More than four out of five senior staff at the agency responsible for delivering the National Disability Insurance Scheme have no previous experience working in the sector.
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There are 78 employees at the top echelons of the National Disability Insurance Agency.
Of these, 18 per cent have a disability or past experience working in the field, a Senate estimates hearing has been told.
Almost half of senior NDIA staff have public service backgrounds, while 17 per cent have been drawn from the insurance, banking and financial services sectors.
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, who uses a wheelchair, is concerned by the low numbers of disabled NDIA staff.
"If there's one thing I know from my life, and one thing the evidence shows us clearly, is that support systems are best delivered when they are guided by people with a lived experience of disability and past experience within the sector," he told reporters in Canberra.
"We do need to take the necessary course of action so we see disabled Australia playing a primary role in the delivery of these services to their communities."
The disability agency has a target of people with disabilities comprising 15 per cent of its total workforce.
Australian Associated Press
