Key takeaways

The 2023 NDIS review is a critical moment in the history of the scheme, laying out a roadmap of reforms to make national insurance against disability sustainable.  

According to that review, 

“Not enough has been done to identify, develop or strengthen independent accountability mechanisms that work with government to identify and eliminate racism, embed and practice meaningful cultural safety, monitor progress, listen and respond to concerns about mainstream institutions and agencies, and report publicly on transformation.” 

It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the longstanding exclusion of Indigenous Australians from equitable access to disability support. 

But according to ANU analysis, the successful implementation of its roadmap will be extremely challenging and will be beyond the capabilities of the Commonwealth agencies responsible to achieve alone. 

The findings, from the ANU Centre for Indigenous Policy Research, suggest that a new national and task-specific institutional strategy for implementing NDIS reform is needed. 

As the government considers the core recommendations of the 2023 review, it will be presented with both opportunities and risks for First Nations interests.

The major opportunity implicit in the review’s recommendations is improved access. First Nations people who have been excluded from the NDIS could gain access to services under a reformed system. 

The implementation of the review is also a chance to co-design aspects of the system with First Nations people and expand the disability care workforce in Indigenous communities.  

As for risks, a lack of housing, informed choices, and foundational supports for Indigenous people, especially in remote communities, were shown to be potential failure points. 

These risks also applied to foundational supports – those funded by states and territories to support people with disabilities who don’t qualify for full NDIS coverage. 

The primary barrier to successful reform is the sheer size and complexity of the required change. Reform will have to be implemented across nine jurisdictions with multiple levels of government and through tens of thousands of providers.

This presents Commonwealth agencies, which are already juggling numerous policy issues – some beyond the disability sector, with a significant coordination challenge. As a result, disability sector reforms are easily sidelined or placed on the back burner when other crises emerge.  

To address this, the report recommends that the Commonwealth consider establishing new institutional arrangements to coordinate its disability reform agenda. This would include a new temporary implementation agency focused solely on driving the implementation of the Indigenous-specific disability sector reforms agreed on by the National Cabinet. 

Such an agency could have a finite lifespan of five to seven years and be staffed by secondees from other departments, such as the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the National Indigenous Australians Agency, the Department of Social Services and the Coalition of Indigenous Peaks. 

A well-resourced organisation dedicated to managing NDIS reform would give the government its best chance of success.  

Grasping every opportunity made available by the 2023 review recommendations and avoiding the risks inherent in the implementation process is an extraordinarily complex task to leave to already stretched Commonwealth agencies.