Government strikes NDIS deal with states, territories, Bill set to pass Senate

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has achieved a deal with the states and territories, guaranteeing the passage of major reforms to the disability scheme.

The Albanese government has finally struck a deal with the states that should result in the stalled Bill to overhaul the National Disability Insurance Scheme pass parliament.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten on Wednesday announced the state and territory governments, who will be responsible for providing more services, had agreed to amendments, which will help significantly lower the ballooning cost of the scheme by $14.4bn over four years.

The states had been pushing back over the federal government’s plan to shift some of the NDIS functions back to the states.

Amendments to the Bill will focus on introducing faster time frames to approving NDIS rules, and changes which will mean disputes will be escalated to premiers or chief ministers.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has announced a breakthrough on the Bill to overhaul funding for the scheme. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

New rules that affect people with disability and governments will also now require only a majority of support from first ministers, instead of a unanimous support.

“There has been a lot of anxiety first and foremost, I just say to people with disability and participants the message is that the states and the federal government are getting their act together and people with disability and participants are not a political football,” Mr Shorten said.

“The federal government wanted to make sure the states played their part, and we are satisfied the undertakings from the states in the proposals also do that.”

The Bill had been held up in the Senate, but now with the approval of the Coalition and the states, it will likely be passed once it goes to a vote on Thursday.

The NDIS Bill to overhaul the service should now pass through parliament. Picture: NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Mr Shorten said the legislation would create the scaffolding for a reformed NDIS, which will create significant changes to who can access the scheme, and create tighter controls as to what services can be accessed.

He flagged participants will get a “clear steer” of the changes, including plans to scrap automatic budget top up, and instances where plans are exhausted early.

“The passing of this legislation is basically the construction of the scaffolding which will allow us to co-design unique assessment tools, new budget tools,” Mr Shorten said.

“It will allow us to resolve our consultation with people with disability about a list of what you can spend money on and what you cannot spend money on.

“This will always be a work in progress but as we have seen, we are committed to making sure the scheme is here for the future. It is going at an unsustainable rate.”

The Bill is expected to pass the Senate on Thursday before returning to the House.

Originally published as Government strikes NDIS deal with states, territories, Bill set to pass Senate