National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Quality and Safeguards Commission and Other Measures) Bill 2017 [CTH]

On 31 May 2017, the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Quality and Safeguards Commission and Other Measures) Bill 2017 (The Bill) was introduced into the Commonwealth House of Representatives. The Bill establishes an independent national Commission, to protect and prevent people with disability from experiencing harm arising from poor quality or unsafe supports or services under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Background to the Bill

In February 2017, the Disability Reform Council released the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework (the Framework) which addresses many of the issues raised in the Senate Inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect against people with a disability in institutional and residential settings (the Senate Inquiry). The Framework was developed in consultation with people with disability, carers, providers and peak bodies over a three-year period.

The Framework includes measures targeted at individuals, the workforce and providers to strengthen their capacity (in the developmental domain), to prevent harm and ensure quality services (in the preventative domain), and to resolve problems, enable improvements and provide oversight (in the corrective domain). It outlines the ongoing commitment of all jurisdictions to quality and safeguards for people with disability.

The Bill, according to the Explanatory Memorandum is an important step towards implementing the Framework and giving effect to the Commonwealth Government’s regulatory responsibilities under the Framework.

A series of recent inquiries and reports have documented the weaknesses of the current safeguarding arrangements for disability services, many of which result from a disconnection between quality assurance and oversight regulatory functions. These inquiries include the Senate Inquiry, Victorian government inquiries, and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse. The inquiries found failures to uncover, report and respond to abuse, and inadequate national screening of workers. They called for nationally consistent provider accreditation and the use of behaviour support strategies that do not involve restrictive practices to reduce challenging behaviours. The Bill addresses many of the issues raised in these inquiries for the NDIS.

Amendments Contained in the Bill

A robust national system for regulation is required to mitigate the identified risks and achieve a balance between the realisation of the NDIS vision to support people with disability to make informed choices, while also promoting high quality supports and services with appropriate safeguards in the new market environment. As the Commission will be established within the Act, the existing objects and principles concerning the rights of people with disability will underpin and inform the regulatory activities of the Commission.

For people with disability, their families and carers, the Bill contains national obligations and standards which apply to all NDIS providers and workers, including through an NDIS Code of Conduct and arrangements for reporting and complaints with appropriate protections and sanctions:

• Schedule 1 amends the Act to establish the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, as an independent statutory body with integrated regulatory functions.
• Schedule 2 makes a number of amendments to the Act to improve the operation of the Act following an independent review conducted for the purposes of section 208 of the Act. The amendments align with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) response to the independent review in December 2016.

The NDIS represents a dramatic shift from services delivered under largely block-funded contractual relationships between providers and primarily State and Territory governments, to one where people with disability are the purchasers and consumers of services from a diverse market under the NDIS. The Commission will be a fit-for-purpose, evidence-based, risk-responsive regulator of the new and emerging NDIS provider market.

The new arrangements replace a complex and fragmented system of quality and safeguards in each State and Territory, delivering a nationally consistent approach. For providers, the new national approach will enable a single registration and regulatory system regardless of how many jurisdictions the provider operates in, reducing duplication and providing national consistency.

The Bill awaits Second Reading debate in the Federal House of Representatives.

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