The federal government announced new measures aimed at misconduct by National Disability Insurance Scheme providers in the Northern Territory, with a focus on inducements used to recruit and retain participants in remote Aboriginal communities. The measures include funding community access workers in 17 remote Northern Territory communities, eight in Queensland and four in New South Wales, drawn from local Aboriginal health services and funded through the National Disability Insurance Agency, which runs the NDIS.
Federal government announces NDIS crackdown with new workers in 17 remote NT communities
The federal government announced new measures aimed at misconduct by National Disability Insurance Scheme providers in the Northern Territory, with a focus on inducements used to recruit and retain participants in remote Aboriginal communities. The measures include funding community access workers in 17 remote Northern Territory communities, eight in Queensland and four in New South Wales, drawn from local Aboriginal health services and funded through the National Disability Insurance Agency, which runs the NDIS.
NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister's office said the 17 new Northern Territory positions, introduced under the remote community connector program, would help locals understand the complexities of the scheme. The Northern Territory communities listed to receive the positions are Alyangula, Angurugu, Aputula (Finke), Barunga, Wugularr (Beswick), Bulman Weemol, Groote Eylandt, Jilkminggan, Numbulwar, Maningrida, Manyallaluk, Mataranka, Milyakburra, Minyerri, Peppimenarti, Umbakumba and Urapunga.
The government said the NDIS Commission would also contract a group of Northern Territory disability advocacy services to run check-ins in remote communities. It said the check-ins are designed to fill gaps in the traditional complaints process, which can be difficult to access for remote Aboriginal people who may not own phones or computers, or speak English as a first language. The advocates will speak with NDIS participants, their families and carers, and traditional owners, before feeding information back to the regulator.
Earlier this year, an ABC investigation revealed that NDIS providers used gifts including food, cash, alcohol and cigarettes in remote Aboriginal communities. A woman from Wugularr (Beswick) said a provider offered her tobacco and pushed her to sign an agreement she did not understand. Floyd Rose, from Lajamanu, alleged he witnessed an NDIS provider supplying alcohol to his mother, who was a client of the provider. The provider has since been permanently banned.
In figures provided to the ABC, a spokesperson for the NDIA said the agency had critically examined more than 1,000 public tip-offs relating to 234 providers operating in the Northern Territory over the past three years, and that 47 providers working with Northern Territory participants had been referred for serious compliance action. The spokesperson said the agency was targeting a trend of unscrupulous providers moving into the Northern Territory market from Melbourne and Sydney by manually checking their payment claims, and that in most cases those providers had been permanently removed from the NDIS.
- The source does not state the date on which the measures were announced.
- The source does not state the cost of the new positions or the funding amount attached to the program.
- The source does not name the NDIS providers under scrutiny or the provider that was permanently banned, and does not state whether any provider responded to the allegations.
- The source does not state what "serious compliance action" involves or the outcome of the 47 referrals.
- The source does not state which Northern Territory disability advocacy services will be contracted, or when the check-ins will begin.
- The source does not state the current status of the agreement the Wugularr woman said she was pushed to sign, or any outcome of her case.
Read the original at ABC News Australia