The Federal Government has denied there will be any delays in progress of the NDIS in Western Australia. This follows an announcement that the Commonwealth and WA State Governments had extended the current trials to July 2017, expanding them to additional locations. As part of the agreement, a target has been set to finalist arrangements for the state wide rollout of the NDIS in WA by October 2016, with the roll out expected to start on July 1, 2017.
The Minister for Social Services, Christian Porter, said the agreement will give certainty to around 10,900 current and future participants of ongoing support and ensure more Western Australians will benefit from the NDIS while details of the full scheme model are being finalised. He said the Commonwealth was working closely with WA on the details of the full scheme with an agreement on the final NDIS full scheme model expected later this year.
In 2014 the Commonwealth and WA Governments established comparative trials of two different NDIS models. From October 1, the WA NDIS, formerly My Way scheme, will be expanded and the NDIS model would also be expanded from January1, 2017. The Minister said the expansion of the two trials will allow a further 2,700 people to access the NDIS in WA. He added that the Commonwealth Government’s position has always been that the finalisation of the arrangements for a full rollout must follow the final evaluation into the comparative trials. And, the final evaluation has always been due to be completed in the Second Half of 2016. “This government has made significant steps in progressing the NDIS in WA and there were no agreements signed by the former Labor government to even establish trials.” He said the percentage of people who will have access to the NDIS in WA by the end of 2016/17 is slightly above some other states.