This page contains the 'Introduction' section of National Legal Aid's (NLA) submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS' inquiry into NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia. The full submission is available for download to the right and below.
Introduction
NLA welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme inquiry into NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia.
NLA brings together the practice experience of Australia’s eight state and territory legal aid commissions (LACs). Each LAC provides a wide range of services to people with disabilities, including legal advice, task assistance, legal advocacy and representation for people with disabilities seeking review of decisions of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) in relation to a person’s eligibility to start receiving a benefit under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), or to appeal a decision which has adversely affected an existing NDIS plan or benefit. LACs also provide services to people with disability through Your Story Disability Legal Support which was initially established to help people share their stories with the Disability Royal Commission.
In the financial year 2022-2023 LACs provided more than 1.7 million legal services to people across the country. LACs are collectively the largest provider of legal services to people with disability in Australia. LAC services are delivered at courts and tribunals and from their head and branch offices across the nation, and by outreach including at correctional facilities, health facilities, community-based organisations and through health justice partnerships. Services include services to people with disability through Your Story Disability Legal Support, services to assist people in relation to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), mental health advocacy and guardianship, disability discrimination, accessible community legal education, and services in the criminal, family, family violence and child protection justice systems.
