A4 and SOfASD made a joint submission to the ACT Standing Committee on Health, Ageing and Social Services about the NDIS. It concludes with the following section:
Conclusions and suggestions
The NDIS has enormous potential to improve the lives of Australians with disability and the whole community. But to achieve its goals, the NDIS needs to be so much better than it is now.
The NDIA seems to have issues particularly with autistic participants.
Re: Letter from Minister Stephen-Smith
Sun, 8 Apr 2018 12:03:58 +1000
Bob Buckley (A4 Convenor <convenor@a4.org.au>
Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4)
Minister R. Stephen-Smith MLA
ACT Legislative Assembly
Thank you for your reply and for your apparent intervention.
Please note that I met with Mss Faulkner, McClelland and O'Neill in January 2018 (and previously in December 2016) with the alleged purpose "to discuss [A4's] concerns"; but the meetings were not discussions. I explained what happened in the latest meeting in my previous letter; the NDIA officials were unprepared for the meetings so they did not discuss A4's concerns related to early intervention for autistic children.
I have referred your feedback to management for consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Kate Lynch
Executive Officer
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Principal Registry
Dear Ms Lynch
Thank you for your interest. However, I am concerned that ongoing reviews of decisions relating to young children who need early intervention are delayed indefinitely in the AAT process.