What an exciting year it has been for Centro ASSIST as we work to support providers improve their quality and compliance management across the aged and disability care sectors in Australia.
At the human services sector level, we saw various parliamentary enquiries and Royal Commissions into aged care, out of home care, mental health and the NDIS.
Read MoreA very passionate address by Bill Shorten on Day 2 of the meeting, starting with “it’s quicker to buy a wheelchair on Amazon than from the NDIA.” There’s a huge burden on PWD to prove everything and they have the added cost of paying for lawyers when appealing a decision of the NDIA. 1000 matters at the AAT now.
Read MoreThe NDIS Quarterly report released last week shows there are currently 310,000 participants in the NDIS. Of those, 114,000 are receiving support for the first time. The scheme will cover an estimated 500,000 people by 2025 and is expected to require an additional 90,000 workers. The report shows that there are 13,434 NDIS providers, including 797 new ones this quarter.
Read MoreYou will find below, my 14 page summary taken from The NDIA 2018-19 Annual Report of 182 pages. I have highlighted various sections of interest to me and my readers, namely service providers, participants in the scheme and Government policy makers.
Read MoreI attended this event and was able to meet the new Director, Professor Jackie Leach Scully (former Director at University of Newcastle PEALS, UK), and network with other leaders in disability research and advocacy from the university, disabled people's organisations and the wider community.
Read MoreThe law firm Piper Alderman attended the first public sitting day of the Royal Commission on 16th September and provided an excellent summary. Senior Counsel Assisting the Commission Rebecca Treston QC then made opening submissions, introducing her fellow counsel assisting, further explaining the terms of reference, highlighting that up to 1 in 5 Australians has some level of disability, and the extent of abuse and violence in Australia and the impact on those with disability.
Read MoreBelinda Drew, CSIA gave the keynote address on Day 2 of the conference, about understanding the role of collaboration in meeting the customers’ needs. The Productivity Commission (2017) stated “Early evidence suggests that many (but not all) NDIS participants are receiving more disability supports than previously, and they have more choice and control”.
Read MoreThe conference keynote was given by Graeme Head AO, Commissioner, NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. He started by describing the role of the Commission and went on to highlight that families should feel free to make complaints about services delivered to their family members – his goal is to build the capacity and knowledge of providers.
Read MoreOn Day 2 of the National Disability Summit, Dr Ben Gauntlett, Disability Discrimination Commissioner gave the keynote address and spoke about the National Disability Strategy and the NDIS working together for inclusion of people with disabilities.
Read MoreThe first speaker was Graeme Head AO, the Commissioner and head of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. The Commission is now firmly established as the registration and oversight body for the scheme with only WA left to fully roll under its umbrella on 1 July 2020. He stressed that “he wants to lift the system and not just use command and control”.
Read MoreThere has been a lot of media about the difficulties of accessing and implementing participants’ plans in rural and remote Australia. The DSS BLCW transition assistance funding program was set up last September with $33 mm of funding, to help develop the readiness of providers across Australia.
Read MoreI attended the Digital Transformation and IT Strategy Masterclass on 8th May with Sandra Vallance, Acting CEO of Connecting Up and Marcus Harvey, IT Services and Consulting Manager at Infoxchange.
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