An expert panel unveiled for the NDIS

As this is a National scheme, which will be legislated by the national government, and will likely feature prominently in the next national election campaign, I hope that the “bit more tax” required to fund it will be collected nationally and that the scheme will be fully nationally funded. That would be the best way of ensuring the ongoing financial viability of the scheme (with most state and territory budgets already under serious pressure), and for the little land-locked island known as the ACT, it would spare us a repeat of the growing problem we have of providing health services for residents of surrounding NSW, with inadequate compensation for that.

I will be surprised if any federal politicians have the courage to do it, but if ever there was a good excuse to increase and/or widen the coverage of the GST, this is probably it – with the resultant revenue dedicated (“hypothecated” for those who like the sound of that word) to the NDIS. Done this way, and with full federal funding and financial control, the federal government wouldn’t need to worry about naughty state and territory governments siphoning the funds off for less worthy purposes (and thus wouldn’t need to employ federal bean counters to keep an eye on them).