... at least for one participant.
But who is that tired old man up on the Convention Centre screen?
You forget, after a while, the gentle but unmistakable boost it gives your ego to be quoted in a media outlet - to be 'in the papers' (so to speak) because some reporter thinks you have something worth including in a story. Today, after a prolonged period of absence from the press, I'm in the local rag, The Canberra Times.
My speech this morning kicked off the content part of the two-day National Disability Services ACT conference on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I'm pleased (and relieved!!) that the speech went over well. Conference participants - from the conference organiser, through the NDIA Board's Chair (who was up speaking straight after me) and members of the audience to folk on Twitter - told me I did well. That's always satisfying.
Some of the Twitter feedback read like this ...
this ...
and this ...
Later in the day I was interviewed by Clare Colley of The Canberra Times. Her article in the online version (I doubt it made the print version) with my couple of positive quotes can be read here.
Not a bad day's work, all things considered.
And just in case the newspaper culls old links, here's the text of the story.
People with a
disability would be at risk of poor quality support and struggle to find
a place with providers if service prices remain too low, a disability
peak body warns.
Pricing has been just one of the problems
identified in the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme
(NDIS) in the ACT, National Disability Services chief executive Ken
Baker said.
About 650 NDIS participants, carers, and providers are
meeting in Canberra for the NDS's two-day conference this week – the
largest of its kind in the ACT.
When the NDIS roll-out began in
the ACT last July, the territory's pricing was the highest in the
country, but Dr Baker said the NDS felt service pricing especially for
one-to-one support was inadequate across the country and negotiations
were continuing with the National Disability Insurance Agency.
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"The price underpins service quality and choice, if the price is too
low there won't be enough providers to offer services or the quality of
service they will offer will be inadequate," he said.
"In general across Australia the new prices [under the NDIS] are less than providers have been receiving."
Transitioning
from the ACT government funded system had also proved problematic with
some providers forced to carry the financial burden when there was a gap
before NDIS funds began, Dr Baker said.
The planning and
assessment for NDIS participants was another area that needed
improvement, with Dr Baker advocating for the role to be handed over to
the non-government sector rather than the NDIA.
"I think it's
reasonable the agency [NDIA] would want to check people's eligibility
and allocate them an individual budget, but much of that discussion
about what's the best way to support this person to achieve their goals
is best taken place outside the agency with their family and service
providers," he said.
Rather than the desperate lack of cash that
strangled the sector previously, disability advocate Dougie Herd from
Every Australian Counts said the new challenge was taking feedback from
NDIS participants to ensure the scheme met their justifiably high
standards and eased their anxieties.
"It's better for us to work
to solve these problems of new support, growth and development rather
than the old system in which the problem was really about when will we
ever get enough money to meet people's needs," he said.
"All jurisdictions have been rationed by available dollars over the last 10 years or so."
Mr
Herd said before the roll-out there were about 2500 people with a
disability accessing the ACT system; the extra money made available
under the NDIS would allow the number to double by the end of 2019.
While
Dr Baker was confident all the issues will be ironed out as the ACT
trial site transition continues, he said many questions surrounding the
NDIS rollout could not be answered while the design of the scheme was
still evolving making it difficult for organisations and individuals to
plan.
"At present it feels like a construction site, it has all
the promise and excitement… but all the frustration, disruption and
problems of building something new while the plan is still evolving," he
said.
Dr Baker said unlike other trial sites the NDIS roll-out in
the ACT offered an opportunity to examine how people with a disability
who missed out a full NDIS package could still access support.
While
the number of providers in the ACT was sufficient for now, Dr Baker
said as the scheme expands there will be room for more with interstate
organisations already expressing interest.
Mr Herd said he expected new forms of service support to cope with the increasing demand.
So ... big speech in the morning, making the opening address to 650 conference delegates at the National Convention Centre, Canberra. I finally started to get an idea of what I might say and how I might say it early this afternoon. It's a sign of how (uncharacteristically) nervous I am about tomorrow's presentation that I decided to write a text. I usually don't. I started writing around seven-thirty this evening. I'm maybe half way through and it seems to be holding its themes and structure together, so that's a hopeful sign.
Here is one thing for sure. No sleep for me tonight.