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The CEO seems to be on leave, the Board’s Chair isn’t speaking, urgently needed decisions lie stagnant, and the responsible Ministers are silent.

No one seems to be steering the ship.

In the middle of some of the biggest changes to the NDIS, the chief executive of the Agency, Rebecca Falkingham, appears to be on unexplained leave. Emails to her are left unanswered yet no acting CEO has been publicly named.

The board, led by Paralympian Kurt Fearnley, has refused to comment on either Falkingham’s absence or last week’s damning Australian National Audit Office audit into the scheme’s operations.

It’s a troubling vacuum in leadership.

This is also occurring just as the NDIA rolls out a new wave of complex reforms, imposes significant provider pay freezes and what are effectively cuts to regional services. It has also been hard hit with a fraud audit that, despite softly worded criticism, has found the organisation’s governance to be non-compliant with federal integrity rules.

The silence is drawing fire from all corners of the sector. Providers are fuming. Advocates are bewildered. And NDIS participants are growing anxious.

Perhaps most critically, as the Agency has been enveloped in continuing confusion as to its future direction, there have been mixed signals coming from government.

Decisions appear to have been piling up in Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek’s office. Health Minister Mark Butler has signed agreements with other Health Ministers to hand over foundational supports to the states, yet there are still no indications of exactly how this will might work (and NSW and Queensland appear to be backing out of this agreement).

Although capable and effective, Disability Minister Jenny McAllister has also not spoken publicly for a month. Amidst this silence, opposition to the cuts is coalessing into serious opposition.

Physiotherapist David Dinca is leading a petition against the freeze that’s already attracted over 55,000 signatures. He’s been quoted in News Limited papers saying, “no one consulted us. No one warned us. And now people with disability are the ones who’ll pay [for the reforms to the NDIS].”

A spokesperson for the NDIA has been quoted as saying “acting CEO arrangements” are in place for the organisation. The agency has not, however, indicated who might be filling the role.

Meanwhile, peak bodies have told abilityNEWS that even deputy CEOs have gone quiet, with urgent requests for meetings left unanswered during the lead-up to the annual pricing update.