In The Media | 6 December 2016

WA to run NDIS from Perth

The State Government has finally reached an agreement with Canberra over who will run its disability services, with WA to control its own “nationally consistent” National Disability Insurance Scheme.

As flagged in The West Australian last month, the State will administer the scheme from Perth, rather than 3200 km away in Geelong.

Every other State and Territory has outsourced the job to the National Disability Insurance Agency in Victoria.

But WA stood its ground, insisting its disability system was cheaper and better for people needing support.

Today’s announcement in Perth paves the way for a statewide rollout of a WA-managed NDIS from July 1 next year – a year later than in the rest of the country.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the Commonwealth and WA governments were “equally committed to national consistency on key elements of the NDIS, such as choice and control”.

Despite the Federal Government signally during the drawn-out negotiations that it was pushing for a nationally uniform NDIS, Mr Porter said the Commonwealth was open to a locally administered model run by the State Government.

Source: The West Australian