Media Releases
‘Monster’ Disability Scheme to blowout by billions
Andrew Baker |
15 November 2012
‘It is clear that the NDIS will be a monster of a government program. It will grow and grow to become the new leviathan of the Australian welfare state,’ said the report’s author, Andrew Baker.
A secret government report acquired by The Centre for Independent Studies under Freedom of Information laws said that the NDIS will provide disability care and support to 441,000 people at a cost of $22 billion a year when it is fully operational in 2018-19.
These figures are substantially larger than the Productivity Commission’s widely reported estimate that the NDIS would provide services to 411,000 people at a cost of $15 billion a year.
‘Unfortunately, there is a serious danger that the costs will blowout by billions more,’ said Mr Baker.
‘Pressure to expand NDIS eligibility is already coming from the 600,000 people aged 65 and older with a severe or profound disability that will be excluded from the scheme’.
‘More political pressure will come from the half million disability support pensioners who will not be eligible for NDIS funded supports either.’
‘Once the NDIS is fully operational it will grow rapidly. Looking at similar schemes in Australia and overseas, government expenditure on the NDIS will grow at around 6% every year, and by 2023-24, it will have a total annual cost of nearly $30 billion and will need at least 8,000 public servants to run it,’ said Mr Baker.
Despite the lack of funding for the scheme, Mr Baker was optimistic about the future of the NDIS.
‘The NDIS is a worthwhile initiative that will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians.’
‘The NDIS should be seen as an opportunity to reprioritise government spending away from middle class and corporate welfare and towards those who need the most help, like people with disability, their carers and families,’ Mr Baker said.
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Andrew Baker is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies. He is available for comment.
The report, The New Leviathan: A National Disability Insurance Scheme, is available from the CIS website.
A video of the report's findings is available on YouTube.
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