Rare Voices Australia (RVA) welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement that National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) independent assessments will not proceed following the Disability Reform Ministers’ Meeting. We also welcome all state and territory ministers agreeing to “work in partnership with those with lived disability experience on the design of a person-centred model.” Read Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds’ CSC, Minister for the NDIS, media release in full.
We thank Senator Reynolds’ office for meeting with RVA recently in Canberra and for listening to our thoughts about the NDIS and our concerns about independent assessments.
In our submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS Parliamentary Inquiry into Independent Assessments, RVA stated that we do not “support changes that use a ‘one size fits all’ approach and are not person-centric. We do not support changes that make the process less transparent, and that cannot be reviewed or challenged by individuals and their families. We therefore do not support the use of independent assessments for rare disease candidates.” RVA also lodged a submission into the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) public consultation: access and eligibility policy with independent assessments.
RVA looks forward to continuing our ongoing discussions with Senator Reynolds and the NDIA to ensure that the voice of people living with a rare disease and their families and carers, continues to be heard.
