ASU members working across Newcastle disability services came together for the launch of research by The Australia Institute into all of the problems with the NDIS not reaching its potential.
The national roll-out of the NDIS holds the prospect of a significant enhancement in both the resources allocated to disability services in Australia and the autonomy and flexibility of service delivery for people with disability.
But it also constitutes an enormous logistical and organisational challenge. And the market-based service delivery model built into the NDIS is exacerbating those challenges, by unleashing a widespread fragmentation and casualisation of work in disability services.
A report outlining the growing nature of these precarious and unstable jobs in the NDIS sector was launched in Newcastle today at the Samaritans Foundation. Presented by The Australia Institute – Centre for Future Work Using interviews from ASU members, it describes the urgent need to rethink and reform the NDIS to stop the deterioration in work and improve service quality.