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Key advocates of the disability sector have responded to the government’s decision to push the rollout of the much debated and highly anticipated Foundational Supports.
The supports were scheduled to start on July 1, however Minister for Disability and the NDIS Mark Butler has announced they will now be delayed until the end of the year.
Autism Awareness Australia’s CEO, Nicole Rogerson says she’s in favour of the decision, citing admiration for Mr Butler’s honesty in admitting the supports weren’t ready.
Butler saying ‘it's not ready…[we] need to think about this. It's important that we get it right’…I would much rather the honesty than all the political dancing that was happening in the last Parliament. For those of us in the know, [we] knew all of that was going to take a lot longer than a few months to pull it together.
Nicole Rogerson
In a statement from the peak advocacy body for disability, People with Disability Australia’s (PWDA) website, the organisation reiterated the need for those in the community to be directly involved in designing Foundational Supports.
PWDA President Trinity Ford says delays and uncertainty around the rollout’s details, timelines and co-design means people with disability are still waiting for answers.
“We’re calling on the Government to communicate transparently about next steps and to ensure people with lived experience of disability are at the centre of future planning,” Ms Ford said, adding that,
“It’s vital that the design and rollout of these supports reflect the diversity of our community – including people with psychosocial disability, children with developmental concerns, and others who are not being serviced by the NDIS.”
The Grattan Institute’s Disability Program, advocates for the equality of people with disability through evidence-based public policy. In a recent From Pillar to Post Podcast, co-produced with Powerd Media, Grattan Institute Associate, Hannah Orban, shared concerns, claiming there is a lot of uncertainty about how many people will be accessing foundational support, and that state governments are concerned about the levels of demand.
“There is a risk that…the negotiations will stall, and we won't see foundational supports anytime soon,” Ms Orban says.