In The Media | 3 August 2015

Stop, go back, the NDIS board shake-up is going the wrong way

Assistant Social Services Minister Mitch Fifield recently announced plans to replace existing members of the board charged with delivering the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), who have a lived experience of disability or experience in disability services, with senior corporate executives.

This change in governance belies an understanding that the NDIS is not just an “insurance scheme” requiring knowledge of the insurance business. Rather, the NDIS is a social policy reform including the National Disability Strategy that, at its heart, requires an understanding of the lived experience of people with disability.

This fundamental change to the board is thus a major backflip on the underlying principles and values espoused by the Every Australian Counts campaign, which led to the NDIS’s establishment.

Source: The Conversation