The Albanese government must wrestle back control of the levers which can contain the surging costs of the NDIS in order to "save" the scheme, a former Liberal NDIS minister has said.
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Linda Reynolds said Labor must also renegotiate all of the Commonwealth's funding agreements with the states and territories to make them share the load of the scheme's budget blowouts.
A spokeswoman for NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the new government would not take lectures from a "failed former Minister from the failed Liberal-National government, which neglected the NDIS for a decade".
In an opinion piece for ACM, the publisher of this masthead, Senator Reynolds said last month's federal budget showed the NDIS was "rapidly heading toward a financial cliff".
She said the scheme's cost over the forward estimates had blown out by more than $50 billion over the past three budgets.
After an $8.8 billion budget blowout was revealed in the October statement, Senator Reynolds said the cost trajectory meant it was "probable" that Mr Shorten would have to go cap in hand seeking a further $10 billon ahead of the next budget in May.
She said it was not too late to turn things around, but only if the Albanese government acted urgently on the only two reforms that could "save" the scheme.
The first act must be to amend the 2013 bill which established the NDIS to hand the Commonwealth control of the levers which can manage the scheme's cost drivers - ballooning participant numbers and rising payments per participants.
Senator Reynolds said, as the architects of the NDIS, Labor and Mr Shorten now found themselves trapped in a web of their own making after designing legislation which required the unanimous agreement of all states and territories before significant operational changes can be made.
"The 2013 NDIS legislation introduced by the Gillard Labor government, ensured the Commonwealth government had no control over the key drivers of cost growth - in this case, participant numbers and cost per participant," she wrote.
The former Coalition government faced furious resistance from Labor, the Greens and the disability community whenever it pushed for major changes to the scheme, such as the introduction of independent assessments for participants.
Senator Reynolds told ACM Labor "cynically campaigned" to defeat independent assessments, which she said would have made the scheme fairer and "more controllable". The states and territories also opposed independent assessments.
The Morrison government did secure some changes designed to improve participant experience in the final sitting week before the election. But Senator Reynolds said even those comparatively uncontroversial amendments took almost a year of talks with the then-Labor opposition and the states and territories to get across the line.
"It became clear to me then, that the wider legislative reforms required to save the scheme were impossible without bipartisan support in the Senate," she said.
In her opinion piece, which is being published as part of ACM's We need to talk about the NDIS series, the now Liberal backbencher claimed Labor would be afforded the bi-partisan support which had been denied to the Coalition.
Senator Reynolds said the Albanese government also must renegotiate the bi-lateral agreements signed with the states and territories as each transitioned to the scheme.
The nature of the deals means the federal government has been responsible for covering the budget blowouts.
The Commonwealth is now paying roughly 64 per cent of the scheme's cost, compared to the states and territories' 36 per cent share.
The federal government also covers the costs of running the agency in charge of the scheme.
Senator Reynolds said the states and territories must be made jointly responsible for the budget overruns, as the current arrangement meant there was no incentive for them to help get costs under control.
"The problems and solutions are already crystal clear," she said.
"For the survival of the NDIS, the Labor government must not delay urgent reforms. It is not too late, but the clock is ticking and Labor must start governing."
Mr Shorten's office blasted Senator Reynolds, accusing her of blaming others for her own failings and leaving the Labor government with a mess to clean up.
"During Senator Reynolds' doomed tenure as NDIS Minister, which ended just six months ago, she ran the scheme into the ground and traumatised Australians with a disability," his spokeswoman said.
We need to talk about the NDIS
Read more from the ACM series examining the future of the scheme:
- Australia, this is why we need to talk about the NDIS
- 'No longer sufficient': Former top cop's NDIS fraud warning
- Marcus 'needs to stay in his home': a mother's fight for her son
- 'Marking their own homework': Why Shorten rejected advice on NDIS review
- 'Like same-sex marriage vote': How NDIS costs debate is harming people with a disability
- Cost and benefits: The NDIS budget debate
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
