NDIS delay ‘only way to save costs’

DISABLED Australians face years of delays in getting taxpayer-funded care after the NDIA admitted its deadline could blow out costs.

Projected spending on the NDIS.

DISABLED Australians face years of delays in getting taxpayer-funded care after the National Disability Insurance Agency admitted its tight delivery deadline could blow out costs or compromise quality. The Commission of Audit wants to postpone the $22 billion national disability insurance scheme by up to three years to avoid “significant financial risks’’. Bruce Bonyhady, who chairs the agency implementing the scheme, revealed the 2019 delivery deadline might not be “fiscally sustainable’’.

“We are reviewing if that’s the best timetable in terms of delivering the scheme in a fiscally sustainable way,’’ he said yesterday.

“Unlike the existing disability system, this scheme gives money to individuals to go and purchase the services that best meet their needs. Over time that will drive innovation and efficiency, but it’s very important we give the market enough time to develop.

“If demand rises faster than supply, there is a risk of inflation, or that the quality of services that need to be there may not occur.’’

Mr Bonyhady, who has two disabled sons, said his agency was not “deliberately holding things up’’.

“In the absence of the scheme in a proper rollout, disability care will end up costing twice as much as the NDIS,’’ he said.

He refused to say how long the scheme might be postponed but insisted the “costs are under control’’.

As revealed by The Australian yesterday, the commission has concluded the scheduled rollout of the NDIS by 2019 is “highly ambitious”.

“This increases the risk of inadequate delivery of disability services to participants and also poses significant financial risks to the scheme as a whole,’’ it says.

“One option could be to extend the peak ramp-up period over the period 2015-16 to 2018-19, by another three years” with full rollout by 2022-23.

The commission considers that there would be merit in pursuing a slower rollout schedule to help minimise the risks associated with the scheme’s introduction. “An extended phasing in of the scheme would need to be renegotiated with the states,’’ it says.

But NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance yesterday demanded the federal government honour its existing commitment to full delivery by 2019.

“We have a clear expectation that it must be met,’’ he said. “We have factored it into the state budget and the forward estimates.

“We want it honoured, and that will be the very clear message that we will continue to send to Canberra.’’

Victoria’s Minister for Disability Services and Reform, Mary Wooldridge, called on Canberra to “honour the agreement’’ for a 2019 full rollout.

“The number of people with a disability accessing the NDIS is increasing each quarter and in no way should this be compromised,’’ she said.

South Australian Disabilities Minister Tony Piccolo said he expected the federal government to honour the existing timeline.

“Any potential change made to the NDIS in the upcoming federal budget will be nothing but a blatant cost-cutting exercise at the expense of our most vulnerable people and has nothing to do with the architecture of the scheme,’’ he said.

ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said “the train has left the station’’, and the NDIS timetable would be discussed at today’s Council of Australian Governments meeting.

“It would be very brave of any government to start stepping away from this commitment to deliver such an important social reform,’’ she said.

The federal government has agreed to meet all cost overruns during the NDIS trials and launch, plus 75 per cent of any cost blowouts from the mature scheme.

Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls yesterday said the state remained committed to funding its share of the NDIS.

The NDIS is expected to help 450,000 disabled Australians, at an annual cost of $22.1bn, fully funded through an increase in the Medicare levy.

The commission said early trials of the scheme showed the cost had blown out from an estimated $35,000 a participant per year to $46,000. But Mr Bonyhady yesterday said the latest data — based on 5400 participants — showed the average cost had fallen to $34,000 a year.

The NDIS will give disabled Australians funding to help with daily personal care, transport, mobility equipment such as wheelchairs, and help with household tasks, such as cleaning and cooking.

Trials of the NDIS, announced by the Gillard government with bipartisan support, began last July in parts of Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Tasmania.

National Disability Services chief executive Ken Baker said there was “no rational basis for a cost review’’ of the scheme given that the trial costs were now within budget.

Carers Australia chief executive Ara Creswell said costs were on track so “we need to move forward, not tread water’’.