Media Release: Minister launches initiative in new regions, helping more Queenslanders with disability join the NDIS
15 September 2020, Townsville: Today, during Disability Action Week, the Hon. Coralee O’Rourke, Minister for Communities, Disability Services and Seniors, launched the Targeted Outreach project in four new regions.
The partnership between Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN), Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS), Aged and Disability Advocacy Australia (ADA Australia) and the Queensland Government’s Disability Connect and Outreach Program’s Assessment and Referral Team (ART) means we are working together to help more Queenslanders join the NDIS.
QDN Chief Executive Officer, Paige Armstrong said the Queensland Government initiative will provide free services to help people gain access to the NDIS.
“The initiative will specifically target potential NDIS participants who are in priority cohorts such as those living in rural and remote regions, as well as the vulnerable members of our community,” Ms Armstrong said “The important program of work highlights the importance of people with disability accessing supports they need through the NDIS.
“Queenslanders have been telling us for some time how they have felt overwhelmed and are experiencing barriers in apply for the NDIS. To help address this we have a targeted outreach team and local champions who have lived experience of disability, providing invaluable insights, who are on the ground connecting with organisations and people in their communities.”
QDN commends the Government on the partnership, which addresses some of the key barriers to accessing the NDIS that people have raised.
“We want to build on the strength of local community and volunteer organisations who are already working with people with disability who may be eligible, but who need more support,” Ms Armstrong said.
Individuals identified by the partnership will then be connected to the Queensland Government’s Assessment and Referral Team (ART) for further end-to-end support in developing their NDIS application.
The Targeted Outreach Project and ART have now rolled out in Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Townsville and Toowoomba and have been made available through a collaboration with the Commonwealth Government.
The NDIS helps communities to grow and thrive through increased social and economic participation and this initiative shows the Government are listening.
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Media Contacts:
Paige Armstrong, QDN CEO (07) 3252 8566
Background information:
QDN is an organisation of, for, and with people with disability with over 2000 members and supporters, providing information, feedback and views from the lived experience of people with disability.
QCOSS is Queensland’s peak body for the social service sector. For 60 years, we have been a leading force for social change. We believe that every person in Queensland – regardless of where they come from, who they pray to, their gender, who they love, how or where they live – deserves to live a life of equality, opportunity and wellbeing.
ADA Australia is a not-for-profit, independent, community-based advocacy and education service with more than 25 years’ experience in supporting and improving the wellbeing of older people and people with disability. ADA hosts the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Disability Network of Qld (ATSIDNQ)