New Zealanders can access the NDIS under certain circumstances. For New Zealander’s, access starts with residency eligibility criteria. Australia is home to a number of New Zealand citizens with 569, 540 New Zealand born people living in Australia at the end of June 2019. This is the fourth largest migrant community in Australia, equivalent to 7.6 per cent of Australia’s overseas-born population and 2.2 per cent of Australia’s total population.
The beautiful and diverse City of Logan, in 2016, recorded a population of 23, 485 residents who identified New Zealand as their place of birth…just under 10% of the Logan City population are from New Zealand!
With these numbers in mind its fair to say that in this group of New Zealand citizens there will be:
- people with disability who require supports;
- are unsure of what supports are available to them;
- are uncertain of what is required to apply for the National Disability Insurance Scheme;
- are Carers that require supports; and
- are uncertain of where to turn for direction
The team at Jade PM are hoping to provide you with some direction.
NDIS eligibility criteria
To meet eligibility for the NDIS a person needs to meet the following criteria:
- Age: are you between 0 and 65 years of age
- Disability: do you have a disability that is permanent with a significant impact on you?
- Australian citizen or permanent resident
For this blog we are focussing on criteria 3
The NDIS is only available to:
- People who live in Australia
- Australian citizens
- Permanent Visa Holders
- Protected Special Category Visa [SCV] holders
What about New Zealand citizens?
Do you hold a Protected Special Category Visa?
As a New Zealand citizen living in Australia, you will have been issued with a Special Category Visa on entry to Australia.
You are a Protected SCV holder if:
- the person was in Australia on 26 February 2001, and was a special category visa holder on that day; or
- the person had been in Australia for a period of, or for periods totalling, 12 months during the 2 years immediately before 26 February 2001, and returned to Australia after that day
If you meet this criteria you can consider the rest of the NDIS eligibility criteria satisfying age and disability criteria to meet access for the NDIS. Guidance for this can be found in future blog posts.
You are not a Protected SCV holder, now what?
As a non-Protected SCV you are still able to access supports provided via Australian government. We will outline supports that may assist in light of disability and the caring role.
You can access supports provided under Medicare including hospital, GP and outpatients services.
By getting a referral from your GP you can access a:
- Chronic Disease Management Plan: This plan will allow you up to 5 subsidised allied health sessions per year. Seeking allied health intervention for disability can be worthwhile. A link to further information on this: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/mbsprimarycare-chronicdiseasemanagement
- Mental Health Care Plan: This plan lets you claim up to 20 sessions with a mental health professional each calendar year. You will initially be referred by your GP up to 6 sessions at a time, if more are required they can refer you for further sessions.
If you care caring for someone with a disability you can access supports via:
If you have a little one that is school aged please speak with the school as they may have allied health supports that your child can access through Education Queensland.
Finally, your NDIS Local Area Coordinator partners in the community [through Carers Queensland] are available to assist you with access to the NDIS and referral to supports in your local area if you are not eligible for the NDIS. They are a wealth of knowledge and always happy to assist.
You can find your local office here: https://carersqld.com.au/about-us/our-offices/
