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NDIS privatisation a betrayal: Labor

The agency responsible for rolling out the National Disability Insurance Scheme could be privatised by the coalition, federal Labor warns.

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Source: AAP


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A potential sell-off of the National Disability Insurance Scheme agency would betray disabled people and their carers, the federal opposition says.

During a senate inquiry on Wednesday, the chairman of the Abbott government's commission of audit, Tony Shepherd, refused to rule out recommending a sell-off of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which is tasked with rolling out the scheme.

The commissioners are due to meet with NDIS representatives this week.

Labor believes it is clear the government is considering a sell-off.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten on Thursday cautioned the government against politicising disability.

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"This idea that you should start selling off to the highest bidder a scheme, which is still being developed and implemented, it betrays hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities and their carers," he told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.

But the government says it has no plans to privatise or unwind the NDIS.

A spokeswoman for Disabilities Minister Mitch Fifield referred AAP to a statement from October last year which said the coalition would honour its agreements with the states to fully roll-out the scheme.

But the statement does say NDIA board may choose in the future to outsource some administrative functions through a competitive tender process.


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