NDIS Review Report: a positive step forward

Mental Health Australia has long advocated for changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to better support people with psychosocial disability and, with the release of the Independent Review into the NDIS Report this week, I am pleased to see recommendations of the Review focus on improving service provision for people with psychosocial disability.

We welcome this as an opportunity to reinvigorate the NDIS to ensure it meets the needs of people with psychosocial disability, their supporters, families, and carers, and we are looking forward to the Australian Governments’ formal response to the Review recommendations.

Mental Health Australia acknowledges the Review was an immense undertaking, and was pleased to contribute two submissions to the Review. Our submissions pointed to issues and solutions around the lack of a recovery-oriented approach in the NDIS, inadequate pricing undermining recovery-oriented supports, and lack of psychosocial support services outside the NDIS.

The mental health sector has worked closely with national disability organisations to ensure our collective concerns would be heard on this issue.

In his National Press Club address on Thursday, the Hon Bill Shorten MP acknowledged that, “Despite the best endeavors the Scheme hasn’t worked as well as it should have for participants with a psychosocial disability. Current approaches to planning don’t take enough account of the episodic nature of these disabilities. And in addition, services are not always based on what we know works well.”

This acknowledgment is important, and we look forward to working with the government in addressing these issues.

Mental Health Australia strongly supports recommendations of the NDIS Review specifically targeted to improve the experience of people with psychosocial disability, including:

• a new approach to NDIS supports for people with psychosocial disability, focussed on personal recovery, with full implementation of the already agreed NDIS Psychosocial Disability Recovery-Oriented Framework;
• establishment of an integrated complex care coordination approach with public mental health systems for participants with complex needs;
• foundational supports with a focus on early intervention; and
• improved quality standards, training, and pricing arrangements for service providers.

We welcome the commitment of the NDIA to continue to work closely with its community and sector advisory groups, including psychosocial sector representatives, in designing the implementation of the recommendations.

Importantly, the Review also recommends Australian, State and Territory Governments commit additional funding to psychosocial services outside the NDIS. This aligns with work already underway by governments to estimate the unmet need for these supports, and consider future arrangements.

The level of collaboration between jurisdictions at the recent National Cabinet meeting is also encouraging.

Mental Health Australia continues to urge the Australian Government, together with state and territory governments, to urgently address the shortfall and massive inequity in community mental health services outside the NDIS. These supports are a fundamental component of an equitable mental health system, which supports people to thrive in the community. Mental Health Australia will continue working with the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum to provide advice to governments on the range of evidence-informed, good practice psychosocial support models and services they should consider funding outside the NDIS.

Following significant community and sector consultation, this advice will be finalised shortly.

Mental Health Australia will continue to advocate independently and work with governments to support the implementation of reforms that improve supports and services for people with a psychosocial disability, and their families, supporters and carers.

Have a good weekend,

Carolyn Nikoloski
CEO, Mental Health Australia

The diary next week

• On Monday I am meeting with our members Smiling Mind and OzHelp. In the afternoon I am attending my monthly meeting with the National Consumers and Carers Forum Co-Chairs.
• On Wednesday I am attending my monthly meeting with the Department of Health and Aged Care, then am attending the Embrace Alliance meeting. 
• On Thursday I am meeting with our new member The ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation. 
• On Friday I am attending Mental Health Australia’s Ministerial End of Year Update with the Hon Mark Butler MP, and the Hon Emma McBride MP This is a members only webinar – if you haven’t yet registered to attend, please do so.  

NDIA Update – NDIS Review Report

The National Disability Insurance Agency has provided the following update:

The final NDIS Review report is now available on the NDIS Review website. We encourage you to read the report. 

The National Disability Insurance Agency appreciates the work of the Review Panel and Co-Chairs and all the community members who contributed input into the Review.  

Together with government we will take the time to carefully consider all recommendations. 

Participants, supporters, providers and the disability community won’t experience any immediate changes. 

We are currently working on the 2023 Federal Budget reforms with: 

• disability representatives
• independent advisers
• NDIS participants.

We will expand this work overtime to include NDIS Review outcomes once governments have considered the recommendations. Reforms will be guided by good plans for implementation. We will work in partnership with you on reforms, particularly those related to the NDIS markets. 

Transition to new arrangements will be carefully planned and staged over time. This will ensure participant safety is paramount and you, and the people you employ, can transition in an orderly way to new arrangements. 

Our focus is humanising the NDIS for a better participant experience and to make sure the Scheme is there for the future. 

For more information about how we’re working with people with disability and the disability community to co-design the reforms, visit the Making the NDIS better together page on the NDIS website.

Town Hall Briefing on the NDIS Review

Hear directly from NDIS Review panel members on the blueprint to build a better disability support system.

This event will feature:

• Review Co-chair Professor Bruce Bonyhady AM and Lisa Paul AO PSM
• Review members Kirsten Dean and Douglas Herd
• Closing remarks from the Hon. Bill Shorten MP Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme

How to RSVP

Register for a free ticket online via Humanitix; Melbourne or Sydney (Brisbane TBA). Accessibility options for the event are listed on the ticketing website.

