NSW disability reform  

A milestone was reached on the Australian disability reform road with the recent release of government responses to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. They include the Australian Government response, a joint federal, state and territory response and individual state responses. 

NDS acknowledges the powerful contributions of so many people throughout the Royal Commission that highlighted the need for systemic change. All governments have accepted, or accepted in principle, the majority of the 85 recommendations with shared responsibility across federal and state and territory governments.   

In the NSW response, the Minister for Disability Inclusion, the Hon. Kate Washington MP, noted that it is important for NSW Government to look at the Disability Royal Commission final report and the NDIS Review together, given there are many common themes and recommendations. The government gave a detailed response to each recommendation and has an implementation plan.  

Our NSW Divisional Committee met with Minister Washington a day after publication to discuss the operating environment, NDS priorities, the NSW response and how NDS can support the NSW Government and the sector in designing and implementing disability reforms.  

Another step on the reform road was the release of the advice from the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce to Government. It recommended some positive measures, including that most supports be registered through a proportionate model. NDS will continue to consult with members and the disability community on how the recommendations can be translated into a new regulatory system  

With a strong reform focus, NDS in NSW engaged with the Department of Communities and Justice on the design of foundational supports. We co-hosted an early childhood foundational supports forum attended by a number of our members. Feedback was positive, and more meetings are planned soon, including a face-to-face meeting. Please contact me if you would like to know more.  And more discussions are planned about other areas of foundational support development. 

Chair of our NSW Divisional Committee, Philip Petrie, and I also participated in a roundtable with the Shadow Minister for Disability Inclusion and the Opposition Leader. Several disability representative organisations were there to hear our exchange on key issues.  

On a more operational level, NDS is keeping up the pressure for urgent action on pricing for NDIS supports. If you haven't got involved yet, please join our letter-writing and social media campaign #4aBetterNDIS.  

We know that members are concerned about the ongoing arrangements and support of the Department of Communities and Justice legacy stock. NDS held a roundtable with the department and a representative group of service providers. We identified the need for short- and long-term strategies and agreed on the next steps. The discussions will continue and NDS will keep members informed.

SMART Design for Care 

NDS in NSW has a partnership with the SMART Design for Care research consortium. Research partner and NDS member Macarthur Disability Services recently presented a webinar on their work, hosted by NDS. Funded by icare, the project develops and assesses designs for mentally healthy workplaces in the NSW healthcare and social assistance sector.  

Design for Care recently hosted its third State of Affairs Breakfast, highlighting insights from the project. We heard success stories from thirty work-design pilots in five NSW-based Health and Social Assistance organisations. Design for Care has produced a project snapshot that you can download from their website, and you can learn more about their work from the SMART Design for Care LinkedIn posts. We will be holding more events with the research consortium soon.  

Voluntary assisted dying  

Voluntary assisted dying has been available in NSW since 28 November last year. There has been positive feedback from the implementation team on the arrangements in many disability settings, and the team will be presenting to the NSW Quality Network (virtual) meeting on 4 September.  

If you would like your Quality Lead to become a member of this network, please contact Sector Development and Support Consultant: submit enquiry/feedback" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> submit enquiry/feedback. 

All residential facilities and healthcare workers, including those in disability care, have legal obligations under the NSW Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022. 

More information about obligations under the Act can be found in: 

There’s general information about voluntary assisted dying, including information for patients and their families, on the NSW Health website. 

The NSW Voluntary Assisted Dying Care Navigator Service is a free service, available to all, that can answer your questions. To speak to a Care Navigator, call 1300 802 133, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm (excluding public holidays); or email NSLHD-VADCareNavigator@health.nsw.gov.au. 

Portable LSL 

A few weeks ago the Portable Long Service Bill passed the NSW parliament and the scheme starts next July. NDS in NSW is speaking to the Policy Lead at the Department of Customer Service and has asked for a chance to be consulted on the next steps, the development of the supporting regulations and implementation.  

I have also been talking to NCOSS, who are engaged in the consultative group, and there is a push for transitional payments to cover the sector for the PLSL levy. We will keep talking, advocating for a transition that doesn’t overly burden providers.   

NSW eventsu{202F} 

Regional workshopsu{202F} 

We continued our NDS workshops across NSW with recent events in Wagga Wagga and Dubbo. Common themes have emerged within workforce, inclusion of people with disability and other aspects of strengthening the disability sector in the region. With their first-hand knowledge, our regional and remote members are a great source of positive solutions, as well as information and opinions that we can take away to develop policy. Disability providers and other stakeholder attendees consistently rate these meetings highly.  

If you are interested in attending upcoming workshops in Western Sydney, Maitland or an online regional and remote workshop please contact Paula to register your interest:  submit enquiry/feedback

Workers compensation premium fundamentals for the disability sector webinar 

NDS has partnered with icare to offer a 30-minute lunchtime webinar on workers compensation premiums for employers. The webinar will cover: 

Please register on the Eventbrite webpage.  

State of the Disability Sector Survey 2024 

It is that time of the year when we urge senior managers or owners to complete our State of the Disability Sector survey. The data we collect goes into the State of the Disability Sector Report that will be released at our Executive Leaders Conference in Adelaide in December. At this time of crisis and reform in the sector, it’s never been more important to give NDS the data we need to fight for the interests of providers. 

If you haven’t done so already, go to our survey webpage before Friday 6 September. It will take just around 30-minutes to complete.  

For more information on anything I have raised in this blog, to ask your questions or make a comment, please contact me.u{202F}