The NDIA's proposed Independent Assessments - a concerning development
Key points The Commonwealth Government is introducing independent assessments for applicants to the NDIS and participants in the NDIS. The independent assessments will assess a person's functional capacity. The proposed independent assessment scheme could be problematic for people with disability, because independent assessors will be expected to make decisions about functional capacity despite having a very limited period of time to assess the individual, and having little background about the individual. Although the decisions of independent assessors will not be directly reviewable in the Tribunal, there is still scope for the Tribunal to prefer the evidence of a person's treating practitioner over the independent assessor's evidence, if that is the appropriate conclusion. Overall, there are better ways of addressing the problems identified by the discussion paper. Background The Commonwealth Government has announced that by mid-2021 it will introduce a requirement for