Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

A few facts are important to put before the chamber. The first is that the previous government did not follow best corporate governance practice when they appointed all of the directors of the NDIS board to have their terms expire on the same day, on 30 June 2016. That is not best corporate governance practice.

If I did nothing, we would not have a board for the NDIS from the middle of next year. Clearly, therefore, there is a process required to look at the issue of appointment and re-appointment of directors of the NDIS board. I can advise the chamber that on 17 April this year COAG first ministers agreed that the NDIS should have the best board possible and that there should be a process to look at the appointment or re-appointment of board members. I can confirm that on 24 April the Disability Reform Council, which I chair, discussed this and that on 7 July this year I wrote to my ministerial counterparts seeking their agreement to a proposed approach for the appointment of board positions and that by 29 July all jurisdictions had replied, saying that they agreed with the selection process.

What I want to see and what all jurisdictions want to see from the middle of next year is that we have a board which has continuity and that there are some existing board members who are re-appointed—continuity is important at this stage of the scheme's rollout, but we are also open to having new board members. The most important thing is to make sure that this board has the best skill set possible in combination to ensure that the NDIS is the very best that it can be. So there is absolutely nothing unusual or odd about seeking to ensure that we have the best board possible.