Rick Morton

The purge of management at the $22 billion National Disability ­Insurance Scheme has begun following years of blunders and scandals, with federal minister Christian Porter finalising a list of corporate heavyweights to be brought in to replace the board.

Media Release: 19 October 2016

“NDIS Board Recruiter must be replaced after failing to offer up a single candidate with either a disclosed disability or lived experience of disability.” said Trevor Carroll, President of Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) and spokesperson for Disability Australia.

Disability advocacy organisations across the country have united to call on the state and federal governments to work together to reverse the “shutdown” of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the ACT.

The move comes after it emerged more than 1,000 people with a disability in the ACT are at risk of missing out on the scheme after the National Disability Insurance Agency stated there would be no new participants in the territory.

Last Friday on Drive ACT (ABC 666 Canberra) Disability advocacy groups expressed concerns about new applicants that are eligible for NDIS support being turned away.

Today (17/10/2016), Adam Shirley spoke with Federal Assistant Social Services Minister Jane Prentice, who sought to assure those who needed the NDIS services would have access.

A family of four, including two children with autism, who were found dead in their northern Sydney home died as a result of a murder-suicide, police say.

Police said it appeared the family died of gas poisoning and are asking the public for help to discover the motive behind the deaths.

THE Davidson family found dead in their home yesterday are believed to have been deliberately gassed to death with a poison that was released using devices throughout the house.

Mother Maria Claudia Lutz, 43, was found in one room with one of her children and her other child was found alone in a separate room.

Fernando Manrique’s body was found in another room in the house.

A family of four, including two children with "significant disabilities", were found dead in a home in Sydney's northern beaches, in what police have described as a "tragic" and "horrific" event.

Colombian born Maria Claudia Lutz and her husband Fernando Manrique were found dead in their home in the suburb of Davidson, in an apparent murder-suicide.

Also dead were their two children, 11-year old Elisa and 10-year old Martin.

Both suffered from autism.

• Daniel Burdon

More than 1000 Canberrans with a disability are at risk of missing out on National Disability Insurance Scheme support as the Territory and federal governments argue over which government should fund more places after a target of 5075 people was reached last month.

While the scheme was originally promised to be delivered to all Australians with a permanent and severe disability, it seems funding for places was capped at the 5075 "target" built into the original deal between the ACT and federal governments; a figure reached at the end of last month.