The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme During COVID-19: The Case of People With Disabilities From Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds

Introduction

The Covid19 has changed our society the way it was normally organized, and we were used to it. The change deepened the existing inequalities in Australian society. It has become clear that people with disabilities and marginalized individuals and communities will bear the most significant impact (Hashmi and his colleagues, 2020). The extent of this impact on people with disabilities will be discussed and analyzed, and suggestions will be offered to improve the lives of these most vulnerable people in society. While the focus is on people with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse people in Australia, yet for a deeper understanding of this complex issue, it is important to develop a broader context to include a brief historical background of the development of the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme as well as discussing theoretical frameworks to shed deeper light in our understanding of this complex issue in human society. Thus, in the first part, our discussions begin with a brief history of the Australian healthcare system.

The primary characteristic of the Australian Healthcare System has been the coexistence of public/private division. Medicare is Australia's compulsory universal health scheme, and all Australian people have equal access to its services. The Australian Federal Government takes the principal responsibility in the provision of health care services. For a complete understanding of this process, see Australia in 2030. What is our path to health for all? (MJA, 2021).

Historically, the Australian Governments' policy on people with disabilities has been closely connected to the government's policy on employment. As a result, when rehabilitation services were established in 1948, it was closely linked to the Government policy on employment (Howe 2004). However, in the 1970s, during the administration of Gough Whitlam and Fraser, incrementally, a change occurred. People with a disability could have access to third-party compensation insurance if people were injured or became incapacitated. In 1986, the Hawke government introduced Disability Services Act 1986. The argument was that “people with disabilities should have the same rights as other Australians to realize their capacities for physical, social, emotional and intellectual development” (Cass 1988:15). Since then, and particularly in the 2000s, many not-for-profit organizations involved in providing relevant services for various needs of people with disabilities. These efforts led to the establishment of DisabilityCare based on the recommendations from the Productivity Commission of Australia. Later this was considered the first manifestation of NDIS (Carson & Kerr. 2020).

After introducing Medicare in 1984 in Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is considered the second greatest change in the Australian Healthcare System. Although NDIS has been progressing well during the last few years and providing much-needed service to many people with disabilities, the research indicates that some communities/groups and individuals have not been satisfied with the level of services they have been receiving from NDIS. One of these groups includes people with disabilities from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds. While this chapter focuses on discussing the major issues that these people face in accessing their necessary individual services, it is important to provide a holistic discussion and understanding of disability from various perspectives, including social and market perspectives. NDIS is based on a market approach and includes 'choice', 'market purchase services', 'individualized funding approaches' and 'person-based services.