The NDIS Minister says the proposed independent assessments model is “dead”. 

State and territory disability ministers have put an end to controversial reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) that would have forced all current and future NDIS participants to undergo independent assessments.

The plan was for independent assessments to be made by an allied health professional, unknown to the person with disability, who would determine someone's eligibility for an NDIS funding plan.

It was to replace the current system, in which a person's usual doctors, specialists and allied health professionals provide reports to determine eligibility. The new plan was slammed by voices from across Australia’s healthcare system, including one of the original architects of the NDIS.

NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds has confirmed that the proposal was shot down.

“I can absolutely confirm that we agreed with the Independent Advisory Council's recommendation that the independent assessments in their current form will not proceed,” she told reporters.

“So are independent assessments as we currently understand them dead? Yes, they are.”

She said disability ministers will now work together to develop a new method.

“We've agreed to work together in a way that hears more clearly the voices of those with lived experience of disability that is based on the principles of equity and fairness,” Ms Reynolds said.

“So we did agree to work together on a new model [for assessments], and I'm very grateful to them for that agreement.”