18 August 2016
Member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon, has said the Turnbull Liberal Government must take immediate action to ensure all outstanding claims to NDIS service providers are paid as a matter of urgency.
Continued delays and systems errors in the NDIS payments system have left many disability service providers unpaid since the NDIS began its national rollout.
The new portal launch has been a disaster with payments not being made to some providers for eight weeks, Ms Claydon said.
Ive written to the Minister on behalf of a number of local service providers who have been left unpaid for weeks. Theyve outlined to me the personal and financial stress this crisis has placed on their lives, the lives of their employees and the lives of participants of the NDIS.
That many service providers have continued to deliver care and services without payment since June is testament to their deep commitment to the NDIS and their clients, but it is not a sustainable or acceptable situation.
No business can survive without an income. While I welcome the announcement of a review into the implementation of the new portal, the Minister for Social Services must act now to pay the outstanding claims owed to service providers based here in Newcastle and across the country.
The NDIS is the biggest social policy reform since Medicare and is transforming the lives of thousands of Novocastrians with disability. Its too important to be jeopardised by the Governments administrative bungling. Australians with disability have waited their whole lives for the NDIS and its vital that we all work together to make the NDIS a success.
