Crime and inefficiencies are key to fixing the NDIS

With ballooning costs, endemic fraud and a history of poor management, the National Disability Insurance Scheme is a high priority for serious government attention. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten is to be commended for the vigour with which he has taken to the task. In his first speech on the issue after the election, Mr Shorten said: “I think governments of all stripes and all levels sometimes need to just roll up their sleeves and try to fix up problems because sometimes it’s not about politics. It’s just about poor process.” This is a refreshingly honest perspective.

That poor process extends beyond the NDIS and infects health services that must also be much better managed across jurisdictions. Targeting, as Mr Shorten has, the inefficiency that exists between the NDIS and the public hospital system is overdue. Making sure that disability scheme recipients are not left languishing for months in a hospital bed they don’t need to occupy will improve health services more generally and ensure that money spent is accountable to the correct budget.

As we report on Tuesday, Mr Shorten has launched an ambitious bid to free disabled people waiting an average of five months in hospital despite being medically ready for discharge, taking more than 1000 sick beds unnecessarily and costing taxpayers up to $1bn each year. Mr Shorten wants bureaucrats to respond to disabled people within four days once the agency has been contacted over their need to transfer them out of hospital. It is a scandal that of the 2328 NDIS participants currently in hospital, 1384 were medically ready for discharge and waiting an average of 160 days to leave.

Mr Shorten said the plan was aimed at improving goodwill, not only between Australians with disabilities and the agency but also between the federal government and states. Mr Shorten is correct that states and territories need to do more in supporting disabled Australians. They must also make a proper contribution to NDIS funding as they had promised to do.

As we have long argued, the NDIS must regain its focus on what was intended. That is to provide much needed care and support for those who need it most. Those running it also must be mindful of the cost. In May last year it was revealed the NDIS was set to cost more than $40bn a year within three years, a $10bn blowout on federal budget projections released just a fortnight earlier. According to the National Disability Insurance Agency report at the time, average payments to participants had increased by 42 per cent across three years to $53,200.

Putting the NDIS on to a sound financial footing inevitably will require tough decisions. Withdrawing services from people who do not qualify always will be a difficult task for government but an essential part of maintaining long-term public support for the program. Mr Shorten has shown himself prepared to take a broad view. Tackling organised crime and stamping out rorts is also a responsibility of government to ensure that funds are available for those who deserve them.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has estimated as much as 20 per cent of the $30bn-a-year NDIS budget is being misused. With the total costs expected to double, without action the NDIS is well on its way to being financially unsustainable. There are about 4.4 million Australians living with a disability, with about 518,000 on the NDIS. Projections show, at the current rate, the scheme will hit $60bn a year by 2030, with the number of participants on the scheme expected to grow to 860,000.

Mr Shorten deserves credit for drawing attention to the failings of the scheme. Problems must be fixed to improve the service for those who need it, to ensure the NDIS is sustainable and that taxpayers are getting value for the vast sums of money they are spending on it.