disability. The main recommendations in our submission include amending the draft lists to:
- not impose blanket exclusions from ‘NDIS supports’;
- remove the lists of ‘non-NDIS supports’, and where ‘non-NDIS supports’ are needed, to include them as a carve out to the relevant ‘NDIS support’;
- group ‘NDIS supports’ by subject matter; and
- ensure participants with approved funding for ‘reasonable and necessary’ supports will not be prevented from spending funding if it is to be a ‘non-NDIS support’.
