Family and Community Services NDIS Bulletin 4 - Public Service Association

Family and Community Services NDIS Bulletin 4

The Director General has recently written to advise that formal consultation on the NDIS has commenced.

This is some 11 months after the NSW Government signed a formal agreement with the Commonwealth to privatise Disability Services in NSW by 2018, and only after legislation was tabled in the NSW Parliament to facilitate this change.

It is misleading to suggest that FACS and the NSW Government want to establish a “good process to capture and deal with all industrial issues associated with the move to NDIS”.

If this were really the case they would have started negotiations with staff and their unions far earlier and delayed the legislation to allow a proper consultative process to occur.

They didn’t, and that’s because they didn’t want to give opponents of privatisation the opportunity to campaign. They know the community at large – including many of their own supporters – will have serious reservations about a disability sector without a public provider like ADHC.

The PSA supports the NDIS, but opposes privatisation. We’ll continue to argue that disability services are a core responsibility of government and as the NDIS takes shape, NSW will need a strong public sector presence.

The NDIS (NSW Enabling) Bill 2013 provides few real protections or guarantees for ADHC staff forced into transfer arrangements with private sector employers. Indeed the legislation has been carefully written to reduce the bargaining power of ADHC staff and maximise the power of the Minister and NSW Government.

Over the coming months, we will be fighting for high quality publically delivered Disability Services, and for the Public Sector workers who provide them.

We hope you will support our campaign to Defend Disability Services in NSW.

For more information contact Thane Pearce PSA Industrial Officer at or your PSA Regional Office on 9220 0900.

NDIS Bulletin 4 Nov 2013 (PDF)

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