Rollout of the landmark national disability insurance scheme should "take as long as it takes" rather than meet a specific deadline, the Abbott government has been told.
At the same time, a key cross-bench senator has warned the NDIS could become a huge bottomless pit for taxpayers if the scheme goes from a good idea to a bad one.
In the strongest signal yet that the NDIS may not be fully implemented by 2018-19, the agency rolling out the scheme warns against building it up too quickly and allowing demand to out-strip supply.
Doing so risked driving up costs through inflation and lowering service quality.
"Nothing should be done to jeopardise the ultimate full success of the scheme just for the sake of meeting deadlines", agency chairman Bruce Bonyhady will tell the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
The only consideration in the mind of the board was to build the scheme right, for future as well as current generations, he said.
The Abbott government has said it will rely on the advice of the agency before making any changes to the rollout timetable, devised by Labor in government.
Mr Bonyhady says the board will recommend taking "as long as it takes" to build the $22 billion scheme that is operating trial sites around the country.
"The fairest thing we can do to help the Australians who need the NDIS is to get it right," he will say.
At the end of the March quarter the average package cost was $32,000 per person, below the projected average of $35,000.
So far 5400 people living in trial site areas have tailored support packages.
But not all aspects of the scheme are perfect, Mr Bonyhady will say, likening it to software releases.
"Each version of the NDIS offers improvements and NDIS 3.0 and each of its successors will be based on user experiences and further research."
Labor senator Sam Dastyari hopes the rollout timetable is maintained.
"Any attempts to roll it back, water it down and delay it, of course, are going to cause concern," he told reporters in Canberra.
But new Senate crossbencher David Leyonhjelm sees merit in a slow and steady approach.
"The danger is this will become a huge bottomless pit for taxpayers throwing money into it," the Liberal Democrat told reporters.
"If they don't get it right, it will go from being what everyone thought was a sound idea, to a very bad idea in practice."
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