PWDA Calls For Medicare-style Levy to Fund NDIS
Today the national peak body, People with Disability Australia (PWDA) called for bipartisan support to introduce a levy
to fund DisabilityCare Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The government and the coalition both recognise that DisabilityCare Australia is necessary for people with disability
around Australia to finally get a far go. With Australia facing a $12 billion write down in revenue and leading
economists forecasting a ballooning budget deficit being handed down on 14 May, a Medicare-style levy is looking like
the only way to ensure the reform is sustained over the long term. While the Gillard government is committed to both the
Gonski reforms and the NDIS, the Coalition has cautioned that this expenditure is unsustainable.
"The electorate realises the system is broken," says Craig Wallace, President of People with Disability Australia. "A
levy going into a secured fund can enable Australians to look at our pay slips and know we have certainty against the
costs of equipment or therapies if we or a family member acquires a disability," he said.
The new name for the NDIS, DisabilityCare, invites a direct comparison with Medicare which has been sustained by a levy
on the pay slip of every Australian taxpayer since the 1980’s. Successive Governments, including the former Howard
Government have used levies to fund important national priorities like The Gun Buy Back and the Defence – East Timor
levy.
"A sovereign fund for a legislated purpose will guarantee the entitlement vision recommended by the Productivity
Commission," said Mr Wallace. "All Australians are affected by the disability coin toss," he said, "no one wants to lose
out in the future. The NDIS is as an insurance scheme. Australian’s are sensible enough to know that the peace of mind
provided by quality insurance requires investment in a premium ".
People with Disability Australia Incorporated (PWDA) is a national disability rights and advocacy, non-profit,
non-government organisation. We have a cross-disability focus, representing the interests of people with all kinds of
disability and our membership is made up of people with disability and organisations mainly constituted by people with
disability.
Our vision is of a socially just, accessible and inclusive community, in which the human rights, citizenship,
contribution, potential and diversity of all people with disability are respected and celebrated.
ENDS