Disability Minister Joy Burch will attend a meeting of her state and territory colleagues in Melbourne on Friday knowing all eyes are on the ACT watching how it succeeds or fails managing the transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
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While Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull signed agreements only in September with NSW and Victoria to fully roll-out the scheme in those jurisdictions by 2018-19, the ACT has been implementing a trial since July 2014, with a deadline to have the entire community on the scheme by July 2016.
Ms Burch will attend the Council of Australian Governments Disability Reform Council on Friday promising to lobby new Social Services Minister Christian Porter, who has responsibility for the NDIS, to clear the way to continue the transition in the ACT.
"Certainly I know my state colleagues are looking to the ACT because we will be the first jurisdiction to take our entire system through and I will be very proud of the successes here but I'm also very mindful of the challenges that are still in front for us," she said.
Ms Burch said there was "still a question" about where so-called tier two organisations "fit within the system". Those were organisations that provided information, linkages and referrals to connect people with disabilities, their families and carers with appropriate disability, community and mainstream supports.
The COAG meeting was an opportunity to have that question answered.
"For us in the ACT, we have less than nine months to have that determined, decided and put into place whereas other states have a number of years, so there are still some challenges and I'm very focused and [Friday's] conversation will focus on some of those challenges and encourage the new federal minister to move quickly with determination," she said
Ms Burch said close to 1500 people in the ACT had their NDIS plans approved but the Productivity Commission had suggested up to 5000 people could be eligible for the scheme which will see people with disabilities nationwide receive individualised funding and support, with the Medicare levy already increased to 2 per cent to help fund it.
"We are certainly well and truly on the way. We are sitting on about 97 per cent of who we expected to transition through, have gone through and have their plans," she said.
The support for community organisations dealing with the transition has also been broadened.
Ms Burch on Thursday launched a new program called ready4 which will help community organisations get ready for the scheme.
The program is being delivered by a partnership between National Disability Services, ACT Council of Social Services and RSM Bird Cameron. Consultancy firm Yellow Edge will also contribute.
Funded by the Commonwealth, ready4 is being billed as a one-stop shop for organisations to ensure everything from their accounting systems to governance arrangements are ready for the transition.
With more than 170 organisations registered to deliver services in the ACT under the scheme, ready4 would also help to facilitate potential mergers and partnerships between them.
"But also what we're hearing today from organisations is, 'How do they start that narrative with potential clients?' Marketing, you could say, to make sure their services are targeted right and the people who need it understand where to find those services," Ms Burch said.
In the ACT, people are accessing the NDIS based on an "ages and stages" approach. People with a disability enter the scheme according to either their date of birth or, for school-age children, their academic year
Ms Burch said while the transition was a massive "societal change", she believed it was a successful one.
"I'm hearing back from individuals and from families that this is the difference, this is the opportunity, that they have been waiting for," she said.
