Placing Rural in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Review

Abstract

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is considered Australia's landmark disability support policy reform. The Scheme's implementation has revealed several benefits but also critical shortcomings. The Scheme's benefits have not been equitably distributed with people living in regional, rural and remote areas receiving less. The Australian Government's Independent Review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2023 provided recommendations for improvements to ensure equitable benefits for all Australians. We use a distributed rural proofing lens to explore how processes, recommendations and actions described in the Independent Review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme considered regional, rural and remote contexts. The Review offered ideas for improving services for regional, rural and remote people with disability; however, it failed to adequately consider these contexts. The Independent Review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme missed a key opportunity to rural proof Australian disability support policy. Future disability policymaking requires active engagement of regional, rural and remote people with disability and use of relevant service provision concepts to ensure regional, rural and remote people with disability equitably benefit from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.