Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all the members for their contributions in the second reading debate on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Savings Fund Special Account Bill 2016. In summarising and making some comment on those contributions, I would note, of course, from the outset, that the government is fully committed to properly, adequately and sustainably funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme. And it is for precisely that reason that the government is bringing forward this bill to establish a new, ongoing special account which will assist the Commonwealth to meet future financial commitments to the NDIS.

The special account will be known as the National Disability Insurance Scheme Savings Fund Special Account, and in this contribution I will simply refer to that as the savings fund. The savings fund will allow the government, over future budgets, to identify savings from existing programs and set aside those savings to assist in meeting the Commonwealth's financial commitments to the NDIS. It is necessary to be absolutely crystal clear here: a failure to fully support this bill is a failure to support a bill designed to establish a vehicle in which the Commonwealth government can accumulate clearly identified savings and protect those savings for the exclusive use of the future funding of the NDIS.

Failure to support the bill is a failure to support a process that is absolutely necessary for the NDIS. It is absolutely necessary to give certainty and peace of mind to what will eventually be an estimated 460,000 participants in the NDIS. It is further absolutely necessary to also give assurance to all Australian citizens that the NDIS funding gap, which is absolutely real and which arises in the year 2019-20, will not be funded by further taxes or further borrowings. It is absolutely necessary because of the financial failure of the members opposite to address an issue and a challenge that was always going to be confronted by any government when the NDIS reached its full scheme in 2019-20.

The NDIS represents a massive, overdue and greatly supported increase in funding for disability services. It is one of the largest social and economic policy reforms in Australian history. In 2019-20, the NDIS reaches full scheme, with $21.4 billion worth of funding being allocated in that year. The Commonwealth's share of that total funding will be around $11.1 billion per year.

Currently, to fund the NDIS, the Commonwealth is redirecting existing disability-related spending and accessing the DisabilityCare Australia Fund, which are both applied towards the cost of the NDIS in 2019-20. Existing Commonwealth disability funding which is redirected to the NDIS is estimated to be at about $1.1 billion, the Commonwealth's share of the increase in the Medicare levy through the DisabilityCare Australia Fund is estimated to be at about $4.1 billion, and redirecting funding which is presently provided to the states for specialist disability services is estimated to be at $1.8 billion. In total, therefore, the Commonwealth will direct $7 billion from these sources to the NDIS.

Because of the failure of the previous Labor government to specifically set aside funding for the NDIS—

See this speech in context