Can you ask questions?

Attendees both online and in person will have a chance to ask questions of the panel.

Please note this is NOT a media event this is for disability community stakeholders.

Witness to War Telephone Support Line

Release of the Productivity Commission’s draft report on philanthropic giving

The Productivity Commission has released the draft report of its once-in-a-generation review of philanthropic giving in Australia. The goal of the review is to boost donations to charities and meet the Australian Government’s goal of doubling philanthropic giving by 2030. This report sets out the Commission’s draft findings and recommendations relating to motivations for philanthropic giving in Australia and opportunities to grow it further.

Cost-of-living risks productivity

The gap in cost-of-living and personal debt distress between ‘middle-age, middle-wage’ workers and middle-income retirees has tripled in the past 12 months, the latest Suicide Prevention Australia Community Tracker reveals.

Parliamentary report links psychological injury to workload, teacher shortage

The NSW Teachers Federation has strongly endorsed a NSW parliamentary committee’s recognition that crushing workloads are leading to more psychological injuries, as part of recommendations to conduct a forensic investigation into stress-related psychological injuries in education.

Meeting of National Cabinet

National Cabinet met in Canberra this week and made important progress on key reforms that will strengthen our health system, secure the future of the National Disability Insurance
Scheme (NDIS) and keep Australians safe. National Cabinet acknowledged the need for reforms to secure the future of the NDIS, ensuring it can continue to provide life-changing support to future generations of Australians with a disability.

GPs vital to improving National Disability Insurance Scheme

The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) has welcomed the final National Disability Insurance Scheme report and reiterated calls for GPs to be better utilised. RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said that GPs must be front and centre.

ABS: National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing

The ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing has found 42.9 per cent of people aged 16-85 years had experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life; 21.5 per cent of people had a 12-month mental disorder, with Anxiety being the most common group (17.2 per cent of people aged 16-85 years); 38.8 per cent of people aged 16-24 years had a 12-month mental disorder.

Nation’s first dedicated women’s mental health service opens in Victoria

The Victorian Government has delivered Australia’s first dedicated women’s mental health service, a landmark initiative making it easier and safer for Victorian women to access the specialist care they need in a private setting. 

Supporting The Mental Health Workforce Of The Future

A new comprehensive framework will guide Victoria’s mental health workforce, as the Allan Labor Government continues delivering the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

$1.4 million to boost Southern Downs Healthcare

The Australian Government is providing $1.4 million to Killarney Memorial Aged Care to trial a holistic team-based healthcare approach in rural and remote communities in the Southern Downs region in Queensland. This funding will expand the Killarney Medical Centre to give locals better access to mental and physical health services.

New services to boost children’s health and wellbeing

This week Victorian Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt and Federal Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Emma McBride officially opened the three new
Children’s Health and Wellbeing Locals – forming part of the national network of Head to
Health Kids services being delivered across Australia.

Professor Patrick McGorry AO announced as inaugural Patron

The national youth mental health foundation, headspace, today announced that the organisation’s founder, Professor Patrick McGorry AO, has accepted the honorary position of Patron. Professor McGorry is the inaugural Patron of headspace. The new role marks the conclusion of his time as a member of the Board.

Enhancing collaboration between PHNs and mental health CMOs

Mental Health Coordinating Council and NSW and ACT Primary Health Networks have released a Joint Communique, which identifies strides made to support community-managed mental health organisations. We invite you to read the Communique in full and learn more about the steps being taken to enhance collaboration between PHNs and mental health community-managed organisations. The Communique highlights progress by a recently established PHN-CMO Working Group to address funding complexities, commissioning of services and reporting variations.

Inquiry into the NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme has initiated a new inquiry into the NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia. The terms of reference for the inquiry are included below:

As part of the committee’s role to inquire into the implementation, performance and governance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the committee will inquire into and report on the NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia, with particular reference to:

1. the experience of applicants and participants at all stages of the NDIS, including application, plan design and implementation, and plan reviews;
2. the availability, responsiveness, consistency, and effectiveness of the National Disability Insurance Agency in serving rural, regional and remote participants;
3. participants’ choice and control over NDIS services and supports including the availability, accessibility, cost and durability of those services;
4. the particular experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants, participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and participants from low socio-economic backgrounds, with the NDIS; and
5. any other related matters.

You can access more information about this new inquiry on the committee’s website. 

The committee invites you to provide a written submission to the inquiry by 23 February 2024.

The committee is seeking to publicise its work as widely as possible and would appreciate you referring this letter of invitation to any individual, group, or organisation that you think would like to contribute to the inquiry.

Making a submission

Submissions should include the name of the relevant inquiry – NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia.

The committee is seeking written submissions in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to ndis.joint@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word document. Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:

Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Submissions should include your name, phone number, and postal address so that we can contact you. Personal contact details are removed from submissions before their publication.

The committee secretariat can also assist you via phone (02) 6277 3083 or email ndis.joint@aph.gov.au.

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