Resources freed up by the ACT government's withdrawal from specialist disability services should be redeployed to improve quality of life and social inclusion for Canberrans awaiting the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
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The territory would become the first jurisdiction to accept all eligible people into the scheme from July 1.
Welcoming the news, advocate Craig Wallace said private providers were well placed to offer competitive accommodation support, therapy services and early childhood intervention programs. Mr Wallace, the president of peak body People With A Disability Australia, said the ACT's phased withdrawal by 2017 would provide an effective transition.
''Moving out of the space as a service provider should free up the government to embrace a broader project of inclusion and access which includes … transport planning, its service delivery, its accessible information provision, infrastructure and working with business to get them ready,'' Mr Wallace said.
''I think there is a bit of a risk that state and territory governments are going to think this just means that they are moving out of the disability space altogether.''
Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said on Thursday provisions for as many as 5000 people would almost double the local disability sector workforce.
The growth will peak at $342 million by 2019-20.
Mr Wallace said the government must continue to provide stewardship of the areas it will withdraw from.
''The risk would be that people with disabilities have lots of personal care and support but no community to enter into, so no employment opportunities, no accessible education facilities, a transport system that is broken and community infrastructure that is inaccessible. It's about everything that is outside the scheme, which needs to be accessible for people with disabilities,' he said.
The ACT government will withdraw from specialist therapy by December 2016, from supported accommodation by June 2017, and from early intervention support services in territory schools at the end of this school year.
Negotiations are continuing with the federal government over eligibility and start dates in the ACT scheme, and mental health services will not be changed.
