With severe weather currently impacting Queensland and New South Wales, providers need to be on alert and be prepared to deploy emergency plans.
Key points
- Monitor location information for the latest updates in impacted regions.
- Notify the NDIS Commissioner of any significant changes to supports or services as a result of the severe weather.
- Affected participants are encouraged to contact the NDIS National Contact Centre on 1800 800 110.
- Make sure measures are in place to enable continuity of supports that are critical to the safety, health and wellbeing of each participant before, during and after an emergency or disaster. This includes participants your organisation may support who are not flood affected, but who may be affected by the impact of the emergency on your staff.
Monitor local information
With severe weather currently impacting Queensland and New South Wales, providers need to be on alert.
For the latest updates in impacted regions, including evacuation orders, visit the Queensland SES or NSW SES websites.
For the latest weather information, visit the Bureau of Meteorology website.
In an emergency, always call 000 and follow the advice from local emergency services.
Notification of changes or events
We understand that some providers may be dealing with immediate issues relating to the delivery of critical support to participants.
Notifying of changes and events, including how you are deploying emergency plans, is critical. It also includes considering impacts that may involve participants who are outside of the flood impacted zones that rely on your organisation for support.
Notifying the NDIS Commission enables us to monitor and respond to risks for people with disability, including referring information to the NDIA where there are risks to the continuity of critical supports for participants and additional assistance that may be needed.
You should first and foremost manage and respond to the emergency.
You should advise the NDIS Commission at the earliest opportunity of any change or event that substantially affect your ability to provide the supports and services you are registered to provide.
Supporting participants
The priority of the NDIA is to support participants and their support networks once they are out of immediate danger.
Affected participants are encouraged to contact the NDIS National Contact Centre on 1800 800 110. The NDIA are prioritising all calls from participants affected by the severe weather events, to ensure support can quickly be provided.
If urgent repairs or replacement of Assistive Technology is needed, the NDIS National Contact Centre can authorise funds over the phone. For more information, visit the NDIS webpage about urgent AT repairs.
Provider obligations regarding continuity of critical supports
The weather conditions do not change the obligations of NDIS providers, both registered and unregistered, under the NDIS Code of Conduct. These obligations are to protect and prevent people with disability from experiencing harm arising from poor quality or unsafe supports, abuse, neglect and exploitation, or poorly managed changes to supports.
