| Summary: | Any changes to how the NDIS is implemented and administered by the NDIA should be consistent with the principles of administrative justice, enhance the rights of people with disability and are consistent with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD). Our research and engagement with a broad array of NDIS stakeholders suggests that capability and culture at the NDIA can be improved through: ➢ Providing further clarification of the operation of Section 34 of the National Disability Insurance Act 2013 (Cth) (‘NDIS’ Act) particularly in the context of Sections 3 and 4. ➢ Clarify legislative language regarding the role and relevance of general scheme financial sustainability in the determination of individual support decisions pursuant to Section 34. ➢ Ensuring disability specific knowledge of all NDIA staff through enhanced training initiatives ➢ Increasing resources to support and enable the Participant Service Guarantee especially in relation to the empowerment and connectedness of participants. ➢ Redesigning the decision-making process, from planning to review and appeal, to meet the objectives of being a rights-based, individualised, and collaborative process. Developing clear and accessible policies, procedures and information with particular attention to accessibility for First Nations peoples, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) populations, people with intellectual disabilities or those who are neurodiverse. ➢ Providing reasons for Section 34 decisions that clearly explain the evidence behind decisions, not only the technical legal grounds. ➢ Creating a public registry of NDIA settlement outcomes reached at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). ➢ Providing greater funding for supported advocacy and legal representation to assist NDIS participants to navigate the NDIS and enact their rights to reviews and appeals. ➢ Given the announcement of the replacement of the AAT with a new merits review body, reconsider the structure and process of merits-based reviews of NDIS ...
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