April Policy and Advocacy Update

The Federal Parliament is hosting a public hearing on independent assessments in Melbourne 

The Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS is holding public hearings in Melbourne this Friday 23 April. Amaze and the Australian Autism Alliance have been working with the Committee on the issue of mandatory assessments. 

On Friday, we will be presenting evidence to the Committee on:

• The impact that mandatory assessments will have on autistic people in the NDIS,
• The need for the Government to stop their rollout, and
• The need to listen to the voices of people with disability.

Amaze and the Alliance have provided the Committee with a policy submission, which can be read here. 

If you would like to listen to the hearing on Friday, there will be a live audio stream which can be accessed through the Parliament’s website here. 

Government temporarily pauses plans to rollout mandatory assessments

Last week, there was some positive news with the new Minister for the NDIS, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds announcing that the Government was pausing plans to rollout mandatory assessments. The Minister agreed to look closely at the outcomes of a trial of the assessments before deciding her next steps.

A joint statement was released by a national coalition of disability advocacy organisations that Amaze has been contributing to, through the Australian Autism Alliance. In the statement, the coalition encouraged the Minister to engage with NDIS participants and the broader disability community in Australia. While the pause is encouraging, we are continuing to work to ensure that mandatory assessments are not introduced to the NDIS. 

Read the statement here. 

NDIA consultation on interventions for children on the autism spectrum 

The NDIA have opened a new consultation that will look at how capacity building supports for autistic children will be funded through the NDIS. The NDIA is proposing to introduce significant controls on the funding of capacity building supports for autistic children, including the introduction of four levels of capped funding for capacity building supports, with the highest level of funding being limited to $35,000 per year. We are very concerned about this proposal.

We will be working with our local community and interstate colleagues as we provide a strong response to the NDIA’s proposed changes and will be seeking community input so that the NDIA understands what impact this will have on families.

We will soon be offering a webinar to explain the proposed changes, where you will have an opportunity to ask questions and give us feedback on how they will impact you.

The consultation paper can be read here, and if you are interested, you can make a submission by 14 May.