Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Mayo for her question. She's shown a strong interest in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and I've enjoyed the opportunity to work with her on a number of cases. In relation to the instances she's mentioned, I will be very happy to speak to her about the specifics of those.

The member is absolutely right to emphasise the importance of the plan. It is very important that a plan is developed which meets the needs of the participant in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We now have 250,000 Australians supported by the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the process of having their plan developed and finalised is absolutely critical. That's why the National Disability Insurance Agency, under our Liberal-National government, has been working to improve the arrangements in relation to plans. For example, from October of last year, a new general participant pathway was rolled out so that NDIS participants can be assured of having a face-to-face meeting as part of the process of developing their plan, and, of course, as the plan is developed, there's an iterative engagement process with their local area coordinator.

That fits with a range of other changes and reforms that we have introduced, including, for example, the enhanced myplace portal, the enhanced provider finder, specialist pathways for participants with particular needs. So in October we announced a new tailored psychosocial disability stream.

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