Mr. Peter Broadhead:

I thank the committee for allowing me to speak on how the Australian Government has changed the way specialist disability support is provided in Australia and developed new models that are in accord with our obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Australia has a population of 25.7 million people of whom 4.4 million have some form of disability, ranging from mild to profound. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates in 2018 about 400,000 people aged zero to 64 had a severe or profound disability.

The Australian Government’s approach to addressing disability is framed through Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031, a ten-year plan launched last Friday on the International Day of People with Disability. The strategy addresses the things people with disability said need to improve in order to achieve the vision for an inclusive Australian society that ensures people with disability can fulfil their potential as equal members of the community.

The convention was a key driver in the development of the strategyand the preceding National Disability Strategy 2010-2020. The strategy plays an important role in protecting, promoting and fulfilling the human rights of people with disability in Australia. It is Australia’s overarching policy framework for all levels of government to improve the lives of people with disability because, of course, we are a federation. The new strategy was developed by Australian, state, territory and local governments through more than two years of extensive engagement with people with disability, their families, carers and representatives. In delivering on what people with disability have said they need, the strategy will play an important role in protecting, promoting and realising the human rights of people with disability. This aligns with a number of commitments under the convention. It includes an intensive focus to drive practical changes through the development and implementation of targeted action plans, under which all governments in the Australian federation have committed to specific actions. The first five focus on employment, community attitudes, early childhood, safety and emergency management.

Within the strategy’s framework sits the centrepiece of Australia’s support for people with significant and permanent disability, the national disability insurance scheme, NDIS. The NDIS is a tax-funded social insurance scheme that delivers funding to eligible persons with significant and permanent disabilities, known as participants, to purchase the disability supports they need. It is a major change to the way people with significant disability are supported in Australia. At its core, the NDIS takes an individualised and rights-based approach to disability support, empowering eligible participants to exercise choice and control in accessing support. It provides access to individualised funding to help participants realise their aspirations and to participate in the social and economic life of the community. The NDIS is not means tested and provides its participants with funding for supports to help them live an ordinary life. The NDIS does not provide income support, which for those who require it is provided though a separate tax-funded social security system.

Eligibility for the NDIS is based on being under the age of 65 when applying, being a citizen or permanent resident and whether a person with disability has one or more impairments that are significant and permanent, or are likely to be permanent. Eligibility is not based on a person’s diagnosis or specific medical details, rather the scheme focuses on how a person’s functional capacity to undertake the activities of daily living is affected by their disability.

The NDIS is not limited to supporting individuals with a physical disability. It also provides support to eligible people with intellectual, sensory, cognitive and psychosocial impairments. Early intervention supports are also provided for eligible people with disability and children with significant developmental delay. The design of NDIS eligibility recognises that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and the environmental barriers that hinder their participation in society, which is also a key component of the convention. The NDIS has grown rapidly and is close to reaching 500,000 active participants, having grown from around 30,000 participants in 2016. As best we can tell, half of participants are receiving specialised disability supports for the first time.

Prior to the NDIS, combined Commonwealth, state and territory funding for services to support people with disability was around AUS$7.9 billion in 2019-20, or about €4.9 billion. The 2021-22 Commonwealth budget estimates that AUS$26.5 billion, or €16.6 billion, will be spent on participant supports this financial year, increasing to over AUS$31 billion, or €19.5 billion, in 2024-25.

Importantly, the level of funding attributed to participants for their supports is individualised according to each person’s reasonable and necessary needs. There is no minimum or maximum cap on the level of funding a participant can receive. Rather, a participant receives a NDIS plan and associated funding developed through assessment of what supports are reasonable and necessary given a person’s level of functional capacity and circumstances, and his or her current access to formal and informal supports. Included in each person’s plan is the person's statement of his or her goals. It is not told to them by anybody else. This individualised approach is central to the scheme and has been aligned with the overlaying themes of the CRPD, which are to respect the inherent dignity and individual autonomy of people with disability and their need to participate fully and effectively in society.

Examples of the supports included in plans which people can purchase with the funds provided to them are: therapy; home and vehicle modifications; assistive technology devices and equipment; assistance with household tasks, personal care and transport; and assistance for family and carers. Funds can be included for capacity building supports and supports for community participation.

The articles of the convention were built into the design of the scheme from the outset. The first object of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, a Commonwealth Act, is to, in conjunction with other laws, give effect to the convention. The objects and principles also include giving persons with a disability choice and control over the care and support they receive, protect and prevent them from experiencing harm arising from unsafe supports, promote the provision of high quality and innovative supports, and raise community awareness of the issues that affect social and economic participation of people with a disability.

A relevant example of a principle in the Act is where it states that people with a disability should be supported to exercise choice, including in relation to taking reasonable risks, in the pursuit of their goals and the planning and delivery of their supports. The general principles of the convention reflect the need to respect the inherent dignity and individual autonomy of people with a disability as well as their rights to participate fully and effectively and be included in society.

The NDIS sets out to support people with a disability to exercise the same rights as other members of Australian society to realise their potential for physical, social, emotional and intellectual development, to live independently and to be included in the community as fully participating citizens. The NDIS provides Australians who have a significant and permanent disability with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to live an ordinary life. It is the realisation of an insurance scheme that takes a lifetime approach, investing in people with disability early to improve their outcomes later in life.

I am happy to take any questions the joint committee may have on Australia’s disability programmes and its commitment to the rights of people with disability, and to answer them as best I can. I thank the committee for its time and for letting me speak today.