NDIS Minister Bill Shorten wants to end the agency's "adversarial approach" to dealing with participants who challenge funding cuts, as he revealed a new plan to blitz the massive backlog in cases with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
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Mr Shorten and NDIA chief counsel Matthew Swainson appeared at the webinar on Tuesday to discuss the government's plans to develop a less combative process for participants who want to appeal funding decisions.
The former Labor leader described situations in which participants were forced to fight top lawyers to overturn cuts as "repellent and repugnant", and said the National Disability Insurance Agency must acknowledge that "things have been bad".
"I want to make very clear ... as far as I'm concerned, and I say this very clearly to the NDIA ... you are now in a different world," Mr Shorten told the webinar, which was hosted by grassroots NDIS advocacy group Every Australian Counts.
"The adversarial approach is not the approach I support. As the minister, I want the process to change so participants are treated much better."
Every Australian Counts campaign manager Jean Cotchin welcomed Mr Shorten's comments.
She said Labor's election win had so far not improved the experience for participants, who were still being forced to endure an appeals process she described as "disgraceful" and "disgusting".
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Mr Shorten's top priority after becoming minister was to start clearing a backlog of more than 4500 appeals which had built up in the tribunal.
The backlog has been reduced to below 4000 as of earlier this month, Mr Shorten said, after a gradual decline in new cases this calendar year.
If a trial of 15-20 matters is a success, Mr Shorten wants to get through more than 2000 cases before Christmas.
"I am of the view that many of these matters where participants are arguing for things can and should be fixed," he said.
"They shouldn't require a participant to have to fight with a big-end-of-town lawyer all the way to the door of the court.
"I think the current situation is repellent and repugnant and it is not acceptable for this government, for any government, to be behaving in this way."
He stressed the independent review process would be voluntary, and it wouldn't delay or impede a participants case in the tribunal.
Mr Shorten has also tasked Mr Innes with providing advice on the design of a new dispute resolution process, which Labor promised to create as part of an election pledge to stop "unfair" cuts to NDIS plans.
Under the election promise, decisions to cut a participants plans by more than 20 per cent would be referred for an "expert review".
The specifics of how the new dispute resolution regime would work, and which participants would be able to access it, are set to be developed in consultation with the disability sector.
But Mr Shorten has made clear that he wants the process to be less adversarial, which includes reducing the role of lawyers.
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Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
