All Parties Commit To Examining a National Disability Insurance Scheme
18 August 2010 at 1:50 pm
All three major parties have confirmed they will commit to examining major reform of the disability sector if elected in the August 21 poll, including supporting the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The National Disability and Carer Alliance says the Coalition, the Australian Greens, and the Australian Labor Party all declared their support for reform in a response to an appeal from the Alliance.
The Alliance says the current disability support system is unsustainable and indefensible, chronically under-funded, inefficient, inequitable and, most seriously, fails to meet the needs of Australians with a disability, their families and carers.
In a statement to all the parties the Alliance said unless there is fundamental change, the gap between the need for disability services and their availability will grow.
The organisation says the reforms, including the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme, should create a system that is equitable, efficient, sustainable and based on self determination.
Executive Director of the National Disability and Carer Alliance, Kirsten Deane, says the Alliance is pleased that support for the National Disability Insurance Scheme had now become bi-partisan and welcomed the attention given to the needs of people with a disability, their families and carers during this federal election.
Deane says the National Disability Insurance Scheme will ensure that people finally get the same opportunities as everyone else in the community.
The National Disability and Carer Alliance was formed last year by National Disability Services, Carers Australia and the National Federation of Disability Organisations to pursue the structural and systemic changes necessary to improve the lives of people with a disability, their families and carers in this country.
View the responses from the major parties below….
– Australian Labor Party NDIS Statement
Unfortunately, the headline of this story is seriously false and misleading, and I would ask that you change it, because it cruelly gives false hope to several million Australians.
The major parties have committed to “seriously examining” the Productivity Commssion report next July, which may or may not recommend the introduction of an NDIS.
This is not the same thing as committing to an NDIS – as I hope you would agree.
Regards
Sue O’Reilly
I would like you to view all the responses – not just the major parties who have done little and still give no firm commitment to the actual implimentation of an NDIS. The Carers Alliance was formed by families fed up with the major parties ignoring the issues.
http://www.carers.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Party-positions-release-on-the-NDIS-2.pdf
Thanks for your comment. The headline is the exact wording used by the National Disability and Carer Alliance in a press statement issued earlier this week.