The Feature Dialogue: Our future foundations

Be part of our first ever Feature Dialogue to explore what support outside of the NDIS should look like.

We’re launching our very first Feature Dialogue and we want you to be a part of it. We would like people to join focus groups or fill out a survey.

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About our first Feature Dialogue

Feature Dialogues are projects that explore a problem that has been around for a long time. We talk to people with disability and their communities to hear what they think. Together, we look for new ideas to help improve the situation.

Our first Feature Dialogue is called, “Our future foundations”.  The topic will be foundational supports.

Foundational supports are local services that help people with disability, their families, and carers. They are especially useful for people who aren’t part of the NDIS. These supports help fill gaps in other services like schools and healthcare, so everyone can get the help they need and feel included.

They include things like:

• peer support
• access to useful and clear information
• support for children early in their life
•  help navigating other services and resources.

After the Feature Dialogue, we will create a final report which will be given to the Ministers for the NDIS Mark Butler and Jenny McAllister. We want it to help them make good decisions about foundational supports.  

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What will happen during the Feature Dialogue? 

The Feature Dialogue: Our future Foundations will have four stages:

Stage 1: Explore – Start with what we know

What happens: People review existing data and reports, and talk in small groups.

Why it matters: This helps everyone understand the current situation and pinpoint the biggest problems.

Stage 2: Ask – Gather ideas from the community

What happens: Focus groups and open discussions are held to hear from a wide range of people.

Why it matters: It brings in fresh perspectives and uncovers ideas that might not be obvious.

Stage 3: Decide – Think through the options

What happens: Small groups dive deeper into the ideas, discussing what’s realistic and what could work.

Why it matters: This filters out the impractical stuff and highlights the most promising solutions.

Stage 4: Agree – Finalise and share the plan

What happens: A working group puts everything together into a final report and shares it with decision-makers.

Why it matters: It ensures that all the good ideas are clearly presented and ready to be acted on.

You can check out the diagram below to see the steps involved. We also have a plain text version of the diagram available here.

Click the image to make it bigger

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How you can get involved.  

There are a few different ways you can choose to get involved in the Feature Dialogue.

Take the survey 

We want to hear from you. Share your experiences and ideas by completing one (or both) of our surveys! While we would love to hear from you, these surveys are completely optional.

General foundational supports survey – this survey is about general foundational supports, which are supports everyone with a disability should have access to, whether or not they also get funding from the NDIS. This survey is to find out more about what information and support you have found helpful when you need to make big decisions about your life.

Click here for the Easy Read survey.

Targeted foundational supports survey – Targeted foundational supports are a type of support for people with disability who need some help in their every day lives, but who aren’t eligible for the NDIS. In this survey we are focusing on targeted foundational supports for children and families.

Click here for the Easy Read survey.