WAAMH influences national NDIS policy through CMHA

NDIS policy is a national affair. WAAMH’s primary strategy to influence these federal policy settings is to provide advice and channel Western Australian voices to contribute to the work of the community sector’s national peak – Community Mental Health Australia (CMHA).

CMHA is small but influential and very active in federal Parliament, committee and submission processed. CMHA leadership has a seat at the table in influential committees and reference groups.

CMHA has played a key role in winning some of the changes the NDIA has recently announced to pricing and the NDIS for people with psychosocial disability, and the nature of these changes.

Just some of their influential submissions on the NDIS, which WAAMH contributed to, include:

• 2018 Position Statement Continuity of Supports – detailed paper on what constitutes continuity of support for people receiving assistance from Federal Government mental health programs – Partners in Recovery (PIR), Personal Helpers and Mentors (PHaMs) and Day to Day Living (D2DL) – and are not eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
• 2018 Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Inquiry into Market Readiness – key issues raised in this submission include the supports needed by people using NDIS funded services to navigate new markets, issues faced by providers in the transition to a market based system, the workforce needs, the kinds of marker interventions the NDIS should carry out, and issues to do with quality and safeguarding.
• 2017 Submission to the NDIS Independent Pricing Review – outlines the cost, pricing and associated quality concerns about providing quality, recovery focused NDIS services.
• 2017 Submission to Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS – Mental Health – this influential Inquiry has shaped the changes announced by the NDIA in Spring 2018 to improve how the NDIS works for people with a psychosocial disability related to a mental health issue.

For more details about CMHA’s advocacy, head to: https://cmha.org.au/