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The ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ (Commission) made a submission to the Department of Social Services’ (DSS) consultation on NDIS Support Rules. 

The Disability Discrimination Commissioner (Rosemary Kayess), National ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ’s Commissioner (Anne Hollonds) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (Katie Kiss) have also submitted a joint letter of concern urging the government to address the Commission’s recommendations to ensure the rights of people with disability are upheld in NDIS reforms.

Human rights and the NDIS 

The submission calls for a stronger human rights framework to ensure the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) delivers on its promise and legislated objective to give effect to the human rights obligations under the United Nations (CRPD), particularly on the right to live independently and be included in the community.

Article 19 requires governments to ensure that people with disability are included and can participate fully in the community and make choices about their lives on an equal basis with others. This involves ensuring people with disability have access to personalised, rights-based disability support services, that are flexible, self-directed, and responsive to individual needs. Prescriptive models of support that segregate or restrict personal autonomy are incompatible with Article 19. In line with and , governments should also closely consult and actively involve people with disability, including children, in decisions affecting their lives and rights, including the development of law and policies.

The Commission is concerned that NDIS reform is regressing from its legislated, rights-based intent, and is being rushed without transparency or the meaningful involvement of people with disability. Narrowly defined and prescriptive support lists are incompatible with the CRPD and the original intent of the Scheme because they restrict individualisation, flexibility and choice and control. 

Recommendations

The Commission makes 4 recommendations to ensure the development of NDIS Support Rules and further reform to the NDIS upholds human rights standards and principles:

1. Governments should respond to the NDIS Review as a matter of priority.
2. The Australia Government should ensure that the development and implementation of NDIS Support Rules, and other NDIS reforms, is contingent on co-design that meets international human rights law principles and standards for participation and consultation.
3. The Australian Government should take a rights-based approach to NDIS reform, including NDIS Support Rules, by:
   • addressing the concerns raised in this submission by embedding the principles and standards of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Convention on the Rights of the Child and Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into policy design and implementation
   • ensuring NDIS participants can self-direct and determine their own supports based on their unique needs, preferences, goals and aspirations, and the barriers they face
   • ensuring NDIS participants have access to disability-related supports and services that are flexible and individually responsive
   • providing increased transparency and accountability around decision-making
   • ensuring government decision and policy makers receive adequate training on human rights obligations, and specifically Article 19 of the CRPD.
4. Governments should commit to ensuring no NDIS participant is worse off or loses continuity of essential support due to the introduction of NDIS Support Rules, in the absence of broader eco-system reform.

Read the Commission's submission for further details.