In early June we are headed to the Northern Territory for 5 days of grassroots consultations in remote and First Nation’s communities.
During the week-long trip panel members will speak with participants, their families and carers, community leaders, traditional owners, Indigenous health service providers, heads of agencies and NT disability sector and government representatives. Their stories, insights and solutions will help us better understand the challenges facing people in remote and first nation’s communities.
We will chat with locals on the ground with lived experience to gain more insight and knowledge on how to make the NDIS work better for them.
We know there is a gap in delivery of services for both First Nations and remote communities. Participants find it hard to access the supports they need and the available providers find it hard to meet their needs.
We have published a paper on our website that tackles this issue - Improving access to supports in remote and First Nations communities. In this paper we outline what we have heard, learnings from previous reviews, findings and an early recommendation.
Recommendation
The NDIA, governments, First Nations and remote communities should work together as partners. They should explore, design and rollout alternative commissioning approaches to improve access to supports in remote and First Nations communities.
You can read the full version, a summary or the easy read version of the paper on our website now.
We will continue to work with First Nations people, remote communities, representative organisations and governments to make sure the NDIS works better for them.
If you would like to share your thoughts on challenges facing NDIS participants in remote and First Nations communities, have solutions for a better NDIS or any other ideas you have - visit Have Your Say on our website.