The NDIS will receive an additional $13.2 billion up until 2023-24 for disability supports, with $17.9 million in early support funding going to young children with disability and developmental concerns. This is in addition to the $3.9 billion included in the 2020-2021 Budget.
“As the scheme reaches maturity, our focus is on ensuring its sustainability and that it continues to deliver a high-quality essential service for those who need it,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.
NDIS funding is tipped to reach $122 billion over the next four years with the scale and cost per participant now on a trajectory well ahead of what was anticipated by its original design, “ NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds said.
“Labor’s original NDIS framework makes it inflexible and administratively burdensome to make hundreds of individual decisions for hundreds of thousands of participants every year. The number of participants was also estimated well below the 530,000 Australians expected to access the scheme in coming years,” she said. “The Commonwealth will continue to discuss with the states and territories how we can work together to guarantee the affordability of the NDIS to ensure it endures for many generations of Australians to come.”
The minister said the NDIS will need around 83,000 new workers by 2024.
Physical Disability Council of NSW CEO, Serena Ovens said while the budget provides much needed funds for both the NDIS and aged care, details on how these funds will be spent to target those with disability was not clear.
Ovens welcomed the funding to assist children, but specific funding to address the significant gaps in assistive technologies for those who are over 65 would have been appreciated. “We can only hope that the additional 80,000 aged care packages will mean people with significant disability may finally get the Level 3 and 4 packages they need to be provided with appropriate care,” she told F2L.
“We know there is still considerable reform taking place in the NDIS and the review of the NDIS ACT still leaves us concerned as to the government’s long-term plan for the scheme, and individual’s choice and control over their lives.”
There are currently 450,000 people receiving disability support with more than 100,000 joining the scheme in the past year.