Talking to your local area coordinator or planner about a robotic pet

Your local area coordinator (LAC) can help you word a request for a robotic pet and pass on your evidence, but cannot approve or change your plan. An NDIA planner makes funding decisions. The NDIS asks participants to tell it what types of low-cost assistive technology they might need so it can be included in the plan, so raise a robotic pet at your check-in or plan meeting with a plan goal and, if you have one, a short note from your therapist.

What a local area coordinator does and does not decide

LACs work for NDIS partner organisations in the community. The NDIS state pages say that if you are aged 9 to 64, the local area coordination partner in your local government area is your main contact point for the NDIS. Once you are a participant, the NDIS calls your contact person your “my NDIS contact”. That person may work for an NDIS partner, an early childhood partner or the NDIA, and their name and contact details are in your plan.

Person	What they can do about a robotic pet	What they cannot do
LAC or other my NDIS contact	Help you make the most of your plan, choose goals, ask for a change to your plan and understand what evidence is needed	Change or approve your plan
NDIA planner	Decide which NDIS supports are funded, approve the plan, change it with you during the plan meeting	Fund a support that does not meet the NDIS funding criteria
Support coordinator	Explain your budgets, help you choose a supplier, come to meetings with you, ask for a plan variation with your consent	Approve funding
Plan manager	Check that a claim is in line with your plan, budget and NDIS supports, then pay the supplier	Add funding to your plan

Sources: the NDIS pages on what a my NDIS contact is and what an NDIA planner is.

Before the meeting: what to prepare

Low-cost, low-risk assistive technology under $1,500 does not need quotes, evidence or assessments, and you do not need NDIA approval before you buy it. The NDIS low-cost AT page still says you need to tell the NDIS what types of low-cost AT you might need so it can include them in your plan. A little preparation makes that conversation short.

1. Pick the goal. Find the goal in your current plan that the pet would support, or decide what new goal you want to ask for.
2. Describe the need. Write down when the problem happens, for example distress in the evening or trouble settling at night, and how it links to your disability.
3. Get a note if you can. A recommendation from an OT or other allied health professional is the kind of evidence the NDIS names for low-cost AT.
4. Know the price range. A companion cat is listed at $259 to $300 by Australian specialist retailers, which helps the planner see it sits within low-cost AT.
5. Check the Consumables budget. The NDIS says low-cost AT can be bought from it, so ask whether it has enough room.
6. Bring support. The NDIS says you can bring a family member, friend, support coordinator or recovery coach to a plan meeting.

Our goal link and OT recommendation checklist sets out what the goal sentence and therapist note should cover.

What to say about a robotic pet

Describe it as assistive technology for a need, not as a pet or a toy. The NDIS supports lists generally exclude pets and toys, so the wording on your record matters. You could say:

• “I would like my plan to allow for low-cost assistive technology to help me settle when I am distressed at home.”
• “My OT has recommended a robotic companion cat for this. Her note is here.”
• “This supports my goal of staying calm and managing my evenings at home.”
• “Can you record that I have raised this, and tell me which budget it would come from?”

Ask the LAC to write down what they will pass on to the planner. If the answer is unclear, ask what further evidence would help. Our guide to whether the NDIS can fund a robotic pet explains the rules the planner will apply.

There are several ways to get information to the NDIS. On its page about renting assistive technology, the NDIS lists giving evidence to your my NDIS contact, calling, sending an enquiry through the service hub, uploading it to the participant portal, and bringing it to your check-in or plan meeting.

Local area coordination partners by state and region

These partners are taken from the NDIS state pages, which were current as of 14 August 2026 when we checked them in October 2026. The Victoria page says the NDIS has extended its agreements with partners in the community until 30 June 2027. Each state page also links a map showing which council areas sit in each service area.

State or territory	Partner	Service areas
Victoria	Brotherhood of St Laurence	Bayside Peninsula, Brimbank Melton, Hume Moreland, North Eastern Melbourne, Western Melbourne
Victoria	Latrobe Community Health Service	Inner Eastern, Outer Eastern and Southern Melbourne, Barwon, Central Highlands, Inner Gippsland, Outer Gippsland, Ovens Murray, Wimmera South West
Victoria	Intereach	Goulburn, Loddon, Mallee
New South Wales	Latrobe Community Health Services	South Eastern Sydney
New South Wales	Settlement Services International	South Western Sydney, Sydney
New South Wales	Uniting	Northern Sydney, Western Sydney, Hunter New England, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Nepean Blue Mountains, Southern NSW
New South Wales	Blue Sky	Mid North Coast
New South Wales	Intereach	Murrumbidgee
New South Wales	Social Futures	Central Coast, Far West, Northern NSW, Western NSW
Queensland	Carers QLD	Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Toowoomba
Queensland	APM	Maryborough
Queensland	IWC	Bundaberg
Queensland	Feros Care	Mackay, Townsville
Queensland	Mission Australia	Cairns
South Australia	Feros Care	Barossa, Light and Lower North, Northern Adelaide
South Australia	Baptcare	Western Adelaide, Eastern Adelaide, Yorke, Mid North
South Australia	Mission Australia	Limestone Coast, Murray and Mallee, Adelaide Hills, Southern Adelaide, Fleurieu Peninsula (not Kangaroo Island), Whyalla, Port Augusta, Flinders Ranges
Western Australia	Mission Australia	Central North Metro, North East Metro, South East Metro
Western Australia	APM	Central South Metro, North Metro, South Metro, Great Southern, Inner Wheatbelt, South West
Tasmania	Mission Australia	South East Tasmania, North West Tasmania
Tasmania	Baptcare	North Tasmania, South West Tasmania
Australian Capital Territory	Feros Care	The whole territory
Northern Territory	APM	Darwin, Litchfield, Palmerston

Children younger than 9 with disability, and children younger than 6 with developmental delay, contact the early childhood partner for their area instead.

If there is no partner in your area

Some remote and very remote areas have no LAC partner. The NDIS state pages for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory each say that if you live in one of these areas, the NDIS or someone from the NDIA will work with you to connect you to the scheme or to supports in your community. In those areas your my NDIS contact is NDIA staff.

The NDIA is also the my NDIS contact for some participants who do live near a partner, including people with complex, intensive or super intensive support needs, young people in residential aged care, and people in hospital or a justice setting. The conversation about a robotic pet is the same; only the person you have it with changes.

After the meeting

• Read the approved plan. It appears in the participant portals and the my NDIS app. Check the Consumables budget and any notes about assistive technology.
• If it was not covered, you can ask for a check-in when your plan is not working for you, or ask for a plan variation. The NDIS says it will tell you its decision on a variation within 21 days once it has the information and evidence.
• If you disagree with a decision, many plan decisions can be reviewed, including a decision not to vary your plan. Ask within 3 months of receiving the decision. Our checklist for when the NDIA says no takes you through it.
• If someone else is handling the purchase, our page for support coordinators and plan managers explains what they need from a supplier.

If a price would help at your meeting, get a robotic pet quote to take to your check-in or plan meeting. We pass the enquiry to an independent supplier, who quotes you directly.

Request a free quote