National Disability Agreement participants
Under the National Disability Agreement (NDA), administration of services for people with disability is divided between the Australian Government, which has responsibility for administering employment services, and the states and territories, which administer all other services including accommodation support, community support and community access (AIHW 2020a). With the exception of open employment services, support provided through the NDA is gradually being replaced by support provided through the new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The data presented in this section do not include ACT and NSW as they have fully transitioned to the NDIS. During 2018–19, SA almost fully transitioned to the NDIS.
In 2018–19, 12,079 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples received support services provided under the National Disability Agreement (NDA).
Most of the Indigenous NDA service users (84%) were aged between 18 and 59, with the highest proportion aged between 25–44 (36%). Among non-Indigenous NDA service users, those aged 25–44 were also the highest proportion (32%) (Figure DB 10).
In 2018–19, 9,689 (80%) Indigenous Australian NDA clients accessed services provided by the Australian Government. About three-quarters (76%) of these clients were aged between 0 and 49 years (Figure DB 11).
Many NDA services users require assistance to perform different activities in their everyday life. These activities have been grouped into 3 broad life areas:
- activities of daily living
- activities of independent living
- activities of work, education and community living (for more detail see AIHW 2020a).
The majority of Indigenous service users ‘always’ or ‘sometimes’ needed support in these three areas:
- 50% needed support with activities of daily living.
- 68% needed support with activities of independent living.
- 80% needed support with activities of work, education and community living (Figure DB 12).