ExclusivePoliticsReforms 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.
DEFENCE REPORTSpecial reportsAUKUS 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.
ALLAN BEHM
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.
Funding rowNationThe 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.
LIVE: Politics NowPoliticsPeter 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.
Disability reformNationBill 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.
newsNewsWireControversial therapies will be officially off limits to NDIS participants, in sweeping new measures set to take effect within days.
LIVE: Politics NowNationThe 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.
FINAL BUDGET OUTCOMEPoliticsJim 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.
EditorialRising government debt will continue to put pressure on inflation.
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exclusivePoliticsState 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.
EditorialBob 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.
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NDISNationWith 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.
NDIS reformPoliticsDisability 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.
LIVE
LIVE: Politics NowNationIn 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.
EditorialFar 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.
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exclusivePoliticsIn 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.
leadershipNationMr Shorten, who used Frank Sinatra lyrics to sidestep a question on Thursday about his role in the 2013 leadership spill, on Friday defended his decision.
MEDICARE MERGEHealthThe Parliamentary Budget Office has costed the Greens’ free dental proposal — and it has economists gritting their teeth.
Bill Shorten’s resignation suggests a deeper fear, even panic, within the party about what has been achieved by the Albanese government — and what the Greens have in store.