Page 1593 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 7 May 2013
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Madam Speaker, the NDIS will not only support those in our community who most need our support; it will contribute very positively to the whole community by assisting those who can work to enter or get back into the workforce, and it will help the carers of people with disability maintain their own connections with the workplace.
I am pleased to advise that the ACT has been at the forefront of implementation of the national disability insurance scheme in Australia. Members will be aware that the ACT was the first jurisdiction to agree to be a launch site for the NDIS. Again, at COAG on 19 April the ACT was one of the first to commit to full scheme implementation by 2019.
While I have referred to the national disability insurance scheme today, the Assembly should note that the NDIS will now be named DisabilityCare Australia.
2,500 people in the ACT will transition from July 2014, and by July 2016 all eligible residents will have transitioned. Our implementation plan means that the ACT will be the first jurisdiction to accept all eligible residents into the scheme. We will have two years at the end of the transition before we move to the full scheme in 2019.
DisabilityCare Australia will change the way we support people with a disability and their families. No-one ever expects to have to deal with living with a disability. How quickly lives can change: a child born with a disability who will face a lifetime of challenges, or an unexpected accident could cause someone to be in a wheelchair.
A life can change overnight, with severe impacts on health, employment and social interaction. A once fit and healthy person now needs assistance with the basic aspects of daily living—someone to assist in getting in and out of bed, having a shower or eating a meal. The impact on families and carers can often be shattering, with increased demands to support those they love. Sustaining families by providing reasonable and necessary supports for the person with a disability is fundamental to the scheme.
With our agreement to the full scheme, the total joint investment in DisabilityCare Australia in the ACT is expected to be $342 million by 2019-20. By 2019-20, the ACT government will provide about $167 million to the cost of care and support for people with disability in the ACT through DisabilityCare Australia. This will be 49 per cent of ACT scheme costs, consistent with the full scheme agreement reached between the commonwealth and New South Wales in December 2012.
By 2019-20, the commonwealth government will contribute around $175 million to the scheme for ACT residents. This will be around 51 per cent of ACT scheme costs. In addition, the commonwealth will cover the full cost of people who turn 65 and choose to remain in the scheme.
The ACT has also signed the agreement with the commonwealth government which sets out what will be delivered in the ACT from July this year. The agreement covers an enhanced service offer and NDIS readiness. Under the project agreement the total investment from the ACT and commonwealth governments from July this year to July
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