Medicare levy increased by 0.5 per cent to fully fund NDIS in Federal Budget

A HIKE in the Medicare levy to guarantee the future of the NDIS for people with a disability will cost the average earner $400 a year.

THE future of the NDIS, the scheme that provides care for Australians with a disability, is guaranteed after the government increased the Medicare levy by 0.5 per cent to fully fund it in tonight’s Budget.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter says the levy increase, which will cost a worker on average earnings $400 a year, will fill the $3.8 billion a year funding hole in the scheme set up by the Gillard Government.

When its fully operational in 2020 the scheme will cost $21 billion and is forecast to provide care for 460,000 Australians who have a severe disability.

Currently over 60,000 Australians have care plans funded under the NDIS but the scheme is already experiencing growing pains as it is phased in around the country.

In the next two financial years as the scheme expands its estimated an extra 60,000 additional full time disability care workers will be needed to deliver care under the program.

The government tonight committed $33 million to help care providers grow their workforce to fill these gaps.

AT A GLANCE: Your five-minute guide to Budget 2017

YOUNG AND OLD: This is what it means for you

Social Services Minister Christian Porter says the Medicare levy increase will fill the $3.8 billion a year funding hole in the NDIS scheme set up by the Gillard Government.

The Local Care Workforce program will help meet job shortages by increasing the supply of care workers in the right geographical areas where the NDIS is being rolled out and provide for the development of an industry led Aged Care Workforce Strategy.

Under the NDIS people with a disability are able to choose the type of services they need and they get to pick their own care providers.

The risk though is that occasionally care may not be up to standard and some people with a disability may get abused or taken advantage of.

The government announced tonight it would spend $209 million to establish an independent NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to oversee the quality of NDIS providers and enforce the rights of participants in the scheme.

The Commission will start in 2018 and register NDIS providers, respond to complaints about incidents such as abuse or neglect and provide leadership to eliminate physical restraint practices.

A national Code of Conduct will be developed outlining expectations for those delivering care under the program and there will be penalties for breaches of the code.

The government will also move to get more people with a disability into the workfore.

The government is contributing $80 million over four years to provide community-based psychosocial support programs for people with a mental illness.

More than $3 billion will be spent on Disability Employment Services over the next four years.

Only half those with a disability are participating in or seeking work compared to 83 per cent of the population without a disability.

Under reforms the government is making to the system Disability Employment Servies will no longer be allocated a certain number of job seekers, they will have to attract them to their business.

The funding attached to a person with a disability seeking work will move with them so if they decide to change service providers their funding will go to the new service provider they choose.

“Job seekers will be able to choose their employment provider, and change providers more easily when they are not satisfied with the support they are receiving,” Mr Porter said.

Some people with mental illness or mind disabilities will not qualify for the NDIS and many of the community services they rely on are being disbanded as the NDIS is rolled out.

The government tonight provided $80 million over four years to provide community-based psychosocial support programs for people with a mental illness who don’t qualify for the NDIS.