The disability community has sounded the alarm after Mark Butler confirmed that foundational supports won’t be rolled out on 1 July.
In news that won’t come as a surprise to many in the disability sector, it has been confirmed that the rollout of foundational support arrangements for Australians with disability will not begin on 1 July, as previously suggested.
In a press conference yesterday, federal minister of health, disability and ageing, Mark Butler confirmed the negotiations will depend on two other major funding agreements that are all now being worked on together.
“The conclusion of the NDIS reform to rules, the finalisation of foundational support arrangements and the finalisation of a multi-year hospital funding agreement are all tied together, and I think all governments have recognised that interconnection of those three processes,” he said.
Foundational supports are also known as tier 2 supports for people who aren’t eligible for the NDIS. It includes providing support for people who need more help than they can get through mainstream services.
They were to be funded on a 50-50 basis between the Commonwealth and the states. Some have speculated that it’s being used as a leveraging tactic as part of a wider funding power play.
Regardless of what’s going on politically, disability advocates, including the head of policy at Advocacy for Inclusion, Craig Wallace, just want to see action.
“We just want to see the foundational supports themselves emerge and be thorough, be developed by the disability, with the disability community, and be fit for purpose,” he told HSD.
They’re concerned by how little consultation there has been about what the supports might entail.
“I’m a little bit worried about the quality of the co-design work (it’s not really co-designed) and the engagement with the disability community on the design of these supports.
Related
“We know from the design of the NDIS, what happens when you don’t take the disability community with you and involve us in construction from the start,” he said.
Disability advocate River Night agreed that information from the government has been light on.
“The biggest problem with foundation services is they haven’t identified what they actually are and who it is that’s going to coordinate them, and how it’s going to be done in a way that allows people to transition and move to foundational services without ending up back into crisis, which then costs more,” he told HSD.
Advocates are also concerned with how the introduction will be timed and whether they’ll synchronise with proposed NDIS funding changes.
“So, if they haven’t already established the funding staff, the departments who are coordinating it and those workflows, it’s going to be at least 12 months before they even get to it, [even] if they were to fully fund it today,” Mr Night said.
“It’s that coordinating period that we’re actually really concerned about,” he said.
Mr Wallace told HSD that some people in the disability community are already noticing changes to their packages.
“While the government is saying that nobody is being removed from the NDIS, what we are seeing from our members and clients on the ground is that people with disabilities are experiencing significant reductions in the size and scope and generosity of their packages and are losing support.
“So the availability of these foundational supports is really important.
“We have been calling on the government for some time to ensure that it has a synchronised approach to the changes to the NDIS and the introduction of foundational supports,” he said.
If there isn’t a synchronised approach, Mr Night highlighted that other health services like the hospital system would ultimately be impacted.
“Maybe that’s why we have an NDIS minister who’s also looking after the portfolio of health.
“At least the positive of that is when our hospitals are overrun and beyond capacity, the person responsible for both of those departments is going to appreciate where the hospital staff are coming from when our system breaks,” he warned.