NDS welcomed the opportunity to provide input in to the Northern Territory (NT) Disability Strategy.

The submission drew on feedback gained through consultation with NDS Northern Territory Members. Based on these consultations, our submission makes several recommendations that we believe would strengthen the NT Disability Strategy, along with a number of actions that when implemented will support its success.

Some of the recommendations included:

• The Strategy needs to recognise the opportunity of renegotiation of the bilateral agreement
• The vital role of advocacy at all points in the system needs to be articulated more clearly in the Strategy
• This should be supported by a stronger commitment to the role of advocacy in supporting positive outcomes for people with disability
• Priority focus on quality and safeguarding
• Change the wording of the Strategy to remove the word “rural” or “regional” and instead use “remote and very remote”
• This should read as: “Consider the outcomes for people in remote and very remote locations in all that we do”
• That the following commitment be added to the Strategy “We will: Recognise the need for advocacy to support outcomes for people living with disability”

Review the policy submission.

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