Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Social Services. Will the minister update the House on how the government has devised a fair way to ensure the National Disability Insurance Scheme is fully funded? Is the minister aware of any alternatives?

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. As the member is well aware, the NDIS will come to benefit about 3,112 people in her electorate of Forrest. As the member also knows, the central achievement in the design of the NDIS is that, as an insurance scheme, it is available to each and every Australian who needs it—whether they are born with a disability or acquire a disability later in life—and irrespective of their financial circumstances. But, of course, it must be funded. And right now it is possible to give the absolute guarantee to all the Australians who could need it that the insurance scheme will be there for them and their families if those circumstances arise.

The reason why almost everyone agrees that the 0.5 per cent increase is the fairest way to fully fund the NDIS is that every Australian will benefit from the scheme. So every Australian who has a reasonable capacity to contribute can do so through the levy in a way that fairly represents that capacity. If you look, for instance, at a single person with an income of $28,000, to fill the funding gap they would be expected to pay $75 a year in 2019-20. A person on an income of $200,000 would be required to pay an extra $1,000. So a person with seven times more income would pay 13 times more to fill the gap.

Perhaps another way of looking at this is to look at what you get for that contribution. The scheme actuary estimates that, if somebody faced the challenge of multiple sclerosis in, say, their early 40s, that person would receive $1.5 million worth of support over the course of their life—that is, $1.5 million worth of assistance, care and dignity. So, whether that Australian contributed $75 to filling the gap or $1,000 to filling the gap, they would benefit to the tune of $1.5 million. That represents the best insurance policy that anyone anywhere in the world could ever hope for.

Members opposite are standing in the way of that happening. The only person standing in the way of that happening is the Leader of the Opposition. He will not take his own advice—and he certainly will not take the advice of the member for Grayndler—so how about he takes the advice of the member for Jagajaga? This is what she said about the 0.5 per cent increase: 'An increase in the Medicare levy, a dollar a day for the average earner, will ensure we can sustainably deliver disability care. We think it is a fair balance.' The only person who does not think it is a fair balance is the Leader of the Opposition; there is still time to help each and every Australian; there is still time to change your mind.