PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES – SERVICES FOR – AUSTRALIA

Budget faces $9b hit from NDIS delays

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 12-Jun-25

The federal government’s budget papers in March showed that it is targeting $19bn worth of savings related to the National Disability Insurance Scheme over the next four years. However, some $8.8bn of these savings are now in doubt, which will jeopardise the government’s goal of restricting growth in the NDIS to just eight per cent a year from mid-2026. Its annual growth rose to 20 per cent in 2022, prompting former NDIS minister Bill Shorten to commission a review of the scheme; amongst other things, it recommended the introduction of ‘foundational supports’.

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Coalition denies plans to slash NDIS, but says cost is out of control

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Original article by Sarah Basford Canales
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 25-Mar-25

The National Disability Insurance Scheme’s growth rate is forecast to reach 12 per cent in 2024-25, before falling in the next two financial years. The national cabinet agreed to cap the scheme’s growth rate at eight per cent by mid-2026, but shadow NDIS minister Michael Sukkar says Labor is missing the targets it has set. Meanwhile, shadow public service minister Jane Hume contends that more can be done to reign in the scheme’s growth, arguing that its cost is out of control. NDIS Minister Amanda Rishworth says the Liberals cannot be trusted with the NDIS, and she has urged the party to reveal the cuts it plans to make if it wins the upcoming federal election.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Sex work, yoga banned from disability scheme

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Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 2-Oct-24

The federal government’s first list of approved services for National Disability Insurance Scheme participants will take effect on Thursday. Participants will be banned from using their NDIS funding to pay for a range of products and services; this includes groceries, cigarettes, accommodation costs, sex work and cuddle therapy. Items on the approved list include assistance animals, mobility supports, transport costs, prostheses and nursing care. There will be a 12-month transition period, and NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says remedial action will only be taken if there has been a clear breach of the rules.

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NDIS cost shifting criminal: Shorten

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Original article by Christine Middap, Ellie Dudley, Stephen Lunn
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 10-Apr-24

The federal government has flagged a crackdown on the use of the National Disability Insurance Scheme by convicted criminals. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has responded to revelations that one of the nation’s worst serial sex offenders will receive an NDIS support package when he is released from prison. Shorten says the government does not believe that it is appropriate for this person to receive NDIS funding. He adds that state governments should not use the NDIS as a ‘dumping ground’ to fund support for violent criminals, contending that providing them with such services is the responsibility of state justice and corrections departments.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

Premiers revolt over federal NDIS law, fearing cost time bomb

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Original article by David Crowe, Natassia Chrysanthos
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 26-Mar-24

The state governments are concerned that changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme will impose a huge financial burden on them. A meeting of the national cabinet in late 2024 agreed to the reforms, which will establish a new state and territory disability system to be called ‘foundational supports’; its aim is to provide services to about 2.5 million Australians with a disability who need less intense support than the NDIS, with a focus on children with autism and developmental delay. The states want the draft bill to be delayed to allow more time for consultation about the reforms.

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Bill shock fears risk NDIS deal

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Original article by Sarah Ison, Stephen Lunn, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 30-Nov-23

The federal government will push for an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme at a meeting of the national cabinet on 6 December. However, several state and territory governments are believed to have warned that they will not agree to any NDIS reforms unless they know just how much the changes will cost them. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has declined to comment on how the proposed reforms would affect state government budgets. However, he has emphasised the urgency of reining in the cost of the scheme.

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Shorten: NDIS blows out to $50b

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 19-Oct-22

The federal government will bring forward a review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, amid growing concern about the rising cost of the program. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says the review will examine its operation, sustainability and responsiveness to participants’ needs. He has conceded that many people who use the NDIS do not have "complex needs". Shorten has revealed that the government’s first Budget on 25 October would show that the projected cost of the NDIS will rise by $8.8bn over the next four years, to $50bn a year. The former Coalition government had estimated that it would cost $44.6bn annually by 2025-26.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

Costs balloon in NDIS surge

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 30-Sep-19

Annual expenditure on the National Disability Insurance Scheme blew out to $11.9bn in 2018-19, with more than 117,000 new participants joining the NDIS during the financial year. Data from the National Disability Insurance Agency also shows that there has been a sharp rise in costs associated with external consultants and service providers, including recruitment firms, call centres and law firms. An NDIA spokeswoman says that spending on contractors and consultants is expected to account for 1.6 per cent of the NDIS’s total costs in 2019-20, compared with 2.6 per cent in 2017-18.

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AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE AGENCY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor push for 49.5pc top tax hit

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 12-May-17

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has used his Budget reply speech to outline measures to provide funding for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. He advocated retention of the two per cent temporary deficit levy for high-income earners and increasing the Medicare levy by 0.5 per cent for people on incomes of more than $A87,000. This would increase the highest marginal tax rate to 49.5 per cent. Shorten also said the Opposition supports a proposed bank levy, although he stressed that the cost should not be passed on to customers.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES. MEDICARE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

IT failures force NDIS to miss care target

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Original article by Laura Tingle
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 2-Sep-16

The rollout of the IT system at the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been plagued by technical problems that caused delays in the preparation of care plans. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which runs the scheme, conceded that only 970 care plans were approved in the past two months, while the target was more than 20,000. Federal and state disability ministers will be briefed on the matter by the NDIA at a meeting on 2 September 2016.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE AGENCY