The Department of Social Services has outlined the expected timeline for the passing of the new legislation.
NDIS legislation currently tabled before parliament is unlikely to come into effect until after July, the federal government has confirmed.
Presenting at a webinar on the proposed NDIS reform, Julie Yeend, branch manager of NDIS governance, policy and legislation at the Department of Social Services, outlined the expected timeframe for the proposed reforms to be passed into law.
“It’s pretty unlikely that the bill will be considered by the Senate until after that report is tabled, [which] means we can’t clearly predict when the bill is then passed, but it’s unlikely to happen before July this year,” Ms Yeend said.
Public consultation on the legislation was currently open through the Senate Community Affairs Committee website, Ms Yeend said, with the Senate expected to table its report evaluating the legislation towards the end of June.
“The bill has been referred to the Senate Community Affairs legislation committee, as well as the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Senate Standing Committee on the scrutiny of bills,” she said.
“The Senate Community Affairs legislation committee is already taking submissions in relation to the bill, and that submissions process is open until the 26th of April 2024.
“The committee will then consider all the submissions received as well as the bill itself and give a report to the Senate by the 20th of June 2024.”
Also presenting at the webinar was Professor Bruce Bonyhady, disability advocate and co-chair of the NDIS Review.
He emphasised the need for “ongoing deep engagement” with the disability community regarding all aspects the proposed legislation and further planned reforms, particularly contentious plans to establish “foundational supports” dual-funded by state and commonwealth governments.
“What’s really essential now is that the NDIA and DSS work really closely with the disability community and states and territories to make sure that all of these recommendations which government accepts are prioritised and sequenced and delivered in the appropriate way, and that process involves deep engagement with people with disability and their families,” said Professor Bonyhady.
“I particularly want to highlight the importance of foundational supports, [as] we said in our review, those foundational supports must be implemented side by side with any changes to access and budget setting.
“There’s also going to be a need for further deep engagement if other parts of our review are accepted, in particular our recommendations in relation to foundational supports, our recommendations in relation to the early intervention pathway for children, but also ensuring better outcomes for people with psychosocial disability reforms to home and living our proposed market reforms, and then also reforms in relation to quality and safeguards.”