Joint submission to the Joint Standing Committee on NDIS Inquiry into NDIA Capability and Culture

Mental Health Australia, Community Mental Health Australia and the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia provided a joint submission to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Inquiry into the Capability and Culture of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). This submission outlines issues relating to the capability and culture of the NDIA, with reference to operational processes and procedures. It raises the lack of psychosocial disability specific skills, knowledge and experience amongst NDIA and partner staff, the lack of assertive outreach, inconsistent assessment outcomes, planning which does not support recovery, pricing that does not support recovery focussed service delivery and the need to expand psychosocial services outside the NDIS. It also outlines the impact of these operational processes and procedures on the experiences of people with lived experience of psychosocial disability and carers/families. The submission acknowledges the significant progress in recent years in relation to the responsiveness of the NDIS to people with psychosocial disability, particularly through development of the NDIS Psychosocial Disability Recovery-Oriented Framework and calls for its implementation to be expedited.