Wimmera councils establish home support working party

It comes as the federal and state governments prepare to implement the National Disability Insurance Scheme from July next year.

As part of their agreement, home and community care program management will be split. The federal government will fund people 65 and above, and the states will fund people less than 65.

Horsham Rural City Council community services director Angela Murphy said the Wimmera Southern Mallee Home Support Program Working Group would look at what the changes meant for the region. “We will set up the terms of reference and what we want to find out, and start some more detailed work next year,” she said.

“Because this particular reform will go to competition in the future, we need to be careful about our intellectual property going forward if we are going to stay in the service sector.”

Ms Murphy said there were still a lot of unknowns with the NDIS rollout, which was due to start in the Wimmera in October 2017.

“Agencies around the country are going to be asked whether they want to be disability providers,” she said.

“Some of our neighbouring councils will need to make those calls. If the answer is no, then we don’t know who is going to provide those services.”​

Ms Murphy said the governments would ensure the service system remained stable for at least the first three years of the agreement.

She said the level of funding for people in the older bracket would remain the same for three years, with no tendering for services during that time.

She said continued funding for the younger bracket would provide the same level and types of services as the existing model.

“However, as the NDIS is rolled out, a proportion of funds for younger clients is likely to transfer to the National Disability Insurance Agency as younger clients test their eligibility for the NDIS,” she said.