LABOR WILL SCRAP ARBITRARY NDIA STAFF CAP

A Shorten Labor Government will remove the Liberals’ arbitrary NDIA staff cap, freeing the agency up to make the best long-term decisions about how to deliver quality services to Australians with disability.  Last year the Productivity Commission recommended the staff cap be scrapped. Disability advocates have been calling for its abolition for years.  “Recommendation 11.3: The Australian Government should remove the cap on staff employed directly by the National Disability Insurance Agency.” [Productivity Commission, NDIS Costs Study Report, October 2017, p413]  The staff cap is a relic of Tony Abbott’s horror 2014 Budget and creates a perverse incentive to rely on contract staff and outsourcing, despite the NDIS being the biggest social reform since Medicare.  The staff cap has no impact on the NDIA’s overall funding level, which will not need to change with its removal.  In recent times, the NDIA has: Committed over $145 million for contract and temporary staff; Outsourced call centre functions to the multinational Serco – the equivalent of up to 380 full time jobs at a cost of $63 million over two years; and Spent over $61 million on consultants, in 2016-17 and 2017-18 alone. At the same time, the scheme’s rollout is currently behind schedule – the equivalent of over 46,000 people missing out on the NDIS.  People with disability have also faced massive plan review backlogs and have missed out on the essential supports they need.  “It’s time the Turnbull Government listened to the Productivity Commission and took the roadblocks out of the way of the NDIS,” Linda Burney said.  “People with disability need to be at the heart of everything the NDIS does – it exists to provide essential services, not line the pockets of multinationals.  “People with disability, their families and advocates have long been raising concerns about the staff cap – including delays and poor quality planning.  “NDIA staff work incredibly hard – and this arbitrary staff cap is just putting more unnecessary pressure on them.  “The staff cap creates a false economy, forcing the NDIA to rely on outsourcing and contractors, which is often more expensive,” said Senator Carol Brown.  “The cap makes it harder to develop a first-class public sector workforce with the outstanding skills in delivering disability supports that will be needed into the future.  “The staff cap isn’t the NDIA’s fault – this is the Turnbull Government’s policy, and it has to go”.