NDS is the peak body for the NT’s non-government disability services organisations. Our members operate services for people with all types of disability. More than 20,000 Territorians have a disability and 4000 receive services funded by the NDIS, half of them identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Many live in remote or very remote parts of the territory.

NDS’s vision is for an inclusive Northern Territory where all people live safely and equitably. To achieve this, people with disability need to get the right supports at the right time from the right people, services and systems. This is why we ask all parties to fulfil our priorities for the future of disability support.

Foundational supports

Since the publication of the NDIS Review last year, the Federal and NT governments have been negotiating on foundational supports. We still do not know what support services the Territory will take on or how they will be provided.

• The government must give the sector a roadmap for NT’s contribution to foundational supports and they will be structured.
• Providers must be consulted and heeded on the design of foundational supports.
• Territorians must not be worse off under changes to the NDIS and the introduction of foundational supports.

Risk of service failure

NDIS pricing is placing NT’s disability providers on the brink of collapse. This is clear across many types of support, especially high-intensity behaviour support. If the market collapses, people will be forced into Territory-funded systems, such as health, justice and homelessness. The market will become more unregulated and unregistered.

• It is in the NT’s interest to join with NDS to lobby the Federal Government for realistic, independent pricing for NDIS services.

Return to Country

Scores of people with disability from remote NT are unable to return home, cutting them off from culture, community and country. The NDIS is inconsistent about funding return trips, often quoted as “We don’t fund holidays”.

For disability support to work in remote NT, the Territory Government must support Return to Country funding for urban-based people with disability.

Housing

Many long-term NT providers are ready and willing to operate in remote communities; some have longstanding connections and endorsement. But without adequate housing, remote service provision will continue to flounder. Recent investment by the federal government in remote housing may eventually ease the number of people with disabilities living is substandard and inaccessible government homes, but most communities do not have enough adequate housing for visiting professionals.

• To attract services to remote communities, the NT Government should commit to improving housing availability, accessibility and accommodation for visiting professionals.
• To support people with disability to live in their remote communities, housing must be accessible.