Premiers blame 'inflexibility'

AN attempt to get NSW and Victoria involved in trials of the new National Disability Insurance Scheme ended in a stalemate.

Lynne Foreman, NDIS

A LAST-DITCH attempt to get NSW and Victoria involved in trials of the new National Disability Insurance Scheme ended in a stalemate last night, with both sides refusing to put in the extra $27 million a year needed for the pilots to take place.

The NSW Disabilities Minister, Andrew Constance, who flew to Melbourne yesterday for negotiations, said federal Disability Reform Minister Jenny Macklin had essentially refused to meet with him, and he accused her of being "completely inflexible".

"We wanted to come to an arrangement, but there has been nothing new presented by them today," he said.

Ms Macklin said there were 15,000 Australians with a disability in NSW and Victoria who could benefit from the NDIS trials, but there was no point meeting state ministers unless they had something new to put on the table.

"We've put $1 billion dollars on the table to start this work and yet NSW and Victoria are refusing to buy in," she said.

The row came as a leaked note from a Tasmanian bureaucrat revealed the state had its original plan for a statewide NDIS trial involving 1000 people rejected by the commonwealth. Instead, the state will now trial the scheme only on those aged 15-24.

"Although a cohort-specific launch was not the Tasmanian government's first choice for a launch, this revised proposal has been submitted to ensure further consideration could be given to Tasmania as a 2013 NDIS launch site," says the leaked note from Martin Gibson, principal disability liaison officer in the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said yesterday all the premiers had agreed at a dinner at The Lodge the night before the Council of Australian Governments meeting to support the NDIS trials and Julia Gillard had missed her chance.

"Everyone around the table said, 'We support going down this path, we're committed to doing it', and I don't know why Julia Gillard did not grasp that opportunity the next day," Mr Barnett told Sky News's Agenda program.

The Premier said his state would be ready to run a trial tomorrow, but that the Prime Minister had refused to compromise over who would control the trial and the money funding it.

Ms Gillard refused to be drawn on how she intended to fund the $15bn-a-year eventual cost of the scheme but appeared to rule out a tax levy.

"We'll find ways of funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme just in the same way that we found ways of funding other big reforms. I'm not having people start speculating and starting fear campaigns about how this will be funded," she said yesterday.

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu said he feared if he committed an extra $10m a year of funding to the trials, it would "lead to expectations about funding in the future" when the full scheme began.

Lynne Forman, who has been waiting eight years for an individualised disability package, said she was "very disappointed" politics had got in the way of a trial of the NDIS in her area.

Ms Forman, who uses a wheelchair after a condition caused her muscles and joints to deteriorate, had hoped to be one of 5000 people to benefit from the proposed Victorian trial of the NDIS.

She needs help with showering, dressing and getting ready for bed, and hoped she would be able to employ someone to take her shopping so she could try on clothes.

"These are huge thing in the eyes of a disabled person," Ms Forman said. "We're not asking for much, just quality of life."

Additional reporting: Matthew Denholm