In an op ed for The Australian, NDS President and Chair Joan McKenna-Kerr calls for harmful red tape to be cut from the NDIS.
In the piece, Joan summarises the history of the NDIS, the work of service providers around Australia in fighting for it, and NDS’s advocacy on their behalf.
She says that, currently, the red tape of the NDIS requires immediate attention.
“Red tape that is choking parts of an already fragile disability sector, and creating significant stress for people with disability and their families, needs urgent attention,” Joan says.
“The inadequately designed payment system that leaves service providers out of pocket – with resources diverted from disability services to propping the system up – must be fixed immediately. At the same time, the impact of the National Disability Insurance Agency … policy on the financial sustainability of not-for-profit businesses supplying services is in need of immediate attention.”
Joan says that it is often argued that the sector has not been ready for the changes of the NDIS, however, this is far from the truth. Rather than being unprepared for the changes of the NDIS, providers have been under-resourced and under-supported by government.
“Government has a unique responsibility to ensure that its policies do not negatively impact on the supply and quality of services to consumers,” says Joan.
Read Joan’s full article at The Australian.
