Disability care dudded as Shorten tries to stop NDIS tax boost he backed under Gillard

Julia Gillard raises the Medicare levy to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The prime minister in the House of Representatives, May 15, 2013:

In March, we gave it a place in our ­nation’s laws. Today we inscribe it in our nation’s finances.

Bill Shorten fights a Medicare levy increase to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The Australian, May 12:

… the Opposition Leader demanded changes to the government’s $8.2 billion hike in the Medicare levy that would exempt workers earning less than $87,000 a year …

A Labor leader backing lower taxes? Shorten in the House of Representatives, Wednesday:

We reject the notion that the only way to protect the NDIS is to raise taxes on working and middle-class Australians.

Did he pipe up when Gillard did it? The Australian, May 2, 2013:

Under Julia Gillard’s new funding proposal, the Medicare levy will be increased by 0.5 percentage points …

Nope. Shorten’s statement on the Medicare levy increase, May 3, 2013:

That’s about a dollar a day for the ­average Australian to go towards a better life for people with disabilities …

Shorten also says the NDIS was all Labor’s doing. The Opposition Leader on Twitter, Monday:

Turnbull lying about Labor & the NDIS. We created it and we’re funding it …

Tony Abbott, then opposition leader, was on board. The Australian, May 3, 2013:

Tony Abbott is set to pass Julia Gillard’s $3.3bn increase in the Medicare levy to partially fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme, despite deep misgivings within the Coalition about the potential for its cost to explode across the next decade.
Gillard even thanked Abbott. The Labor prime minister speaking in Launceston, May 2, 2013:

I am pleased that the leader of the opposition has formed the view that he is prepared to support an increase in the Medicare levy.

Costs did explode, by the way. Rick Morton reports in The Australian, May 10:

The cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme bureaucracy will hit $2bn a year in the middle­ of the next decade, as the overall program draws level with the funding needed to sustain Medicare, chewing through more money than the (Turnbull) levy can raise.

The shadow cabinet still thinks a Medicare levy boost is a good idea. Sydney Morning Herald, Monday:

Bill Shorten dismissed the advice of a majority of his shadow cabinet when he announced Labor would only support a Medicare levy rise for people earning more than $87,000 a year.

And outgoing Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour wants some slack. Speaking in Melbourne, Wednesday:

There were some CEOs, doing some things, that were not so nice to their secretaries … and they seemed to keep their jobs.

Not sleeping with staff is surely worth his $5.6 million salary. Eli Greenblat reports for The Australian online, yesterday:

Mr Fahour … was forced to bring forward his departure plans at Australia Post when earlier this year his remuneration — which didn’t appear in the Australia Post annual report — was disclosed by a Senate committee.