Victoria takes a swipe at ‘underhanded’ federal government over NDIS

Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

The Victorian government has taken a swipe at the federal government over its dealings on the $40 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme, accusing it of being underhanded and keeping states in the dark over how it plans to bring costs down.

Victorian Disability Minister Lizzie Blandthorn on Wednesday said she was “very concerned” about the future of negotiations after federal NDIS minister Bill Shorten flagged changes to how people accessed the scheme and said states needed to boost their support for students with disabilities in their schools.

Victorian Disability Minister Lizzie Blandthorn.Credit: Diego Fedele

As a funding row escalates between the Albanese government and Labor premiers, who are already angry at $11 billion cuts to future infrastructure projects, Blandthorn said she feared disability support would fall to the states under a joint commitment to limit spending on the NDIS to an 8 per cent growth target.

“I’m very concerned, to be honest, about where we find ourselves with the Commonwealth in relation to the NDIS,” she said. “I feel very ill-equipped to advise our first minister as to how she should approach those discussions when the Commonwealth are being underhanded.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will discuss the future of the scheme, which is one of the federal government’s biggest budget pressures, with state and territory first ministers at a national cabinet meeting next month.

Without major reform, the NDIS is forecast to cost $100 billion by 2032, in part due to a higher-than-forecast number of children with autism and developmental delays joining the scheme because they can’t access support outside it.

While NDIS costs were supposed to be split 50-50 between the state and Commonwealth, a cap on state funding means the federal government’s share of spending has blown out to 66 per cent and continues to grow as costs spiral.

A year-long review of the NDIS chaired by one of its architects, Bruce Bonyhady, will clarify that individualised NDIS packages were designed only for Australians with profound disabilities and reinforce the case for state governments to step up disability support through mainstream health, education and transport systems.

But Blandthorn accused the government of being opaque about how it planned to limit the scheme’s growth without changing the services people were currently eligible to receive.

“I think it’s fair to say that there’s broad agreement across the Commonwealth that we need to ensure that the NDIS is a sustainable system that works for people with disabilities,” she said.

“That said, how you get to an 8 per cent target without changing reasonable and necessary and reducing services… I don’t think the Commonwealth has been forthcoming on that.”

She claimed there was “no modelling” to show disability ministers what that would look like.

Asked at a press conference whether her grievances were about the states paying a greater share or children missing out on assistance, Blandthorn said it was “all of those things”.

“There’s no clarity as to what it means for foundational support and there’s no clarity [about] definition, [which] means there’s no clarity about how much any of that would cost,” she said. “My fear would be, it would fall on the states. And I’m also concerned that the Commonwealth government is going to cut Victorians out of the NDIS.”

ACT Disability Minister Emma Davidson, from the Greens, said there were not enough support for people outside the NDIS. She said she would not agree to any plans to change the scheme unless better services were in place.

“Enough with the talk about costs, and how governments avoid paying for services people need. We should be talking about how to get better support for people,” she said.

Shorten said he “looked forward to working constructively with state and territory colleagues to make sure the scheme is working as well as it can”.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.

Most Viewed in Politics

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article