National Disability Insurance Scheme Receives $398M to Build a More Inclusive Australia

CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 20 -- The Australian Department of Social Services' Minister for Families and Social Services issued the following news release:

Australians with disability are set to benefit from a new approach to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Information, Linkages and Capacity (ILC) Building program.

ILC is a fundamental aspect of the NDIS, designed to empower people with disability to access their community and achieve their goals.

The Liberal National Government has already invested $82.7 million over the last two years in organisations that deliver activities that promote the inclusion of people with disability.

Minister for Families and Social Services, Paul Fletcher, and Assistant Minister for Social Services, Housing and Disability Services, Sarah Henderson, have announced that opportunities through the new ILC program will be available from early 2019, with more than $398 million of funding available over 2019-20 to 2021-22.

"The new approach to ILC will provide opportunities for organisations to access funding to strengthen the capacity of people with disability to engage in the community and to also help build a more inclusive and accessible Australia," Mr Fletcher said.

"ILC grants will provide funding across four key areas - each designed to support people living with a disability to live more accessible and connected lives.

"Central to the new approach to ILC will be longer term funding to support the provision of supports for people with disability through organisations run by people with disability and their families and carers.

"This puts people with disability at the centre of how we deliver this important part of the NDIS.

"To support the transition to the new approach to ILC funding, the Liberal National Government will commit $26m in one-off funding to the states and territories so they can assist the organisations they currently fund transition."

The new approach to ILC will be delivered through four complementary programs:

* Individual Capacity Building Program - delivered through a national network of Disabled Peoples Organisations and Families Organisations (DPOs/FOs);

* National Information Program - providing accessible, quality and consistent information about disability types and service and support options;

* Mainstream Capacity Building Program - working to change the way that mainstream services are better connected to NDIS participants, so that people with disability can use these services alongside everyone else; and

* Economic and Community Participation Program - working to increase the social and economic participation, including employment outcomes, of people with disability.

Ms Henderson said the new ILC structure will ensure people with disability receive quality and consistent information and have more opportunities to access mainstream services that are inclusive.

"The ILC component of the NDIS aims to build the capacity of people with disability in Australia to achieve their goals and for them be included in all aspects of a community life," Ms Henderson said.

"We've already begun to lay the foundations for this new approach to ILC through recently announced funding opportunities for Disabled People's Organisations and Families Organisations.

"A further $19 million in funding will be made available through a discrete ILC grant round in early 2019 for projects which enable economic participation for people with disability through improved employment opportunities."

Programs under the new ILC approach will be commissioned from March 2019, starting with the National Information Program. The remaining three programs - individual capacity building, mainstream capacity building and economic and community participation - will be commissioned progressively from May 2019.