Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

It is often difficult to extend services to people once they enter custody. We have been working on this in relation to access for Australian Hearing to provide services particularly to Aboriginal people suffering hearing loss. We know that people with disability are overrepresented in custodial places. There is nothing to preclude someone being a participant while in custody, if their usual place of residence is in the launch site. There would be some limits to what they might be able to access and the rules will outline what the NDIS can provide. For example, I could imagine that if a person needs personal care and support it would be very hard to provide that in a custodial setting. The agency is working with each jurisdiction to map interfaces with other systems to ensure that accountabilities are clear and that administrative processes are effective. But can I point you to the rules in schedule 1, on page 23, at 7.29(b), which state:

The NDIS will be responsible for:

…   …   …

(b)   where a person is in a custodial setting supports which are required as a result of the person’s functional impairment and are additional to supports required by the general population in relation to the following:

(i)   aids and appliances; and

(ii)   capacity and skills building to re-enter the community.