Changes to the NDIS Act

The Australian Government, with state and territory governments, is taking the first step to reform the NDIS following the Independent Review into the National Disability insurance Scheme (NDIS Review).

In December 2023 the Prime Minister and state and territory governments agreed to an initial response to the final report of the NDIS Review. This included introducing legislation changes in the first half of 2024.

On 27 March 2024, the Australian Government introduced changes to the NDIS Act 2013 (NDIS Act) that will enable future improvements to the NDIS and strengthen the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No 1) Bill 2024 is based on the recommendations of the NDIS Review. 

The Bill represents the first tranche of several upcoming amendments to the NDIS Act, to improve the participant experience. 

The Bill provides governments, and the disability community, with a framework to start improving the scheme for NDIS participants. Reforms in the Bill include:

  • taking a whole of person approach to participant support needs
  • improving service quality and safeguards
  • reforming participant pathways onto the NDIS and working towards a unified system of support for people with disability.

Many improvements will not take effect until a suite of changes are made to NDIS Rules and the legislative instruments that outline the detailed operation of the Scheme, which are made with the states and territories.

Amendments to the Bill

The Bill passed the House of Representatives on 5 June 2024 with parliamentary amendments being agreed to clarify key elements of the Bill. It will now go on to be considered in the Senate.

These amendments can be found on the Parliament of Australia’s website and are outlined below.

  • Instead of making reference to specific articles under the Convention on the Rights for People with Disability, section 10 now generally references Australia’s obligations under the Convention.
  • New transitional NDIS rules will set out supports and classes of supports that are or are not NDIS supports based on existing intergovernmental agreements and the current NDIS (Support for Participant) Rules 2013.
  • These transitional rules will be developed in consultation with the disability community and will be replaced by new Category A rules requiring state and territory agreement.

Other amendments to the Bill which were supported in response to feedback will:

  • clarify that co-design is central to the Government’s reform agenda
  • clarify that no changes have been made to participants’ rights of review
  • ensure participants will have a copy of their needs assessment
  • ensure there are appropriate safeguards around new information gathering powers
  • embed an independent 5-year review of the operation of the Bill.

These amendments demonstrate the Government’s ongoing commitment to listen and take on feedback on the Bill as required.

Next steps

When legislation passes, the Australian Government will go through a consultation and co-design process with the disability community on updates to the NDIS Rules—continuing to put people with disability at the heart of NDIS reforms.

NDIS legislation webinars

The Department of Social Services, together with Professor Bruce Bonyhady AM, presented 3 webinars to almost 2,500 people who registered to learn about proposed changes to the NDIA Act.

You can watch a recorded session of the NDIS Legislation webinar.

You can find a copy of the transcript of the NDIS Legislation webinar.

Design of the detail in Rules and legislative instruments

Following the successful passage of legislation, Rules and legislative instruments will be developed with the disability community, continuing to put people with disability at the heart of NDIS reforms.

The changes will take time to develop and will be implemented in stages, using a phased and considered approach.

More information about the co-design approach, including specific opportunities to engage, will be publicised in the coming weeks.

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