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The Australian Government is investing $40 million over two years in self-advocacy and peer support programs so they can continue to support people with disability to engage in our community and to advocate for themselves. The Peer Support and Capacity Building grant program is a one-off grant round available to community-based services to continue the valuable role they play in the community supporting people with disability, families and carers. Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Hon. Bill Shorten MP said community-based services play a unique role in welcoming people with disability and empowering them to build confidence and advocate for themselves. “Peer support and self-advocacy organisations are central to supporting people with disability to feel connected within our community and to learn from the experience of others,” Minister Shorten said. “As we collectively work together to make the NDIS stronger, we all know we’re at a critical point of the Scheme’s history. This means there’s never been a more important time to strengthen the services that support people with disability to engage confidently and self-advocate for what is right for them. “The future of the NDIS is in peer-led work, with support for decision-making at its heart. This is the vision of the NDIS Review – to make sure participants have the power and knowledge to navigate how best to use their NDIS funds.

A team of justice experts will work on a new panel to examine the management of prisoners exiting jails who have been identified as current or potential participants on the NDIS.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has strengthened investment in co-designing key reforms to the NDIS, through a funding boost for Disability Representative and Carer Organisations (DRCOs).

The Australian Government is investing $140.3 million in community organisations through the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) program to deliver critical projects in the community that benefit all Australians with disability, their carers and families.

An occupational therapist who was found guilty of 22 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception has been sentenced to six years in prison, with a non-parole period of four years, a sign of the Government’s commitment to crack down on fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The Australian Government is taking action against some unscrupulous providers who are exploiting the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) by encouraging thousands of participants to spend their NDIS funding too quickly and on non-disability supports. This week, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission have taken the initiative to write to plan managers and support coordinators who support NDIS participants, reminding them of their obligations. Earlier this month, both the Federal Budget and the NDIA’s Quarterly Report showed that intra plan inflation was a major cause of growth in the Scheme. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the letter to plan managers also reflects anonymised data matching between 900 NDIS plan manager ABNs and the ATO, which showed that 343 of those ABNs would have failed a statement of tax record at the time.