State fail: 1000 miss NDIS funding this year

More than 1000 Victorians will miss NDIS support plans because the state government has missed critical milestones.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter. Picture: Gary Ramage.

More than 1000 Victorians will miss out on having their support packages approved this year ­because the state government has missed critical milestones in the rollout of the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme, leaked data shows.

The Andrews government, which last week accused the federal government of putting the rollout at risk with new board ­appointments, has not met many of its contractual obligations in the NDIS rollout agreement since the beginning of the year.

The delay could cost excluded individuals $38,000 a year, which is the value of the average scheme support package.

While the Victorian government has accused the federal government of reneging on a funding deal, The Australian understands privacy issues are a factor behind the delay.

Arrangements between the states and the commonwealth ­require data on existing state ­clients to be provided to the Nat­ional Disability Insurance ­Agency six months before support packages — known as plans — are approved.

Every other state and territory has met its obligations, but Victoria has so far provided records for 3804 Victorian clients out of the 4723 required.The statewill miss its December target of 6110 plans because of its lethargic ­response to information-sharing.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter said: “Unfortunately, the Victorian Labor government has consistently failed to provide vital data about existing Victorian participants to the NDIA which is necessary for the rollout of the NDIS in Victoria.

“This failure by Victoria to provide necessary data on promised dates means that more than 1000 Victorians cannot have their plans approved this year.

“If the (state) continues to fail to provide additional data due this year, it will also not be ­possible to meet future target plan approvals for the first half of 2017.

“The NDIA can only use state data to approve state plans if it ­receives that information.

“The other large NDIS jurisdiction, NSW, has not had any problems, so failures in Victoria are concerning and so far ­unexplained.”

Victorian Disabilities Minister Martin Foley has been in conflict with Mr Porter since he came to the portfolio, accusing the federal government of reneging on a deal to provide early access to Medicare levy funds. The lack of those funds, he said, had hindered Victoria’s preparations.

“Currently, the number of plans being below the targets is a direct result of the underfunding by the commonwealth,” Mr Foley said. “We are concerned that this underfunding is resulting in continuing reports of the poor quality or both the experience and outcomes of the planning process.

“That’s why Victoria has ­offered to provide additional ­expert Department of Health and Human Services planning staff to help fast track support for people with disability and their families.”

Mr Foley declined to elaborate otherwise why data provision had stalled but an NDIS planning document obtained by The Australian sheds some light.

The document reveals Victoria was withholding data for ­privacy concerns: “Need check with Legal on whether we can use s55 to get info from Victoria,” the document says in a May update.

“Victoria is concerned about potential breaches of their Privacy Act”. It suggests using section 55 of the NDIS Act to obtain the information.

It is not clear whether section 55 has since been used to recover information Victoria was unwilling to share.