Thousands of Illawarra families are celebrating today after Prime Minister Julia Gillard confirmed she would increase the Medicare Levy to pay for her government’s $14 billion national disability insurance scheme, a local disability advocate says.
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The Disability Trust’s information and advocacy manager Sean O’Neill said the government’s plan raise the levy from 1.5 to 2 per cent removed the final barrier stopping the ‘‘vital’’ NDIS from becoming a reality.
"This is such an exciting day for us in the industry and for people with a disability and their families," Mr O’Neill said.
‘‘The government has been talking about this for a long time and we have been sitting about saying ‘that’s great, but there’s not a lot actually happening'."
‘‘To finally say ‘right this is where the money is coming from and this is how it’s going to be paid for’, that’s what we have been holding our breath for.’’
Ms Gillard said her decision to raise the Medicare levy by 0.5 percentage points would mean Australians earning $70,000 a year would pay about one dollar a day extra.
She said this would give them ‘‘the peace of mind that will come with knowing there are support services for them or their families if they are ever to confront a disability in their lifetimes.’’
The new levy, which will come into effect on July 1, 2014 if Labor is re-elected in September, would raise about $3.2 billion a year - less than half the estimated $8 billion a year the federal government needs to fund the NDIS.
While Mr O’Neill said there would undoubtedly be some opposition to raising Medicare taxes, he said the national disability insurance scheme was a ‘‘vitally important piece of infrastructure to make Australia inclusive’’.
‘‘There will always be people who will grab an opportunity to look at the negative aspects of things... and there will be people who are genuinly opposed to paying more taxes,’’ he said.
‘‘But this is vital, it’s something they or their close family members could be affected by and it’s a small bite to swallow for such a great return.’’
He said the NDIS would bring about economic returns in the future by allowing more opportunities for people with disabilities.
‘‘Within a couple of years the runs will start to accumulate on the board, people [with disabilities] will be in work they will be paying more taxes and taking less pensions - so however we get it kicked off it will be very well rewarded in a couple of years,’’ he said.
He also noted that all Australians stand to benefit from the new levy.
‘‘[The NDIS] is a vital safety net for those of us that don’t have a disability but who are one bus accident or one wrong step away from having one,’’ he said.
‘‘And it’s not just you - if I was to have a disability my whole family would be impacted. Not just my wife and my two kids, but also my mum and dad, and my wife’s mum and dad.
‘‘And with people with a disability representing 18.4 per cent of the population, we’re not talking about a small part of the population.’’
