Launch of the NDIS National Workforce Plan 2021–2025

Today I am launching a major Australian Government initiative to build a responsive and also a capable workforce for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. 

The aim is to ensure the care and support market and workforce are able to support participants to meet their needs and also to achieve their own goals. 

The Australian Government is committed to ensuring the NDIS endures for many generations to come, and that includes having a strong and sustainable workforce to support it. The NDIS National Workforce Plan will ensure we have a modern workforce caring for our fellow Australians both now and well into the future. 

This Plan will generate benefits for participants, for workers, providers, and also for the broader Australian economy. An additional 83,000 workers will be required to support over half a million NDIS participants over the next four years, bringing the total workforce to over 350,000. We need more workers in the sector and we need the community to know about the benefits, to know about the rewards and also to know about the opportunities of working in this sector. 

The message we need to spread far and wide is that there are really rewarding careers and so much satisfaction to be had working in the care and support sector. So many outstanding Australians already work in the sector. And this sector is one of Australia’s largest and fastest growing, driven largely by the rollout of the NDIS. This represents enormous opportunities for meaningful, long-term jobs. It will also create further opportunities for small businesses right across Australia. 

The Plan I am launching today will drive growth and it will also drive capability in aged care and veterans’ support services as well as in the disability sector. It’s designed to attract workers with suitable skills and with the values and attributes we need, while also improving existing workers’ access to training and also to development opportunities. 

The Plan will firstly ensure participants will have access to higher quality supports and also improved service continuity. Secondly, workers will benefit from improved training and also access to professional development opportunities, and Thirdly, providers will benefit from better regulation right across the sector and more market demand information to drive needed innovation. 

The Plan recognises that care and support workers are greatly valued. NDIS participants place such great importance on the personal attributes and the values of their care and support workers. But we need so many more of them. We need people as diverse as those they care for and we need to offer them fulfilling and meaningful careers. 

This is exactly what the Plan I am launching today will provide.