NDIS QUALITY AND
SAFEGUARDS COMMISSION
384. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Minister for Disability Services:
I refer to the 1 July commencement
date for WA to become compliant with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards
Commission.
(1) Has the minister had any discussions or
correspondence with the federal Minister for the National Disability
Insurance Scheme to defer this commencement date?
(2) If yes to (1), to defer to which
date?
(3) If yes to (1), is a deferral
likely to be provided?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank Hon Peter Collier for the
question.
(1)–(3) Yes,
I have had conversations with the federal government on this issue. The
disability sector in Western Australia has strongly indicated to me that we
should postpone the commencement date for entry into the NDIS Quality and
Safeguards Commission's remit. I met with Minister Stuart Robert maybe
three weeks ago—mid-April—and I have written to him asking him
to consider that. It will require a change to the bilateral agreement that has
been agreed to by the state and commonwealth. I am waiting for Minister Robert's
response.
In a conversation with the NDIS
Quality and Safeguards Commissioner, it was our intention to defer until 1 January
2021. The commissioner indicated that that was a bad time to start, given the
Christmas period and people not being around. He suggested it be later in
January. From memory, I think the date is 18 January—do not quote me on
that but it is certainly mid-January—to enable organisations to be back
on deck after the Christmas period. I should point out that this came about
because, obviously, the sector, like everybody else, has been grappling with
the coronavirus pandemic. National Disability Services and a number of
individual agencies wrote to me asking for this action to be taken. It is not
action that I take lightly. It is certainly
something that I want to make sure that we do at an appropriate time. Those
disability service agencies have
indicated to me that the officers who would work on the NDIS Quality and
Safeguards Commission entry and the requirements of the commission are
those officers who have also been dealing with
the coronavirus pandemic. Obviously, what we have seen across the state and
across the world in the past few
weeks and probably months now is lack of access to things such as personal
protective equipment, and those organisations working out pandemic
plans.
After considering the agencies'
request, I thought the best course of action was to seek approval and agreement
from the commonwealth to delay the entry. We will ensure that people with
disability are not disadvantaged as a result of that late entry. We have
ensured that the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office in Western Australia
will be provided with extra staffing to enable it to do any extra work that
might be required of it post–1 July. I am happy with that action.