NDIS and sex work

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

See our latest Joint Statements in response to Minister Shorten publicly seeking to ban sex work services under the NDIS in July 2024:

Joint Statement: Ten Organisations Call For People With Disability’s Access To NDIS Funded Sexuality Services To Be Protected
Scarlet Alliance & Touching Base Statement Re: Exclusion Of Access To Sex Work Services Under The NDIS.

In this section you will also 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
submissions Touching Base had made around the NDIS and sex work

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.