Kelly Vincent – 5RPH Interview on the Advertisement of NDIA Board Positions
05/09/2015
On Saturday 5th September 2015, Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent was interviewed on radio station 5RPH to discuss the unexpected advertisement for board member positions for the National Disability Insurance Agency, which made no specific mention in seeking board members with lived experience of disability. Here is the transcript from the interview.
Peter Greco: Kelly Vincent is the member for Dignity for Disability in the Legislative Council. Kelly always good to catch up with you.
Kelly Vincent: Hi Peter, how’s it going?
Peter Greco: Very well. Now you’re a little bit unhappy regarding the advertisement for board members for the National Disability Insurance Agency.
Kelly Vincent: I am, and unfortunately many other individuals and organisations in the disability sector and the disability community are as well. Because basically what’s happened here, and of course the story varies a little bit Peter depending on who you talk to, funny that.
Peter Greco: Laughing
Kelly Vincent: But it seems as though the National Disability Insurance Agency board have basically woken up to see their positions being advertised, so the agency is advertising for new board members. What is most concerning though, and I think that’s concerning enough, is that there is no specific mention of looking for board members with lived experience of disability either of course as a person with a disability or as a family carer for example of a person with disability. There is specific mention of people with business experience, long term board experience and experience in the disabilities services sector but nothing specific about being a person with disability. Given that we, people with disabilities are going to be the people who are obviously most directly affected by the decisions that this board will make, we think that’s very concerning.
Peter Greco: And in a sense the National Disability Insurance Scheme was set up, and hence this agency is managing it if you like and that was one of the premises for the scheme being set up that, is that people with disabilities were able to do things for themselves.
Kelly Vincent: Absolutely, the conversation around the need for a National Disability Insurance Scheme and the way that has run so far is about giving people with disabilities more choice and control over our lives, and letting us to be the experts in our own lives if you like. So I think it is absolutely outrageous and insulting that there is no specific mention of needing a lived experience of disability to be involved in this board under the advertisement at all.
Peter Greco: So how has this happened?
Kelly Vincent: Well I think that’s the question and I think we need to ask the National Disability Insurance Agency whether it’s getting away from the very goal that it was supposed to be championing and be implementing and I think that’s a very good question to ask. How has this happened? And indeed I think a lot of the conversation in recent times, particularly while the trial sites are still running, has been about the need for the scheme to be more open and accountable. And I don’t think it’s any secret to you Peter that the best way to ensure that the scheme is open and accountable and runs responsibly is to directly involve the people who will be directly involved in the decisions the board will make.
Peter Greco: Of course.
Kelly Vincent: So I think, how has this happened? Is a very good question.
Peter Greco: So Kelly is there a board at the moment and those positions are now up for renewal, if you like?
Kelly Vincent: Yes, well as I say, the story varies a little bit depending on who you talk to. But it does seem like from what we’re hearing and what we’re reading that the current members of the NDIA board have essentially woken up to read the newspaper and seen their own board positions advertised there. Which is just sneaky and an undignified way…
Peter Greco: Well wouldn’t they be appointed for a certain time anyway?
Kelly Vincent: Yes, but as I understand it this is within that time.
Peter Greco: Ah ok.
Kelly Vincent: It has certainly been a surprise from what I’m understanding.
Peter Greco: Well that’s even worse in a way. People thought they were going to be in until x date and it has been declared open before that time is up.
Kelly Vincent: Absolutely, it seems like a sneaky and undignified way to run any business, let alone the lack of particular consideration for the need for board members with disability. And look, nobody is saying that people with disabilities can’t also have in depth board experience, business experience, and so on. But I think we also need people particularly advocating for the lived experience and day to day needs of people with disabilities. And I think because this is about more than tokenistic involvement. As people with disabilities we often get used to living resourceful lives and learn to use our funding allocations resourcefully and creatively to live the lives that we want to live. So I think it’s about more than just a tokenistic involvement it’s actually about getting the people in there as people with disabilities, the people who know probably better than anyone, how best to use the funding, to stretch that funding, and to make sure that it’s going toward allowing people to live autonomous and fulfilling lives.
Peter Greco: Now just remind us, it sounds like Senator Mitch Fifield who is the Minister for Disability and I guess in a sense in charge of the NDIS; he seems to be quite switched on and quite aware of what people with disabilities are thinking. A question to him would certainly be in order, would it not?
Kelly Vincent: I think so and we’ll certainly be raising that within the Dignity for Disability party at every opportunity we have. I’m actually headed to Canberra tomorrow for a hearing into responses to violence against people with disabilities and I have put in a request to meet with Senator Fifield while I’m in Canberra. It is last minute so we’ll see if it happens. But if I do get the opportunity I will certainly take whatever opportunity I’m given to raise these concerns with him.
Peter Greco: And I think there’s also been a little bit of I guess, perhaps not as firm a commitment as we might like from the Federal Government that the roll out of the NDIS continues the way it was planned back when it was introduced?
Kelly Vincent: Absolutely and there certainly have been concerns from people with disabilities about potential delays and cuts to the scheme. And I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again there is absolutely no doubt that we do require this extra funding in the disability sector both for people who have disability related needs now and for people who will acquire them in the future. The questions are about the methodology that should be used to run the scheme. One of the things that were most concerned about in a South Australian context is of course the fact that there are far more children eligible under the trial than what was originally estimated. And while of course it’s good to see that more people are becoming eligible if they need the services, there is a need to employ more planners and more local coordinators to make sure those people who are eligible are actually getting the resources they need to get on to the scheme and get plans and supports in place.
Peter Greco: Kelly, we’ve got to leave it there, thanks for chatting to us. Good luck with it. We’ll keep in touch.
Kelly Vincent: Thank you very much Peter.
Peter Greco: Kelly Vincent there member for Dignity for Disability in the Legislative Council.
