More than 4,100 Western Australians will take part in the federal and state government versions of disability care, which will run in conjunction from next week.
WA was given special consideration for disability services reform when it refused to sign up to the federal government’s National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Instead, the state government has been pushing its own version – NDIS My Way.
It received $55 million in the federal budget to fund a trial of the My Way scheme, which will begin in the lower South West region from July 1.
About 1,400 people will take part in that trial while a further 2,700 will be added in the Cockburn-Kwinana area in a year’s time.
Meanwhile, a trial of the federal NDIS system to begin next week will be facilitated by a central agency in Canberra.
The federal NDIS would significantly change how disability service providers operate, requiring them to submit invoices to the central funding agency to pay for services already provided.
The current arrangement involves providers being paid in advance for services to clients.
The My Way scheme is founded on retaining that funding scheme.
Disability Services Minister Helen Morton said the WA scheme was favoured because it would be delivered at a local level.
“The WA NDIS My Way model builds on what we already know works and these trials will guide us on how best to do this into the future,” she said.
The federal government plans to have the NDIS scheme fully rolled-out across Australia by July 2019.
Treasurer Joe Hockey allocated $825 million for a DisabilityCare fund in the recent budget to account for costs associated with the roll-out in states and territories.
If WA agreed to a full roll-out of the federal NDIS scheme it would receive $8.9 million in 2015-16, $18.4 million in 2016-17 and $19 million in 2017-18.
The state government has committed $33 million to the two-year trials of both schemes.
