EDITORIAL: Delivering NDIS reform plan will be big task

When Labor prime minister Julia Gillard spoke to Parliament about the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill in November 2012, she captured the vision behind the legislation.

“Disability can affect any of us and therefore it affects all of us,” Ms Gillard said.

“The existence of disability in our community cannot always be avoided. But the consequences of disability — isolation, poverty, loss of dignity, stress, hopelessness and fear of the future — can be avoided.”

The NDIS was “the greatest change to Australian social policy in a generation and a mark of how deeply the conscience of our nation has been touched”, Ms Gillard said.

The intent was laudable. But the reality is that the scheme has evolved into something unsustainable.

When the NDIS was set up it was estimated to have about 410,000 participants and cost around $13 billion a year.

It currently has about 760,000 participants, and this year costs $52b — more than is spent on aged care or Medicare and three times the bill for childcare subsidies.

The Government has more than halved the growth rate from the 22 per cent it was at in 2022.

But by 2028-29, the program was tipped to keep growing at 7.8 per cent a year, by which time the NDIS would cost the Budget $63.6b.

It was clear something had to give.

At the National Press Club on Wednesday Health Minister Mark Butler detailed a long-awaited overhaul of the NDIS which will see about 160,000 people lose support from the scheme by 2030.

Mr Butler said initial modelling would see the number of people on the scheme reduced to about 600,000 by the end of the decade, instead of growing to well over 900,000.

Every person on the NDIS would be reassessed and shifted off the program if they did not meet new eligibility criteria.

The Commonwealth would seek to bring average plan costs down from $31,000 to about $26,000.

The overhaul would restrict the scheme’s annual growth to just 2 per cent a year, before returning to the Government’s 5 per cent growth target at the end of the decade.

Mr Butler has outlined what appears at first glance to be a good attempt to wrestle the NDIS back into shape.

There can be little argument that cutting out overcharging by providers, rorts and making sure eligibility criteria is met are positive steps towards bringing the model back into a more sustainable position.

Of course implementing a change of this magnitude brings the risk that some who possess a valid claim are caught in the net.

The Government will need to work hard to ensure that those who really need help can get it.

Mr Butler said the changes would redirect the NDIS away from the “let it rip” approach that had marked its operation.

The task in front of Mr Butler as he goes about trying to reset the NDIS should not be underestimated.

Actually delivering on the plan in a timely way will be the crucial test of the Government’s NDIS reform agenda.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.