A national screening program for the National Disability Insurance Scheme will help protect people with disabilities from being harmed by those supposed to be looking after them, the government says.
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Various worker screening programs currently exist for the NDIS, but the government wants to bring them all under the one nationwide system, reducing complexity for employers and allowing workers to more easily move between states.
Social Services Minister Dan Tehan says the proposed national program will protect people with disabilities and create transparency for service providers.
Workers engaged by registered NDIS providers to deliver high-risk support and services, or services that involve more than incidental contact with a participant, will be required to undergo the background checks.
It will prevent high-risk workers, or those proven to have harmed vulnerable people, from working in the sector and deter those who pose a high risk of harm from seeking work in it.
"Workers who hold an NDIS worker screening check clearance will be subject to ongoing monitoring at a national level for relevant criminal history or commission records," Mr Tehan told parliament on Thursday.
It's intended the scheme will be rolled out in NSW and South Australia in July, and in Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory 12 months later, with Western Australia following from July 2020.
Australian Associated Press
