The National Disability Insurance Scheme review has been completed and it uncovered many issues that included market structures, inefficiencies and complexities with the scheme. Gerry Naughtin, Strategic Adviser Mental Health and Psychosocial Disability at the National Disability Insurance Agency gave a briefing on the psychosocial aspects on the report. You can find written notes and the video presentation here.

You can read the final report here.

It is great news that psychosocial disability is a priority for the Commonwealth both within NDIS and outside and there are some welcome recommendations. National Cabinet has agreed to fund psychosocial support outside of NDIS and the mechanism for the agreement on this between the Commonwealth and States will be an amendment to the National Partnerships Agreement on Mental Health and Service Providers.

At this stage there appears to be little detail about the specifics on quantum of funding, timing and service design.What we do know is that the work on unmet demand for mental health support which came from its rollout has been done in South Australia and we anticipate other states will be following in 2024.

We will continue working to positively influence the shape of these important reforms, including the findings of our Roundtable where there was clear enthusiasm for a range of service design features including access, integration, workforce and impact reporting.
You can read the Mental Health Australia response here.
And Community Mental Health Australia response here.