Craig Bridge Chats with ABC Northern Tasmania

INTERVIEWER
Well, as we heard in the news this week, the Royal Commission started their public hearing, number 32 from yesterday until the 17th of February. The hearing will examine whether the policies and practices of disability service providers prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability and deliver high quality and safe services. The hearing will also examine best practice responses to incidents or allegations of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability using disability services.

To unpack it all, disability advocate Craig Bridge joins me. Good afternoon.

CRAIG BRIDGE
Good afternoon. Thanks for having me on.

INTERVIEWER
It’s a pleasure. Now, this year marks a decade since the NDIS was legislated to bring Australia in line with the UN’s convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. How can people with disabilities live self-determined lives?

CRAIG BRIDGE
Yeah, I think it’s a really good question to ask. I think what we really do have to go back to is it’s less about the government and service providers and the mindset of why the NDIS was created in the first place, which is really about outcomes for people living with disability. I think the answer is really in the name as and when somebody does engage with the NDIS, they get a plan and that plan isn’t just about outputs and services, it really is around goals and outcomes for the person that has that plan.

I think we need a mindset shift that really takes it back to the core of who it’s there for and how it can be set up for people to actually build and maintain self-determined lives.

INTERVIEWER
Now this Royal Commission inquiry was established in 2019. We’re now in 2023. That seems like a fair chunk of time to me.

CRAIG BRIDGE
Yeah, it certainly is. And look, there’s some interesting things that are taking place at the moment as well, with the new government coming in, running parallel to this is something called the NDIS review and it’s got two quite important people co-chairing that. And whilst the effort and I think the time and the respect that is required for everything else to take place, this is more about getting action now.

While the Royal Commission is, is delving deep and I think, like I say, the respect to the people that that haven’t been done right by the way that services have been provided and some of the missteps that may have happened over the past decade of getting those right. Parallel to that, we are seeing, I guess, hopefully some positive light around getting some immediate action for the the findings for the commission come into play.

INTERVIEWER
The stories that you hear generally about how notoriously difficult the NDIS is to navigate.

CRAIG BRIDGE
Yeah, and that’s one of the biggest pieces I think the interesting thing is, is that ten years is a long period of time. When the NDIS was first developed, it was something that was a real sea change. We sort of see that outside of Australia, the world looks here and says this is a world first, you know, sort of paving the way for over half a million Australians.

But even both sides of the previous government, the current government say look, we started with a platform to drive things forward and a decade has passed and not enough has changed in favour of the participants over that decade, and it really does need some change. It really does need the focus to shift back around what it is to be a participant, not about what it is to be a government or a service provider.

And that because even to paraphrase Bill Shorten, that his speech at the ends CEOs conference late last year, he said it was almost attuned to the way that the Sydney highway system works. None of them interconnect. And if you don’t actually understand where or know how to navigate the backroads to get from one place to another, then it’s actually a real challenge for anybody to navigate the NDIS right now.

INTERVIEWER
Not a bad analogy. Have many NDIS participants in that time lost trust in the system?

CRAIG BRIDGE
Yeah, I think that’s a really important thing is the we do look to trust in systems and when a system fails you time and time again, that’s it’s only fair and logical that you do lose that trust. And I think I guess what we experience from an organisation I work in is we do see that trust starts to wane, but it’s probably more the frustration around navigation, the sort of ongoing changes that take place.

But if you are experiencing ongoing change but you’re not experiencing the benefit of that, then it can erode the trust in the system.

INTERVIEWER
Now, you said ten years ago it was quite the sea change. Do you still think that if it’s tweaked, it’s the best fit for Australians?

CRAIG BRIDGE
Yeah, I strongly believe that it’s about building and adapting what is already there, but I also believe that building and adapting can’t be for people. Speaking on behalf of people living with disability, it has to be in proper consultation, not just at the front end of what should we change and how should we change it. It needs to really be around proper co-design.

I think understanding the experiences that people have through the system and looking at how to identify opportunities to get that right. And then once they set out on a journey of taking these things forward, is then not leave, leaving the participants behind, but continually engaging with them to get things right. But I certainly believe that the momentum that’s there and the number of people that are connected with the system now says that the best foot forward is to engage the community, learn from them, understand truly what their needs are, and continually adapt the design for their benefit, for their outcomes.

INTERVIEWER
Well, it continues until the 17th of February, so learn more about the public hearing tomorrow. But thank you for your time.

CRAIG BRIDGE
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me on.