Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently revealed the federal government's 2023-24 budget, covering disaster resilience, cost-of-living relief, disability support, and other areas.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has welcomed the federal government's commitment to improving outcomes for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants and ensuring the scheme's sustainability.
The budget committed a total of $910 million over four years to improve the NDIS and support and safeguard people with disabilities and the scheme. The budget includes $732.9 million to boost the NDIS's effectiveness and sustainability to improve capability, capacity, and systems to better support the scheme's participants.
“Reforming the agency which delivers the scheme and ensuring every dollar goes to NDIS participants is an important part of our strategy in the 2023-24 Budget to create more opportunities for more Australians and improve government services,” the federal government said, according to the NDIA.
The budget also includes other measures to support people with disabilities and the scheme.
“The commitments in this budget will ensure the NDIS is better prepared for the future,” the NDIA said. “The NDIS remains a scheme the nation should be proud of and one the government is committed to getting right. With these initiatives, we are paving the way for a better NDIS for people with disability today and those who may need the NDIS in the future.”
Actuaries Institute has welcomed the 2023-24 budget, describing it as a balance between the need to provide well-targeted cost-of-living relief for the most vulnerable people with fiscal restraint to contain inflationary pressures.
“This is a budget that provides extra support and delivers greater relief for those most in need, seeks to fund it responsibly, while not exacerbating inflationary pressures,” said Actuaries Institute president Naomi Edwards.
Actuaries Institute chief executive Elayne Grace has welcomed the across-the-board increase to the base rate of JobSeeker and the extension of the higher base rate to people aged over 55.
“The changes to JobSeeker are an important first step to stemming the growing inequality gap in Australia, which is at its highest point since the 1950s. As our Green Paper showed, big gaps in inequality have translated into poorer social outcomes for low-income households,” Grace said.
“We encourage the government to build on the suite of welfare reforms announced with further policy changes to the tax and transfer system, Age Pension means test, and superannuation to address equity issues. Continued investment in improved data collection, linkage, and modelling to support effective targeted government assistance would also be welcomed.”
In a recent statement, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has backed the federal government's 2023-24 budget, specifically funding for improving emergency early warning systems.
“With households grappling with cost-of-living pressures, reducing the physical risks to homes and communities is critical for taking pressure off insurance costs,” said ICA CEO Andrew Hall.
“We know that communities across the east coast are still recovering from the floods in 2022, which were the costliest in history, so it is welcoming to see the government continue its commitment to fund disaster resilience and measures to protect Australian communities from extreme weather.”
