Tough love is needed on NDIS

As architect of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, it is fair to ask whether Bill Shorten is the right person to be making decisions about how the hugely expensive scheme is run. Mr Shorten fell quickly back into fiscal line when pulled up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers about the government’s commitment to meeting NDIS spending targets worth $74bn to the budget bottom line over the next decade. It is worth remembering these are not actually cuts; rather, they represent a slowing in the rate of NDIS expenditure growth than has otherwise been forecast.

In an unguarded moment, Mr Shorten said it would not be the end of the world if these targets were not met. This allowed the opposition to claim he had essentially blown the budget projections. Dr Chalmers said on Thursday the government was committed to reaching the 8 per cent target for NDIS growth rather than the current rate of 14.4 per cent. In response, Mr Shorten corrected his earlier position, saying: “Rest assured the Albanese government is absolutely committed to scheme growth targets of 8 per cent.” Given the extreme demand for NDIS services, this will require a deep strategic rethink of what it is really all about. A suggestion by health-tech company Kismet in The Australian on Wednesday for means testing and co-payments was rejected by Mr Shorten, who says he will focus on tackling fraud and driving efficiency. While worthy, these measures are unlikely to have a material impact on the cost of a service.

As things stand, the number of NDIS participants is growing at a pace well beyond forecasts. As of March, there were 592,059 participants in the NDIS, with about 200 people joining the scheme every day. If things continue at this rate, the scheme will exceed its June 2024 projection by December. Reining in spending will require tough choices. This includes limiting the availability of support to conditions that were not envisaged to be covered at the scheme’s inception, and removing the incentive for practitioners to exaggerate the needs of patients so they can get publicly funded support. The NDIS requires tough love to ensure it survives to provide for the profoundly disabled, those who taxpayers signed up to support in the first place.