People in the National Disability Insurance Scheme deserve to know that the providers they choose will deliver safe and high-quality support.
Expanding enrolment is essential to giving the National Disability Insurance Agency and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission the data they need to improve quality and safety, strike off dodgy providers, and track spending.
But the benefits to safety, quality, and transparency of extra regulation must be balanced against the costs. For many people in the scheme, the costs of registration outweigh the benefits.
If the registration process is too difficult then providers will waste time on administration that could be spent delivering high-quality services. Worse, the cost of registration can act as a barrier to entry for new providers, reducing competition, threatening the viability of services working with small margins, and increasing the cost of the NDIS.
The current system for registration has not got the balance right. It needs an overhaul – and ultimately, the whole regulatory system needs reform.