NDIS expenses were $150m below expectations in the September quarter, despite the number of participants with approved plans increasing to more than 680,000 and payments costing taxpayers $11.5bn.
After making a good start in trying to rein in NDIS spending, the Albanese government has squandered its new-found fiscal prudence with an unjustifiable multibillion-dollar giveaway for student debt relief.
When I read Bill Shorten’s comments that he was ‘extremely proud’ that $1bn has been shaved from the NDIS as a result of reforms that rein in spending, I felt sick.
Reforms to the NDIS will save more than $1bn from the growing cost of the ballooning scheme, according to new official projections that promise to deliver critical structural savings to the federal budget.
AUKUS will not be defeated by its lack of any plausible policy foundation, its unsupported intelligence pronouncements, or the absence of any implementation plan. It will be defeated by its unachievability, as much in Britain and the US as in Australia.
Cost are rising for most firms but there is a boom area, supplying services to NDIS, whose budget is set to blow out by $8.8bn to $50bn annually by 2025-26.
The dispute comes amid protracted negotiations over the future of NDIS funding, with the scheme forecast to grow beyond $120bn a year in the next decade without reforms.
Peter Dutton has portrayed himself as a leader with ‘moral clarity and courage’ who can restore social cohesion after declaring the Coalition ‘will not waver’ in its support for Israel and Australians of Jewish faith.
Bill Shorten says changes to eligibility for the $40bn-a-year scheme will not happen until after the election, as he unveils the long-awaited list of approved services.
Controversial therapies will be officially off limits to NDIS participants, in sweeping new measures set to take effect within days.
The Australian Federal Police will consider prosecutions of at least six people who attended a pro-Hezbollah rally in Melbourne on Sunday for allegedly displaying prohibited terrorist symbols and participating in hateful chants.
Jim Chalmers will rely on NDIS and aged-care reforms to rein in budget spending and offset falling tax revenue and lower commodity prices, as Labor banked a second surplus of $15.8bn.
Rising government debt will continue to put pressure on inflation.
State governments are expected to borrow more than $100bn this financial year to cover the surge in public spending, with just under 60 per cent of new state and territory debt to be issued by Queensland and Victoria.
Bob Hawke once said: ‘you don’t design your tax system for low-paid people. You design your tax system for middle-class Australia’. The PM should heed the advice of his mentor.
With the government looking to take pressure off the National Disability Insurance Scheme, consultations are about to get under way about what broader disability support might look like.
Disability advocates have raised alarm over Labor beginning the process of forcing all 170,000 NDIS providers to be registered, warning the move is ‘premature’ and demanding more detail.
In one of his last major changes before he retires, the NDIS Minister will begin the registration process for all 170,000 providers operating within the $40bn-a-year disability scheme.
Far more than the profitability of mining and energy companies is at stake from bad policies that adversely affect their operations and the viability of investments in new projects.
In one of his last major changes before he retires, the NDIS Minister will begin a major crackdown on rorting, abuse and the slapping of ‘wedding-tax’ style mark-ups on disability services.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/topics/ndis