Andrew Leigh

BETTER TRAINING FOR NDIS WORKERS IN CANBERRA

Canberra will be one of the first places in the country to benefit from Labor’s plan to invest $40 million in training locals for jobs in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

This election will be a choice between a united Shorten Labor Government, which will fix the NDIS and create local jobs in Canberra, or more of the Liberal’s cuts and chaos.

We need real change, because more of the same isn’t good enough.

The NDIS is expected to create up to 1,200 new jobs in Canberra and Labor will make sure locals can get the quality training they need to work in the NDIS.

Under the Liberals, the NDIS is suffering from delays and staff caps – and people with disability are missing out as a result.

Currently, 77,000 people with disability and their families are missing out on the NDIS.

Scott Morrison and the Liberals have short-changed the NDIS and the people that rely on it. Next year alone, the Morrison Government has budgeted a $1.6 billion underspend in the NDIS.

The Liberals are short-changing the NDIS to prop up their handouts and tax loopholes for the top end of town.

On average, participants in the Scheme are using just 50 per cent of their first NDIS plan, largely because of a lack of access to services.

That’s not good enough and only Labor will get the NDIS back on track by properly investing in the workforce, boosting quality local services and jobs.

A Shorten Labor Government will deliver two-year local NDIS workforce trials in 2020 and 2021.

The trials will be flexible and place-based and will be a partnership between people with disability, providers, TAFE, government and workers.

The NDIS workforce trial will have three components:

1. Ensuring NDIS workers have the foundation skills they need, with up to 3,000 training support payments of $2,000 for induction training.
2. Supporting NDIS workers to get Certificate III qualifications, with up to 2,000 training support payments of $4,000.
3. Providing a portable professional development entitlement for NDIS workers, with up to 5,000 training support payments of $750 per year, so people can take time off work to specialise and upgrade their skills.

Labor will also scrap up-front TAFE fees for 20,000 students studying to get skills for the NDIS and aged care.

The trials will establish the best flexible local solutions to skills shortages, gaps in the training curriculum and course availability, and barriers to getting the right people working in the NDIS.

Other trial sites include Townsville, as well as the Perth suburb of Joondalup.

A Shorten Labor Government will work with state and territory governments to expand the workforce trial to other locations.

Labor has a comprehensive plan to get the NDIS back on track, including:

1. A new culture that puts people with disability first.
2. Establishing an NDIS Future Fund.
3. More, better-trained staff.
4. Better planning, more choice and easier reviews.
5. Ensuring equitable access to the NDIS.
6. Fixing the gaps between the NDIS and mainstream services.
7. Valuing a skilled disability workforce.
8. Keeping people with disability safe and boosting advocacy.
9. A strong disability services sector.
10. Improving research and evaluation.

Only Labor can be trusted to get the NDIS back on track.

If you want to fix the NDIS, not more cuts – vote Labor.

ENDS

Authorised by Noah Carroll ALP Canberra.