In its submission to the review, the Alliance calls for advocacy practice to be redefined as a citizen service not a disability service; and for multiprogram funding to support organisations undertaking advocacy practice in the post NDIS world.

The Young People In Nursing Homes National Alliance is pleased to provide a submission to the review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013.

We believe that the review is timely, given that the original legislation was designed primarily for the launch of the scheme and, based on the experience of the scheme in the trial sites, it was always likely that the Act’s provisions would change over time.

The Inquiry Report contains a number of recommendations concerning YPINH.

In its submission to the Inquiry, the Alliance recognises the importance of properly funding the NDIS, as well as the need for government to address a range of human services reforms to make the scheme succeed.

Following consideration of the submissions they received, the PC released a position paper that outlines the Commission’s early thinking on NDIS costs. The purpose of this position paper is to seek feedback on the Commission’s preliminary conclusions, and on any additional issues that should be considered before the public release of the final study report.

Related links:

• Productivity Commission – Position Paper
• Productivity Commission earlier Issues Paper that aimed to help participants prepare a submission

The submission focuses on the issues facing people with young onset dementia and their families and highlights the major service gaps that people face.

• Department of Health and Ageing – Consultation
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data on Australians with young onset dementia July 2022

In June 2013, the Queensland Public Advocate called for submissions to an Inquiry into the situation of individuals with disability in long stay health care facilities in Queensland.

The Public Advocate’s Report was tabled in the Queensland Parliament on 7 November 2013.

In her report, Queensland Public Advocate, Jodie Cook, called for far reaching systemic reform and collaboration between Queensland’s health and disability services to resolve this longstanding problem.

While recognising the evolutionary nature of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Young People In Nursing Homes National Alliance believes the NDIS Bill 2012 needs to build key features into the Scheme design to meet the requirements of both the launch phase, longer term operation and community expectation.

The Young People In Nursing Homes National Alliance congratulates the Commissioners on their draft report into Disability Care and Support.

While the Alliance supports the general thrust of the report, we believe that scheme design elements as outlined in the draft report can be improved; and the links with existing community sector infrastructure can be harnessed to make the NIIS and the NDIS schemes more effective and viable.

The key element that the Alliance believes needs to be comprehensively reviewed is that of the Disability Service Organisations – a key part of the Alliance’s construction of these new schemes in its first submission. As the front end of the new schemes, these vital organisations need to do much more than just the role of financial intermediary that was ascribed to them in the draft report.

In the Alliance’s view, these organisations are key to the success of the new schemes because of their capacity to provide comprehensive and inclusive assessment and planning, manage service providers, ensure plans are being implemented appropriately, promote and involve local community and volunteers and, most importantly of all perhaps, proactively manage consumer and provider expectation around what the scheme can or cannot deliver.

The Australian Government asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a public inquiry into a long-term disability care and support scheme. The Alliance made numerous submissions during the Inquiry representing the needs of the YPINH cohort.