Page 745 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 March 2019
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With the introduction of the NDIS, both the ACT and commonwealth governments were required to invest heavily in preparing people with disability, their families and carers, the local community, the disability sector and government agencies to ensure that they were prepared for the commencement of this significant reform.
On 21 March 2013, the parliament of Australia passed the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013. This created the scheme and the National Disability Insurance Agency, or NDIA. During the trial phase, the NDIS act required existing ACT government safeguarding mechanisms to operate until a nationally consistent approach was developed and implemented. The ACT will become part of the new national arrangements at full rollout of the scheme from July 2019. During the trial and transition phase, the ACT government has borne about 60 per cent of the estimated costs of the NDIS in the ACT. From 2019-20, the funding arrangements will change, moving to a per capita model, with the ACT paying around half of a significantly higher total figure. In the next financial year, the ACT government will contribute $167 million to the NDIS, a significant financial investment towards supporting people with disability.
The NDIS has required not only significant financial investment but also the investment of our attention, energy and advocacy and, at times, patience. I am proud to say that ACT government officials have risen to the occasion. The ACT government and commonwealth worked together to prepare people with disability, their families, carers and community service providers, which was fundamental to the successful implementation of the NDIS in the ACT. This included the establishment of the ACT NDIS task force in October 2013, which led a whole-of-government approach to preparing the ACT for the NDIS trial. The task force comprised cross-government representatives from education, health, mental health, housing, finance and disability policy and services who worked hard to support the whole community to understand and benefit from the opportunities the NDIS offered Canberrans.
This included the implementation of a sector development program focusing on the needs of community organisations to adapt to the new environment, such as looking at their governance, financial management, collaboration and strategic risk planning. The task force provided intensive support for shared lessons, collaboration and strategic alliances across disability and non-disability organisations in the community sector.
We continue to punch above our weight, with the ACT leading the national mental health interface working group. The group is progressing important work. I look forward to updating the Assembly when we have agreement to its work plan from the Disability Reform Council.
Madam Assistant Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the significant work that ACT government directorates are doing to ensure that the NDIS is working for people in the ACT. This includes Canberra Health Services, the Health Directorate, the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, the Education
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