“What makes the scheme sustainable is if participants are getting outcomes. What makes the scheme sustainable is if public trust in the scheme is high. What makes the scheme sustainable is if we deflate some of the inflationary pressure in the maze,” hetold the National Press Club.
“The scheme will grow each year. That’s inevitable. I don’t see the scheme as shrinking and that’s not what we’re trying to do. But if we focus on the outcome for the participant and the maintenance and rebuilding of public trust,then I think you will end up seeing the right priorities being targeted.”
Pressed on whether services would be cut,Shorten said there was no budget pressure to make savings on the NDIS to pay for other government policies.
“I’m interested in how I make the NDIS as strong and as sustainable as it can be,providing the best opportunities for people. And at no point have I come under any pressure from the treasurer or anyone else to say that somehow we’ve got to slash and burn the NDIS to subsidise something else,because that’s not the way this government thinks.”
Shorten signalled last week the National Disability Insurance Agency,which oversees the scheme,would gain more resources to scrutinise payments. This was confirmed on Friday with the announcement that theagency would gain $720 million over four years.
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The spending is intended to increase the oversight of disability plans,avoid high fees and assure recipients they will not lose money in the future if they do not spend all the money allocated to them in a given year.
Some other options include setting up a preferred provider arrangement to leverage the buying power of the scheme and cut costs.
The additional resources would help crack down on fraud,the government said,while also setting minimum standards for evidence of the assistance needed for daily living.
The previous estimate of $97 billion for the annual cost of the scheme in 2032 wasrevealed by ABC News last November and confirmed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a press conference on Friday after a national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders.
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Albanese announced a Financial Sustainability Framework agreed with states and territories to make the NDIS more sustainable over the long term,with an 8 per cent annual growth target for the total cost of the scheme from July 2026.
“If the projections,the way that they are at the moment,continued,then the Commonwealth at the end of the medium term would be contributing 82 per cent of $97 billion in the NDIS,” the prime minister said.
“Now,the growth factor when the NDIS was introduced was anticipated to be 4 per cent,which is why the cap on spending from state and territory governments is 4 per cent.
“Now we’re not proposing to change that. We want to work in a co-operative way,but states and territories can assist obviously in that process. But we’re not trying to change that.
“We are trying,though,to recognise with an 8 per cent target by the end of the forward estimates,and then putting it on a further sustainable trajectory,to make sure that this scheme can continue to deliver – that we don’t find ourselves in a situation down the track where the viability of what is a critical scheme for Australia is drawn into question.”
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