WA rules out NDIS and goes its own way

The landmark $22bn national disability insurance scheme will never be rolled out in Western Australia.

The $22 billion Nat­ional Dis­ability Insurance Scheme will never be rolled out in Western Australia, with the state government confirming that the original vision for the NDIS has no place in the west.

Disability Services Minister Helen Morton said evaluations of competing trials ­between the ­national scheme and the state’s own model were simply a for­mality and a hybrid model — considered “inferior” by the Productivity Commission — would be adopted. The admission puts the nat­ional status of the NDIS, as legislated by former prime minister Julia Gillard, on shaky ground as other ­jurisdictions, including the Northern Territory, flag more concerns.

Ms Morton said the state was waiting on the federal government to receive the final reports in the middle of the year before it pushed ahead with a hybrid model.

The state has long argued its My Way disability model, which is similar but not identical to the NDIS, is more efficient and effective while still providing individual packages of support, but Premier Colin Barnett agreed to trial both it and the national scheme after Kevin Rudd made concessions in his second prime ministership.

“There is not ever going to be a simple rollout of one or the other, it is going to be the best of both models,” Ms Morton said. “In discussions with (federal Social Services Minister) Christian (Porter), he has seen the benefit of our scheme but more than him, we’ve had the parliamentary standing committees, which have seen the significant benefits of My Way being played out in WA.

“We’re in the throes of negotiating with the commonwealth right now and would have liked to have had that finalised by the end of this financial year, but the federal government is not interested ... it’s not keen to form a bilateral agreement with us until they have the full report from those trials.”

Mr Porter, a former WA treasurer, would not comment.

While other states would not be drawn on the impact of WA’s decision, NSW Disability Ser­vices Minister John Ajaka said: “We believe the interests of people with disability are best served by the model we are delivering.”

One factor that places WA in a stronger bargaining position with the federal government is that Ms Morton said the state was prepared to share half the cost of budget overruns during full rollouts of whatever program was delivered, something other states were not willing to do. WA will pick up half the tab only if it is handed full control, effectively killing off the NDIS in the west.

In its report, which formed the backbone for the NDIS, the Productivity Commission said: “An ­alternative but inferior option would be a federated NDIS.

“This would give state and territory governments control over their own systems, but with some common core features. Such an arrangement could easily revert to the current flawed and unfair system, with ‘agreements’ breaking down into disputes about who is to pay, how much and for what.”

Other jurisdictions have raised cost complaints, with NT Health Minister John Elferink complaining that more than half the people receiving local services were not eligible for the NDIS in the Barkly trial.