Independent Assessments Archives - Page 2 of 2

News 11 March 2021

Joint statement: Australian Autism Alliance, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, Children and Young People with Disability Australia, Disability Advocacy Network Australia, Every Australian Counts, First Peoples Disability Network, Inclusion Australia, National Ethnic Disability Australia, People with Disability Australia, Women with Disabilities Australia, Young People in Nursing Homes Alliance, Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4), Blind Citizens Australia, Brain Injury Australia, Deaf Australia, Deafblind Australia, Deafness Forum of Australia, Down Syndrome Australia, National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum, Physical Disability Australia.

Disability sector statement on the Australian Government’s planned reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

People with disability, their families and the organisations that represent them are all worried about changes the Australian Government wants to make to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

News 26 February 2021

Logos of the winners of the NDIA’s ‘independent’ assessment tender. A faint WHODAS assessment. Logos: Outlook Matters Psychology, Innovative Rehab, Pain NT, Konekt, Rehab Management (Aust) Pty Ltd, Access Care Network Australia, IPAR Rehabilitation, Advanced Personnel Management (APM), HealthStrong, Allied Care Group.

NDIA announce compulsory assessment contractors three days after closing submissions

More breaking news from the NDIS this morning…

This time about the new compulsory assessments.

The NDIA have just announced the organisations who have been contracted to carry out the assessments when they start later in the year.

Opinion 26 February 2021

Still frame from one of Aarons NDIS assessment videos on Facebook. There is a play button over his face. He is resting his mouth on his hand. He's wearing headphones.

“My NDIS ‘Independent Assessment’ was a nightmare”

“As an autistic person this petrifies me. The NDIS assessors don’t want to hear outside the boxes of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I can only imagine how bad this will be for people who can’t articulate their needs well. We need to fight and make ourselves heard.”

Aaron Carpenter volunteered to take part in the pilot of the new “independent assessments” being introduced to the NDIS later this year. His experience was a “nightmare”. He wants everyone to know what went wrong – and why we can’t let this go ahead.

Opinion 23 February 2021

An older man, a wheelchair user sits at the end of a kitchen bench looking into the distance. There is a fire hydrant on the wall behind him, and blurry bread and butter on the bench in the foreground.

NDIS needs reform but flawed assessment model requires more work

Michael* hasn’t showered or changed his clothes in three weeks, but when the National Disability Insurance Scheme independent assessor asked him how much difficulty he had washing his body, getting dressed and eating, he replied: “None.”

News 5 February 2021

NDIS Minister Stuart Robert speaking on Sky News with his eyebrows raised. There are red herring fish floating around over the top. Text at the bottom reads "Stuart Robert Government Services Minister".

The politics of distraction…

We’ve all been worried for a while now about what changes were going to be made this year to the legislation that governs the NDIS.

Well yesterday the Minister for the NDIS Stuart Robert gave an interview on talkback radio in Sydney – and let slip some of what he has planned.

And in the process pretty much confirmed what we were all so worried about.

News 18 December 2020

NDIA CEO Martin Hoffman and NDIS Scheme Actuary Sarah Johnson appearing before a Senate inquiry. Senator Jordon Steele-John appears by video link.

New inquiry into NDIS assessments

The Joint Standing Committee have just announced they will hold an inquiry into the use of independent assessments in the NDIS.

News 1 December 2020

Front cover of the NDIS consultation paper Access and Eligibility Policy with independent assessments. A mockup checklist saying to remove lists A, B, C and D with independent assessments. In the background is the front of an NDIS office building.

It’s the end of the dreaded NDIS Access lists

In the last week the NDIA have released a mountain of paper about the planned introduction of compulsory assessments to the NDIS.

We’ve already looked at what the new assessments will mean for planning in the NDIS. Now let’s look at what they will mean for people applying for the scheme for the first time.

News 25 November 2020

Front covers of two NDIS consultation papers: Planning Policy for Personalised Budgets and Plan Flexibility, and Access and Eligibiliyt Policy with independent assessments. In the background is a WHODAS checklist.

Is this the end of planning in the NDIS?

Today the National Disability Insurance Agency released a mountain of paper about the planned introduction of compulsory assessments to the NDIS.

And tucked away amongst all those pages was some extraordinary news about the future of planning in the NDIS.

News 18 November 2020

Cover of the September 2020 NDIS Quarterly Report. There's a phot of two people walking a dog on it.

Keeping the NDIS on track

The NDIS Quarterly Reports have always had lots of interesting data on how the scheme is tracking. They allow people with disability, their families, organisations, even governments (shock horror) to get a better idea of where the scheme is working well – and where it is not.

News 30 October 2020

Screenshots from Senate Estimates showing NDIA CEO Martin Hoffman, Scheme Actuary Sarah Johnson, Social Services Minister Anne Ruston, DSS Secretary Kathryn Campbell, and Senator Jordon Steele-John via video.

Putting NDIS assessments to the test

More information about the introduction of compulsory assessments for all new and existing NDIS participants has been released over the last few weeks.

News 8 October 2020

Still of Treasurer Josh Frydenburg giving his budget speech in Parliament, with printed copies of the 2020-21 Budget behind him. The ABC News ticker tape below says "Breaking: Budget 2020. Extra $3.9B for National Disability Insurance Scheme.

So what did the Federal Budget reveal about the NDIS?

In the middle of a global pandemic and with the country facing the worst economic crisis in more than a generation, the NDIS was never going to be a headline feature of this year’s Federal Budget.

News 9 September 2020