Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Queensland signs on to NDIS

Queensland has signed on to the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS), with Premier Campbell Newman declaring it a "historic day" for the state and a victory for disability campaigners.

Mr Newman made the announcement with Prime Minister Julia Gillard at Autism Queensland's headquarters in Brisbane today.

The deal leaves Western Australia and the Northern Territory as the only jurisdictions yet to sign on.

The scheme, which is now known as DisabilityCare, will cost the state $1.9 billion over the next decade and provide support for 97,000 people.

With Queensland on board, almost 90 per cent of Australians will be covered by DisabilityCare.

Mr Newman congratulated disability campaigners who have fought for the the scheme, saying they have "fought the good fight".

"It's a fair comment to say that as you look across the nation I don't think you will find too many families where somebody doesn't have a close relative or a close friend that is affected by a disability," he said.

"Throughout this whole debate I've been painfully conscious from a personal perspective of the needs of people with disabilities and particularly what it means to families to have to care for somebody, a close relative, in such circumstances."

Ms Gillard said the scheme will provide "practical, real-world solutions" for people with disabilities and their families.

"Here, particularly in Queensland, people have felt those stresses and strains," she said.

"People with disabilities, their families, their carers, their friends, their loved ones have for a long period of time now asked us as a nation to do better. For too long their voices went unheard."

"This will make a difference to almost 100,000 people in Queensland for severe disabilities.

"This is a big thing to do. It's also a costly thing to do and so as two governments we've had to work together to put the money together to make this happen."

No comments: