SUBMISSION 
I am a carer of my 25 year old autistic son who also suffers from epilepsy.
Over the duration of my son’s life he has been professionally assessed in various ways on many, many occasions.
1.	Will the introduction of this National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) involve re-assessment ?
2.	Is the trauma, cost, embarrassment, confidence damaging nature and difficulty related to assessment and re-assessment understood/appreciated by the NDIS builders?
3.	Will previously obtained professional assessments be relied upon by the NDIS?
4.	Who pays for re-assessment if it becomes necessary?
The National Disability Insurance Agency will become a new either public or private bureaucracy.
1.	Are the administration cost involved in running this agency to be deducted from the proposed budget of the NDIS?
2.	Will the administration costs of this agency be limited to a % of the overall NDIS budget?
3.	Essentially what mechanisms will be in place to stop the lion’s share of the NDIS budget going towards this new agency budget.
4.	How will the disabled be empowered to have a voice in this agency and the NDIS?
5.	How will carers be empowered to have a voice in this agency and the NDIS?
6.	How will disabled persons and their carers be protected from increasing premiums and reducing benifits?
•	With some $6.3 billion increasing to $12.5 billion per annum of funding available who will govern/regulate  the service providers?
•	How will disabled persons and their carers be empowered to ensure that they are not taken advantage of or ripped off by the service providers.

Without giving personal details, it would be useful if the persons responsible for building this NDIS, if they could give examples of a cross section of disabled persons now and post the introduction of the NDIS demonstrating the expected improvements.
The current scheme is certainly inadequate however change in my life experience has often meant things getting worse.
Some concrete examples on how this NDIS will improve the already difficult lives of disabled persons and their carers before change is arbitrarily imposed is necessary.

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

Yours sincerely 
Luke van der Meulen