IF the Federal Government decides not to honour their commitment to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, they will only govern for one term, the founder of the Gippsland Carers Association has claimed.
“If there’s one place no cuts are possible or should even be considered, it’s caring and the disability sector,” Gippsland Carers Association president Jean Tops said.
Treasurer Joe Hockey’s comments to deliver a more “affordable” NDIS last week has created doubt in the implementation of the scheme.
Political commentator Annabel Crabb suggested Australians should prepare for a ‘cheaper and slimmer NDIS’ after Mr Hockey announced “the bottom line from my perspective is we have to find ways to deliver services within an existing budget framework rather than promise on the never-never things with a blank cheque”.
While Ms Tops said she believed the Federal Government and State and Territory governments were 100 per cent behind the scheme, she feared the government was making concessions.
And with no signs of cuts to the Paid Parental Leave Scheme, Ms Tops said it was “outrageous” the government proposed to support people with exceedingly large salaries compared to carers working for nothing.
“It would appear at this stage that the current government are conceding on some of the processes for the pilot site and the planning that has gone in at the moment they’re not comfortable with,” she said.
Ms Tops said she had been concerned about the NDIS from the beginning, not just now, with many productivity commission recommendations not yet embraced by government.
“We’re concerned that the assessment processes they have been developing were not supporting involvement with families,” she said.
“The process is: look at what the family can provide, what the general community can provide, what the disability service can provide and then and only then what the NDIS provides.”
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said he did not believe there was any cause for concern with the treasurer’s comments and was merely indicating that the government had a responsibility to deliver value for money for the Australian tax payers.
Mr Chester said the prime minister had indicated on many occasions, including in a meeting with the Gippsland Carers Association (in March 2012) that he was 100 per cent committed to the NDIS.
