Geelong Independent - 06th June 2014

Page 1

Geelong

Friday, 6 June, 2014

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Health expert attacks trial:

NDIS hurts users

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By NOEL MURPHY A LEADING health economist has accused Geelong’s NDIS trial centre of deliberating cutting clients from services and funding, denying their rights and ignoring complaints. In a savage attack on the high-profile Gillard Government initiative, Dr Katrina Alford said the NDIS was endangering the health of vulnerable people with a withering array of bureaucratic red tape and abuse of operational guidelines. “The NDIS is reprehensible,� she told the Independent. “They don’t tell participants the Regional Information and Advocacy Council (RIAC) has been funded to take care of complaints about the NDIS. “Ninety-nine per cent of people have no idea about it and are seriously floundering thinking it’s just them when they’re perfectly within their rights to complain, with legal assistance, to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.� Dr Alford, a senior lecturer in economics at Melbourne University before setting up her own consultancy, said the NDIS appeared in breach of operational guidelines and the spirit of its legislation. The insurance scheme was “stripping participants and their families� of services they previously received and refusing to hear their complaints. “In many instances they refuse to allow immediate family members, guardians and disability service providers to attend planning meetings, which creates a massive power imbalance between participants and the system.� Dr Alford said NDIS adopted a one-size-fits-all approach, “denying the diversity and specificity of varying individual needs�. Continued page 5

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