Human Rights-based Needs Assessment Model

PWDA joins Disability Representative Organisations in call for a human rights-based approach to NDIA needs assessments

20 June 2025

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Review recommended shifting the basis for setting a budget from individual support items to a "whole of person" level, supported by new needs assessment processes.

This year, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is working to design and test a new way of gathering information about the support people with disability need and to set their NDIS budgets.

Disability Representative Organisations have worked together to develop a detailed joint position statement offering recommendations to guide the Australian Government's transition to a new human right-based needs assessment model.

This position statement includes:

1. Key principles for a human rights-based model of needs assessment;
2. Overarching principles for design and implementation;
3. Considerations for a three-part needs assessment process; and
4. Recommendations for implementation.

Our recommendations are grounded in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), recent analysis from the Independent Review of the NDIS (2023), and other relevant evidence. We strongly urge the Department of Social Services (DSS), the NDIA, and implementation partners to embed human rights, co-design, and trusted relationships at the centre of this reform.

We acknowledged the leadership of Women with Disability Australia (WWDA) in the development of this position statement, and it is based on the principles outlined in WWDA's position statement.

The following organisations have contributed to and/or expressed their support for this joint position statement:

• Australian Autism Alliance
• Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
• Children and Young People with Disability Australia
• Community Mental Health Australia
• Disability Advocacy Network Australia
• Down Syndrome Australia
• First Peoples Disability Network Australia
• Inclusion Australia
• National Ethnic Disability Alliance
• National Mental Health Consumer Alliance
• People with Disability Australia
• Physical Disability Australia
• Women With Disabilities Australia