Labor’s Medicare levy won’t pay for all of NDIS, say Scott Morrison THE AUSTRALIAN DECEMBER 26, 2014 SOCIAL Services Minister Scott Morrison has savaged the Labor Party’s claim that the national disability insurance scheme is already “fully funded” amid a political storm over his demand for welfare savings to sustain the landmark program. Mr Morrison on Tuesday told The Australian he would restore “integrity” to the welfare system to rebuild public confidence and safeguard funding for the NDIS, which he described as the “holy grail” of social security. Opposition families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin accused the new minister of a “disgusting and cynical” attempt to use the NDIS as a smokescreen for the Abbott government’s next round of welfare cuts. “Any claim by Mr Morrison that the NDIS isn’t fully funded is completely disingenuous,” Ms Macklin said. “Labor made sure of it by introducing the 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy.” Mr Morrison yesterday hit back, claiming the levy increase would fund less than half the scheme’s actual cost, which the NDIS agency estimates will cost $28 billion in 2019. “Like any welfare measure, the NDIS is not a self-fulfilling prophecy. It has to be funded and implemented. The NDIS levy (of 0.5 per cent on income tax) funds less than half of the commonwealth’s full scheme costs,” Mr Morrison told The Australian. “Labor is happy to just keep adding further costs to the taxpayer’s bill rather than stump up to the difficult choices of creating a sustainable welfare system. The price of admission for being part of the solution on making our welfare system sustainable is to have a credible plan. Labor have so far not been prepared to pay this price. Instead, they want taxpayers to pay it for them, with higher debt and higher taxes, by shirking the responsibility of supporting the changes needed to ensure our safety net will be there for those who will need it for generations to come.” The NDIS was proposed by the Gillard government and backed by the Coalition in opposition. Although there are pilot programs under way, the national scheme will not be near full operation until 2017-18 and beyond. Ms Macklin said the Medicare levy increase would raise $20bn by 2019 and Labor had “allocated $14.3bn over seven years to roll out the NDIS across Australia”. Greens senator Rachel Siewert accused Mr Morrison of trying to “emotionally blackmail” MPs by casting doubt on the NDIS unless the Senate passed “harmful” reforms.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 12:09:15 +0000
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