Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This is an interim report from the standing committee of which I'm a member. We have been unable to get all the information that we need from the National Disability Insurance Scheme or Agency, because they haven't yet finished doing their references packages.

The reason this matter was inquired into by the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS is that there is a great deal of concern—concern I share—about how the NDIA and the NDIS are handling hearing and support packages for people who are deaf or hearing-impaired. It is between Australia and Denmark as to who provides the world's leading services for those who are deaf and hearing-impaired. We truly have a world-class system that we all should be proud of. We ensure that children have any hearing impairment identified at birth. They are monitored. They get access to cochlear implants. We have Australian Hearing, one of the leading organisations of its type in the world, and we provide support and services to the deaf and hearing-impaired up to the age of 26, which is fantastic. We also provide a community service obligation to those over the age of 65.

What people are deeply concerned about is that that world-class system is at risk under the NDIS system as it is at the moment, because we have variability in the packages that are provided in the first place. People, including children, with the same sort of hearing loss or hearing impairment are getting different packages depending on where they are. They are getting them really late. One of the critical things around deafness and hearing impairment, particularly when you are young, is that it is identified straightaway, which is why we do newborn hearing screening, to ensure that it is identified from birth. Then what's important is early intervention—making sure that, if a child needs a cochlear implant or implants, they have that, and then they have the early intervention programs that people like First Voice provide, to enable their speech and hearing and language capacity to develop. We know, from all the evidence, that, if we can provide that treatment early enough, by the time they reach school age they are at the equivalent level of development as their hearing peers. That's why it's important. But what's been happening is that, because of the delays through the NDIS process, those children have not been getting that early response process. They are getting, for all intents and purposes, lost in the system. Yes, it's about choice and control, but they're not being provided with, for example, referral pathways in order to find and get the services they need so early for the child's early intervention program.

The committee has made six recommendations around how to address that. I urge the NDIA to take these up straightaway. We recommend that the NDIA monitors eligibility rates for adults with hearing impairments, to build a clearer picture of the number and needs of people who've been found ineligible for the NDIS services, and they should report in 12 months, because we're very worried about what's happening to those people who are found to be ineligible. We recommend that the NDIA immediately reviews the cases of people with hearing impairment who've previously been found to be ineligible and test their eligibility against revised guidelines.

We also recommend that state and territory governments clarify and make public how they will provide services to those who are deaf and hard of hearing who are not participants in the NDIS. We also recommend—and this is really important—that Australian Hearing be formally appointed as the independent referral pathway for access to early intervention services under the NDIS and funded appropriately to take on this new role. I cannot emphasise enough how important that is if we are going to maintain the world-class services and supports that we provide.

We also make a recommendation to ensure that early intervention packages take a holistic approach and meet the needs of the participants. What we're finding is that the packages are not of the size to provide proper early intervention supports. What we need to recognise here is that, if we provide packages that genuinely meet the costs of providing these services, those young people, as I said, will reach the same developmental age as their hearing peers and will go on to have full, productive lives. In other words, investing early will save a lot of money into the future but, more importantly, will provide quality services and supports for people to be able to make the best of their opportunities. That is so essential.

We also recommend that the NDIA urgently finalise, publish and introduce the early intervention references packages. That is critical, and that's why we haven't reported. The NDIA told us in late March that they would, in fact, have that ready in April. Guess what—it's 14 September now and they're still not done. This is an interim report until we can see that package and we can finalise the committee's inquiry. I recommend that people who have an interest in this area to please read this report. I beg the NDIA—again I'm begging the NDIA—to make a change to the way they carry out their business. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.