In brief
- Queensland is still refusing to sign onto a government plan called Thriving Kids.
- The plan would help the government shift NDIS spending to the states.
A plan to shift billions of dollars worth of NDIS spending to the states is snagging on one holdout jurisdiction as a minister also warns criminal gangs have penetrated the scheme.
Queensland is the only state or territory still refusing to take responsibility for autistic and developmentally delayed children with low-to-moderate support needs under the government's new Thriving Kids program.
States have agreed to chip in a combined $4 billion into Thriving Kids over five years, helping prop up Labor's sweeping efforts to curtail what it calls runaway NDIS spending.
But Canberra and Brisbane still appear divided on the issue despite the looming 1 October deadline for jurisdictions to sign up, angering Health Minister Mark Butler.
"I'm a little frustrated they haven't signed because all other states and territories, Liberal and Labor alike, CLP government in the NT has signed on," he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli was shirking a responsibility he had previously promised to accept, according to Butler.
"I can't imagine a Queensland government that, for the next 15 months, would sit on its hands and pretend it does not have a very serious obligation to follow the rest of the country," he said.
"Frankly (it should) implement commitments that the premier made at the National Cabinet meeting earlier this year."
Queensland was losing time to bring its Thriving Kids program online, according to Butler, with the state expected to take up development checks, support programs, workforce capability preparation along with a suite of other obligations under the new framework.
The state has reportedly raised red flags over insufficient assurances about the welfare of Queenslanders relying on the NDIS.
The stern rebuke from the minister comes the day after Australia's most important security partners were warned organised crime syndicates were feasting on government programs, in an address by NDIS minister and senator Jenny McAllister.
McAllister said the government had saved $2.1 billion through NDIS fraud crackdowns since 2022, before US, New Zealand, Canadian and British representatives in a Sydney meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partners.
On Wednesday, McAllister described the NDIS as having been a "very soft target" and nearly defenceless against criminal gangs.
"We have had to start almost from scratch," she told ABC Radio.
"I also want any would-be criminal to understand that if they see this scheme as a target, they can expect to receive a knock on the door from police."
McAllister highlighted a scheme believed to have defrauded the NDIS of more than $10 million from 2017 to 2021, perpetrated by a western Sydney criminal gang, the last of whose six members was jailed earlier this month.
Health professionals had been complicit in what the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission described as systemic rorting of the NDIS by organised crime in a separate review of the scheme's integrity conducted in April.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
