NDIS and sex work

Over the last few years Touching Base has worked closely with People With Disability Australia (PWDA) on the issue of sex work services being appropriately funded as a reasonable and necessary support under the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

In this section you will find:

a Frequently Asked Questions handout on NDIS and sex work that Touching Base and PWDA have prepared to help people understand why sex work services should be covered by the NDIS.
a resource called Frequently Asked Questions on including sex work services in your NDIS plan , updated in December 2023, to clarify misinformation and misconceptions about including sex work services in an NDIS plan and your review and appeal options if the NDIS refuses to include it.
a media release and Position Statement – the need for a NDIS Sexuality Policy endorsed by over 40 organisations, including all the Australian peak disability organisations
information on the services Touching Base can offer in relation to the NDIS
information about the leading New South Wales Administrative Appeals Tribunal case – which the the Federal Court has since confirmed on the 12th May 2020 – in which a women with disability has won the right for the NDIA to fund her reasonable and necessary access to sexual services – WRMF and National Disability Insurance Agency

December 2022

Touching Base made a detailed submission to an inquiry into the Capability and Culture of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), conducting by the Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

We are pleased our straight-talking submission has been published under Parliamentary privilege on the Joint Standing Committee’s webpage for submissions to this inquiry. Please note that the Touching Base submission number is 123

Touching Base endorses The Uluru Statement from the Heart and acknowledges First Nations as the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia, their diversity, histories and knowledge, and their continuing connections to land and community. As Australians all, we respect our nation’s First Peoples, their cultures, and Elders of past, present and future generations.