NDIS FUNDING:
The Turnbull government and federal opposition are locked in an immovable stand-off over claims and counter-claims about funding for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Both sides of politics are refusing to budge as debate rages about whether savings generated from a raft of proposed welfare cuts should be tied to bankrolling the scheme.
Labor's claim:
"Back in 2013 the National Disability Insurance Scheme was fully funded. I was there in 2013 when Jenny Macklin outlined that we would increase the Medicare levy and we would make other savings." - Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
In the 2013/14 budget, the Labor government proposed to fund the scheme by making a suite of savings:
* Increasing the Medicare levy by half a percentage point was to raise $33 billion over a decade
* Other long-term savings, including tax increases and indexation of tobacco excise, were to raise $20.6 billion
* Changes to superannuation tax breaks were to raise $6 billion
* Private health insurance reforms were to raise $6.5 billion
Turnbull government claim:
"The single biggest myth that the Labor Party has sought to perpetuate from its years in office was that it fully funded the NDIS. It is simply untrue." - Social Services Minister Christian Porter.
The coalition argues Labor left a multi-billion dollar black hole in the NDIS, never properly explained how it would fund the scheme, and used some of money said to be dedicated to the scheme more than once.
* Labor left a $4.1 billion NDIS funding gap in 2019/20 which grows to more than $7 billion in 2028/29
* Some $2.4 billion in "other savings" in 2019/20 - the first full year of operation of the NDIS - were never meaningfully identified by Labor
* The savings were never dedicated to the NDIS and some were banked more than once as being both to pay for the scheme and for budget repair
* The government has identified $3 billion in welfare cuts to fill the funding gap
What variables weigh on NDIS funding?
* The budget deficit has doubled since the scheme was first costed.
* The Medicare levy increase hasn't raised as much revenue as anticipated, due in large part to record-low wages growth.
* The projected cost of the NDIS has blown out significantly.
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