NDIS aka DisabilityCare

Remove this Banner Ad

Smiling Buddha

Smiling Buddha

Norm Smith Medallist
Suspended
Veteran Veteran
Oct 17, 2007
5,417
4,310
Cultural Marxist Utopia
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Very surprised this doesn't already have its own thread.

Pretty major news. For the country, those with disabilities (and their carers), and each and every taxpayer.

Not to mention a massive political 'win' for Gillard with a wedge straight of Howard's playbook.

Topic deserves its own thread now and into the future, so here it is.

NDIS aka DisabilityCare. What are you thoughts?
 
Smiling Buddha said:
Very surprised this doesn't already have its own thread.

Pretty major news. For the country, those with disabilities (and their carers), and each and every taxpayer.

Not to mention a massive political 'win' for Gillard with a wedge straight of Howard's playbook.

Topic deserves its own thread now and into the future, so here it is.

NDIS aka DisabilityCare. What are you thoughts?
Click to expand...

Political Win for Gillard, how so ? Wedged, again how ? Idiots like Shorten berating Abbott who agreed to support it with the proviso of some details being released while Abbott was on a charity ride for CarersAustralia ..... what playbook is that ?

Gillard has introduced a new tax which she promised she wouldn't. Plays into the perception she's wasted Australia's money.
Her new tax only covers 1/3 of the cost, where is the other 2/3 coming from ? How much are the states chipping in ? More taxes ? If not, which programs will be cut to support it ?

How many people are covered ?
What disabilities are covered ?
Is it means tested ? What ages are covered ?
How much will each person receive ?

So many questions that people want answered, but we have a Govt. that tried to play politics with the disabled. Pretty denigrating.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Banned
  • #3
0.5% extra tax is huge news, imo. For the average joe earning, say, $60k per year, there goes $300/yr. Just like that. Bang. Gone.

Personally I'm quite happy to pay more tax in order to provide extra resources for the disabled. * knows they and their carers have it way worse than me. What bothers me about it is that I feel the federal government already wastes so much money, I don't see why the ordinary citizen should have to cough up more when there are so many savings that could be made to find the money instead.

Of course, the 0.5% tax hike ('levy', lol) doesn't even cover the total costs of the scheme. Not even close. That money will have to come from general revenues when the budget is already in a structural deficit. If you can't see a problem here, I can't help you. The Medicare 'levy' doesn't come close to covering the cost of Medicare and now we have another huge structural expenditure item on the books which isn't covered. Eisch.

On the politics side of it, though, I have to say 'well done' to Gillard. Perfect wedge tactic and Abbott fell right into the boobytrap. Good luck finding budget surpluses now, buddy. The ALP can forever claim to have done the right thing by introducing DCare, while Abbott will have to cop the financial flak for its first years of operation.

But what could Abbott do other than go along with it? Allow it to become an election issue? Not when he is on a good thing playing small target.

Problem is that now he has agreed to yet another 'big new tax' - to go with his paid maternity leave scheme - blunting one of his major criticisms of the Gillard government.

And he has also shown his hand. Not willing to stand up and fight a wedge. How long until the ALP make gay marriage an election issue? It'll happen is my bet.

He is still a likely thing for PM but with several months to go, one wonders whether the Mad Monk might have used up all of his nitro too early in the race.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Smiling Buddha said:
On the politics side of it, though, I have to say 'well done' to Gillard. Perfect wedge tactic and Abbott fell right into the boobytrap. Good luck finding budget surpluses now, buddy. The ALP can forever claim to have done the right thing by introducing DCare, while Abbott will have to cop the financial flak for its first years of operation.
Click to expand...

New Governments are quite adept at projecting issues and problems on old Governments.

The ALP may well claim to anyone who will listen their moral superiority (it might even help them look themselves in the mirror after six years of political shambles) but the financial legacy of their programs and ideas will be their cross to bear.
 
Don't like the idea of another huge bureaucracy in Canberra running programs for individuals who need individualised services and choice in service. State disability agencies should be left to run the ndis (with oversight and funding from a federal agency) rather than the federal government.

People who have worked with the Feds will likely know what I mean when I say they are fukn clueless about anything outside of Canberra.

Other than that, good idea and I'm glad it's been given bipartisan support.
 
In favor of the extra funds ,home carer's have been providing cheaper care for the government as the cost of providing facilities and services is prohibitive ,the main complaint from carer's seems to be the lack of facilities and services if the private sector supplies these the cost will go up and up much like pre schools ,the ndis will then be spent on supplying services for profit
 
Smiling Buddha said:
Surprised by the lack of interest in this topic.

An extra 0.5% of your income is gone every year.

An extra $Xb will have to be spent from general revenues every year.

Regardless of who wins the election.
Click to expand...
most people have become accustomed to this governments policies I guess.

I just see it as another tax I'm having to pay.
 
stormee said:
People who have worked with the Feds will likely know what I mean when I say they are fukn clueless about anything outside of Canberra.
Click to expand...
And likely to hijack it as much as possible to divert spending to services provided by party donors. States wouldn't do it much differently.

You can bet there are a whole bunch of silver-haired corporate types salivating over this new river of gold.

But sometimes you have to cop a bit of theft to get things done.
 
Smiling Buddha said:
Surprised by the lack of interest in this topic.

An extra 0.5% of your income is gone every year.

An extra $Xb will have to be spent from general revenues every year.

