Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I can advise the Senate the Labor's month-long scare campaign leading up to the budget in relation to the NDIS came to what it always was going to, and that is a complete misrepresentation of this government's intentions. This government has always been committed to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. This government is committed to delivering the National Disability Insurance Scheme in full. We are committed to delivering the National Disability Insurance Scheme within the agreed funding envelope.

There was another item in the budget in relation to the NDIS which you may not have picked up. That is that the previous government misapplied an efficiency dividend because they made it cover package costs for the NDIS. So in the budget this week we are returning an extra $44 million to the NDIS that the previous government wanted to take away. Far from seeking to wind back or cut the NDIS, it is this government that is actually returning to the NDIS funding that the previous government was intending to cut.

We are committed to the NDIS. We are committed to rolling it out in full, but we are equally committed to making sure that the NDIS has sound foundations. We know from work commissioned by the independent board of the NDIS—the board appointed under the previous government—that the decision of the previous government to bring forward the commencement of trial sites by a year has compromised some of the key capabilities of the agency. We are determined to address those capabilities so that the scheme is rolled out well and in full.