Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Johnston, for your question. I notice in the gallery are Councillor Walsh from the City of Darebin and Councillor Mulholland from the City of Banyule, both of whom are very strong supporters of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Senator Johnston is correct: we recently released the latest quarterly report of the NDIS on 3 June, and there is good news. There are now over 13,000 participants in the NDIS. There has been $754 million committed to those individuals to ensure that they get the better deal that they deserve. That represents about 85 per cent of the numbers which are required in the bilateral agreements with the states and territories. That is up from 81 per cent in the last quarter. I can report that the average package cost is around $34,000, which is largely unchanged from last quarter, where it was about $35,000, and remains a little bit below the expected full scheme average of $36,000. That means that the NDIS's budget is pretty much on track. I should also indicate that satisfaction levels remain high amongst NDIS participants.

There were some important elements in the budget to support the NDIS. Obviously the government is absolutely 100 per cent committed to the scheme. The budget included an allocation of $695 million in the coming financial year for the NDIS. It also included $143 million to build the ICT system that the NDIS requires and also $20 million for an early rollout for kids in Western Sydney, which is terrific news.