Regardless of who wins the election.
Click to expand...

It was discussed quite a bit in another thread, can't remember which one nor will I be looking for it.

Whether or not it was a thread specifically on this issue I can't remember, was quite a good discussion though.
 
stormee said:
Don't like the idea of another huge bureaucracy in Canberra running programs for individuals who need individualised services and choice in service. State disability agencies should be left to run the ndis (with oversight and funding from a federal agency) rather than the federal government.

People who have worked with the Feds will likely know what I mean when I say they are fukn clueless about anything outside of Canberra.

Other than that, good idea and I'm glad it's been given bipartisan support.
Click to expand...

This.
It needs to be state run.

The states actually have the existing systems in place to run it.
 
The Reaper said:
This.
It needs to be state run.

The states actually have the existing systems in place to run it.
Click to expand...

In the case of WA we have the best system going around.

As someone with a parent in permanent disability care I'm glad Barnett hasn't signed up yet.
 
Barnett is being pig-headed and arrogant if he doesn't sign up.

It would be my hope that anyone with a genuine mental or physical disability qualifies for this and that I would think everyone would be glad to support those who can't support themselves.

And that includes those who suffer things like autism and aspergers - these disabilities don't get the same coverage as others. But, there is a growing number of people who unfortunately suffer from both.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

pazza said:
Barnett is being pig-headed and arrogant if he doesn't sign up.

It would be my hope that anyone with a genuine mental or physical disability qualifies for this and that I would think everyone would be glad to support those who can't support themselves.

And that includes those who suffer things like autism and aspergers - these disabilities don't get the same coverage as others. But, there is a growing number of people who unfortunately suffer from both.
Click to expand...

I get your broad sentiments, but you need more than sentiments to make this work.

The reality is that the disability service commission in WA does outstanding job, they are easy to deal with, provide direct assistance if necessary, they in line with other state services, and you can't compare it with dealing with federal department of human services.

The funding gap in my mothers case is very small and id love this extended to more people.
 
EasternHills said:
I get your broad sentiments, but you need more than sentiments to make this work.

The reality is that the disability service commission in WA does outstanding job, they are easy to deal with, provide direct assistance if necessary, they in line with other state services, and you can't compare it with dealing with federal department of human services.

The funding gap in my mothers case is very small and id love this extended to more people.
Click to expand...

Add to that WA only gets 300 mil. Why get the federal government involved for such a small amount?

The 5 billion NSW got on the other hand....
 
Disabilty care is riddled with overworked under skilled workers who've mostly lost sight of the people. Fraud of gov grants /programs is rife. Bullying by workers towards clients is a massive problem.

This won't change much for the disabled, just introduce a better class of villain into the system while improving the conditions of some workers and easing budget pressures.
 
I'm not against the NDIS but I don't think cutting funding to GP's which will lead to people having to pay more money out of pocket to see the doctor is the best way to go about funding it.

DOCTORS will be hit with a freeze on Medicare service charges with the Gillard government aiming to save $1.5 billion over four years to help fund its DisabilityCare program.
GPs' indexation of what they are paid under the Medicare Benefits Scheme will be capped at $36 a visit, with doctors expected to absorb the cost and fund Labor's electoral pillar of DisabilityCare, previously known as the national disability insurance scheme, in a plan expected to be announced in today's budget.
But Australian Medical Association president Steve Hambleton warned last night the steps would lead to a decline in the use of bulk billing, under which doctors are paid the Medicare rate directly by the government and patients are left with no additional costs for a GP visit, and adversely affect older Australians. And if doctors chose not to absorb the higher costs the measure could ultimately lead to higher out-of-pocket expenses for patients.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...-for-15bn-saving/story-fnhi8df6-1226641583132
Click to expand...
 
Smiling Buddha said:
Personally I'm quite happy to pay more tax in order to provide extra resources for the disabled. **** knows they and their carers have it way worse than me.
Click to expand...

This

Smiling Buddha said:
What bothers me about it is that I feel the federal government already wastes so much money, I don't see why the ordinary citizen should have to cough up more when there are so many savings that could be made to find the money instead.
Click to expand...

But way more this. If you scrapped horseshit like the FHOG, baby bonus, FTB A/B etc. you could probably pay for the NDIS a few times over.
 
stormee said:
Don't like the idea of another huge bureaucracy in Canberra running programs for individuals who need individualised services and choice in service. State disability agencies should be left to run the ndis (with oversight and funding from a federal agency) rather than the federal government.

People who have worked with the Feds will likely know what I mean when I say they are fukn clueless about anything outside of Canberra.

Other than that, good idea and I'm glad it's been given bipartisan support.
Click to expand...

oh god

I am all for NDIS but I thought they were going to hand over the funds to roll out the services?

ahhhh....pink bats of the disabilities industry here we come
 
This is how much the Opposition care about NDIS:

1_spparly15-20130515100001785147-620x349.jpg

Julia Gillard introducing the Medicare Levy to fund DisabilityCare - 15/5/13
 
yibbida said:
This is how much the Opposition care about NDIS:

1_spparly15-20130515100001785147-620x349.jpg

Julia Gillard introducing the Medicare Levy to fund DisabilityCare - 15/5/13
Click to expand...

Yeah because when you introduce a bill like this a few hours after releasing budget papers that the opposition hasn't yet seen or had time to analyse, you'd expect to get a heap of them there in the chamber...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top