MEDIA RELEASE: NDIS Review Recommendations Offer Some Positive Steps Forward For Carers

Carers Victoria, the state-wide peak body for all unpaid carers, welcomes the recommendations of the NDIS Review that has recognised the need to better support carers of people with a disability.

“We were pleased to see the Review recognise the need for navigation support, information, and capacity building for individuals, families, and communities” said Carers Victoria CEO, Judith Abbott. “This reflects the significant role carers have in the lives of people with a disability, and as part of the care economy.”

Carers Victoria also supports in principle recommendations to implement sustainable arrangements for families and caregivers of children with developmental concerns and disability, and trials of new living arrangements at key life stages with priority given to people living with their ageing parents.

Recommendations to improve planning and assessment processes have also been welcomed by Carers Victoria, as almost half of all carers involved in that system report that the processes for accessing services are complex and time consuming.

There are, however, some areas of the Review findings where Carers Victoria is keen to still see some further consideration. For example, it wants a role for key people in care relationships with participants to be embedded in the future system.

“People in care relationships with people with disability are often integral to their ability to both access and participate in the NDIS,” Ms Abbott said. “Into the future, NDIS arrangements for both planning and support, need to routinely include those carers for the broader system to be sustainable.”

“This is particularly important when more than 90 per cent of Victorians with disability live in family households not by themselves or in shared accommodation¹.” she said.

Carers Victoria looks forward to contributing to the implementation of these reforms which have the potential to make a real and practical difference to both people living with disability and their carers.

1. Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2018 (Australian Bureau of Statistics)

About Carers Victoria

Established in 1992, Carers Victoria is the peak body representing all unpaid carers in Victoria and championing all carers across the state’s communities.