Qld Labor also said Canberra must pay for the NDIS

LIKE all Australians, I want to see a better quality of life provided for people with disabilities, and I know personally the challenges families face in caring for a loved one with a disability.

I recognise that reforming disability services means reforming the lives and support of our nation's most vulnerable people.

That's why my government is - and has always been - a strong supporter of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

We are encouraged by what a NDIS could represent for people with a disability: greater choice and control, flexibility across states and a genuinely national, coherent system.

We want to be part of this national disability reform, but to make this national scheme work it must be funded by the commonwealth government.

In its final report, the Productivity Commission made it quite clear that "the Australian government should be the single funder of the NDIS".

What is being proposed by the commonwealth does not involve a long-term plan and it doesn't involve a sustainable funding model. The commonwealth has provided only about one-quarter of the funding recommended by the Productivity Commission for the launch sites, with most of this money spent on duplicating administration and IT processes.

The absence of a long-term funding plan from the commonwealth government just creates more uncertainty for people with a disability, their families and their carers.

During the past few months, and this week in particular, the Prime Minister and other federal Labor ministers have tried to paint the states with Coalition governments as the bad guys who don't provide a cent to people with disabilities.

The reality is, of course, far different. The Queensland government invested more than $920 million in 2011-12, while the commonwealth's contribution to disability services for Queenslanders was only about $255m.

I would love to spend even more money on disability services and we want to put more money in, but we just can't because of the terrible financial situation we have inherited from the previous Labor government.

Our state's debt hit $64 billion in 2011-12 and will hit $100bn if nothing is done. Queensland's fastest growing expense is the interest bill on Labor's debt.

We are working hard right now to rebuild Queensland, and we have a plan to fix the mess we inherited from Labor and return our budget to surplus by 2014-15.

Until we get our state's finances back on track, we are simply not in a position to put money into a national scheme that the Productivity Commission said should be funded by the commonwealth government.

It is not just the current Queensland government that has this view.

The former Bligh Labor government echoed these sentiments in a NDIS submission to the Productivity Commission last year.

The former Labor government wrote that "any new scheme should clarify roles and responsibilities, and require the policy, funding and regulatory roles to be exercised by the Australian government".

Further, the Bligh Labor government's submission stated: "Queensland notes that given the breadth of an NDIS, the states and territories do not have appropriate revenue powers to finance a broader long-term scheme" and that "funding of an NDIS should be based on current state funding contributions".

As I said at the outset, I am greatly encouraged by what an NDIS represents for all people with a disability and we are totally committed to making it happen.

Any suggestion that the states are not helping or don't want this to happen is completely wrong.

Queensland will be part of this scheme, but right now we have to take the tough decisions to get the state back on track so we can afford better frontline services, such as the support of people with disabilities.

We will be closely watching the trial sites to learn from their experiences and prepare Queensland for the national rollout of the NDIS, due in 2018.

It is clear from the Productivity Commission's report that the only way to run and fund an effective national scheme is for the federal government to lead this work.

My government is more than happy to work collaboratively on the scheme, but it is nonetheless a federal initiative that demands a federal approach.

We are committed to improving the lives of people with a disability, and we will continue to do all we can to ensure Queenslanders with a disability, their families and carers get the support and assistance they deserve.

Campbell Newman is Premier of Queensland.