Last week Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball officially signed the first two agreements for the full roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Victoria and New South Wales.

Similarly to Prestige Inhome Care, the NDIS aims to support a better life for the hundreds of thousands of Australians living with a significant and permanent disability. Last week’s agreement promises to support around 140,000 people with disability in New South Wales and around 105,000 people with disability in Victoria, in addition to their families and carers.

Together, the signed agreements with New South Wales and Victoria cover more than half of around 460,000 Australians and their families who are expected to be eligible for support from the NDIS when it is fully rolled out.

The NDIS is one of the largest social policy reforms in Australia’s history and its priority is to ensure people with disability continue to get the support they need.

Transition will begin in July 2016, with a geographical roll out moving from region to region, covering all eligible people under 65.

The region-by-region roll outs will ensure service providers have time to grow, to meet the needs of their clients and to meet demand. As a disability care provider, Prestige Inhome Care looks forward to being involved as one of these service providers and to witnessing first hand the positive effects the changes will have on the lives of disabled Australians.

In Victoria, the Northern East Melbourne, Central Highlands and Loddon regions will join the scheme from 1 July 2016. The regions of Inner Gippsland, Ovens-Murray, Western District, Inner Eastern Melbourne, Outer Eastern Melbourne, Hume-Moreland and the Bayside Peninsula will commence from July 2017, followed by Southern Melbourne, Western Melbourne, Brimbank-Melton, Goulburn, Mallee and Outer Gippsland from July 2018.

Victorian children on the Early Childhood Intervention Services waitlist will enter the scheme during the first two years of transition and ahead of the scheduled transition of each region.

In New South Wales, the rollout will start with the Central Coast, Hunter-New England, Nepean-Blue Mountains, Northern Sydney, South-Western Sydney, Western Sydney, and Southern New South Wales regions.

The Illawarra-Shoalhaven, Mid North Coast, Murrumbidgee, Northern New South Wales, South-Eastern Sydney, Sydney, Western New South Wales, and the Far West regions will start entering the scheme from July 2017.

Today’s agreements are a huge accomplishment for the people of Victoria and New South Wales, and will ensure people with disability in these states have access to the lifetime choice and support they need.