Australians with a disability, their families and carers will be better off under a landmark agreement between the Commonwealth and New South Wales Governments.
The arrangement ensures the full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in NSW, the first state to officially sign up to the full scheme. It will deliver certainty on the long-term arrangements for the NDIS, and represents an important step in ensuring the financial sustainability of the NDIS in the future.
The agreement reflects the Australian and New South Wales Governments’ shared responsibility for the NDIS and locks in arrangements for both governments to make ongoing, up-front funding contributions to the scheme.
The agreement aligns with the 2017 Productivity Commission Review of NDIS Costs. As the Productivity Commission recommended: The NSW Government has agreed that its annual funding contribution to the NDIS, which exceeds $3 billion in 2018-19, will be escalated by 4 per cent per year to keep pace with population and price increases; the Australian Government will pay the balance of NDIS costs in NSW, providing certainty that the NDIS will remain fully funded into the future; the two governments have committed to use shared funding to establish a NDIS reserve from 1 July 2019, to provide greater flexibility to manage the sustainability of the NDIS.
The agreement will enable NSW to access $3.1 billion of DisabilityCare Australia Fund payments between 2018-19 and 2023-24.
Over 84,000 people in NSW are already benefiting from the NDIS, including more than 16,000 who had not previously accessed government‑funded specialist disability supports. The NDIS is expected to eventually support around 140,000 people with disability in NSW.
The NDIS full scheme agreement for NSW will take effect from 1 July 2018.
Caption: the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian.