Council of Australian Governments Consultation Regulation Impact Statement
On 7 December 2012, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) released the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for public consultation closing on 1 February 2013. Submissions can be lodged by email to NDISTaskforce@fahcsia.gov.au. The purpose of this COAG Consultation RIS is to elicit feedback on the options and impacts, including costs and benefits of the proposed approaches to the design of the NDIS. The Scheme will be implemented at the five launch sites and the impacts will be considered by COAG in any further roll-out of the NDIS. The Consultation RIS notes that the current disability support system is underfunded, unfair, fragmented, and inefficient. It gives people with a disability little choice, no certainty of access to appropriate supports and little scope to participate in the community. The NDIS envisages that all Australians with a significant and ongoing disability would get long-term care and support and insurance principles would be used to estimate the cost of reasonable and necessary support and services, taking into consideration the aspirations of the individual and his/her carers/family. A key change proposed is that people with disability would have options for exercising choice and control. For example, allowing choice of providers and the ability for individuals to directly purchase services detailed in their support package that best meet their preferences. The RIS canvasses approaches to determine a desired balance of regulation between the current arrangements and market based approaches. The objective of the market based approach is to provide NDIS participants with choice and control whilst mitigating risk to differing extents. The options included in the RIS are:
- Choice limited to government funded providers;
- Choice from providers that meet specific regulatory standards;
- Choice limited only in higher risk circumstances; and
- No limit to choice
The Consultation RIS was prepared by the National Disability Insurance Scheme Taskforce and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.