Constituency Question: National Disability Insurance Scheme

Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) — (Question 7617) My constituency question is to the Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing. How will the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) rollout benefit the community of Yuroke? According to the 2011 census nearly 9000 people in the City of Hume required assistance due to disability — over 5 per cent of the total population. In my electorate of Yuroke, this includes over 1100 residents in Craigieburn and over 400 residents in Greenvale.

Earlier this year the minister visited my electorate for a forum on the Hume-Moreland rollout of the NDIS, which is set to commence in March 2018 as part of the seven-year statewide rollout. With preparations for this rollout taking place, many local carers, parents and people with disabilities are keen to find out more about this important new scheme. I look forward to the response from the minister so I can share this information with the Yuroke community.

REPLY:

The NDIS represents a major reform of unprecedented size and scale that will significantly improve the quality of life for 105,000 Victorians with a disability, providing people with greater choice and control over the support and services they need to actively participate in the community.

The NDIS will be rolled out across Victoria over a three year period, starting on 1 July 2016. By mid-2019, the Victorian and Commonwealth governments will be contributing $5.1 billion annually towards the NDIS, a substantial increase on current funding levels.

The Hume Moreland Area, which encompasses the electorate of Yuroke, will transition approximately 7,700 people with a disability from March 2018 to November 2018. This includes people who are currently in receipt of services and people who will be new to receiving supports.

The Victorian Government is committed to supporting people with a disability, their families and carers to get access to information and supports about the NDIS in a timely manner.

In the months leading up to transition for each region, the NDIA will begin contacting participants to commence the NDIS ‘participant planning’ process. During this phone call they will confirm participant’s details and the process for their access to the NDIS.

The NDIS planning process will commence with a ‘first plan’. The first plan will generally be in place for 12 months and aims to provide the participant with the support they need now and the time to explore the new opportunities presented by the NDIS, in their future plans.

At the initial planning discussion, an NDIS planner or a Local Area Coordinator (LAC) will gather information by asking the participant a set of questions about their capacity to perform tasks, details of their social network and what supports they currently have.

The Victorian Government is committed to supporting people to transition to the NDIS smoothly. Support may include assisting people to collate information about their reasonable and necessary disability support needs such as existing support plans and relevant assessments.

Further, the Victorian Government has invested $10 million (and secured an additional $6 million from the Sector Development Fund) to support people with a disability, their carers and families and service providers to make a successful transition to the NDIS. Taking a sector and consumer-led approach, a number of consumer, advocacy and carer organisations, such as Carers Victoria, Women with Disabilities and the Victorian League for Individuals with Disability have been funded to deliver a variety of information and capacity building activities across Victoria.

Martin Foley MP

Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing