Qld inks disability deal with Gillard

May 8th, 2013

Peter Nolan

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman knelt beside Anthony Kinnear in his wheelchair and asked what DisabilityCare meant for him.

“Freedom,” he replied.

“We are not a minority. We are something that can happen to anyone at any time.”

The 20-year-old student has cerebral palsy and will be one of 97,000 Queenslanders who will benefit after Mr Newman inked a deal with Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Brisbane on Wednesday.

DisabilityCare, formerly the National Disability Insurance Scheme, will be rolled out in Queensland from 2016 and will be in full operation in five years.

By 2019/20 Queensland will provide $2 billion and the federal government $2.1 billion to cover the cost of care and support for people with disability.

Despite initially not wanting to stump up for the program, Mr Newman is now “thrilled and delighted” about the rollout.

He has been painfully conscious of the need to improve disability services after a close relative suffered a brain injury and needed permanent care.

“I say to the people who are here today that have disabilities and their friends and families: Congratulations, you have fought the good fight, you have convinced your fellow Australians and Queenslanders of the need to do something better than we’ve done before.”

Mr Newman flagged Queensland’s willingness to have a trial site but said the details needed to be worked out.

Ms Gillard told the gathering at Autism Queensland’s headquarters that there had been amazing steps forward in the past fortnight.

“For so long in Australia people with disabilities have had to put up with an underfunded and fragmented system,” she said.

Queensland’s decision means about 386,000 Australians with disabilities, or close to 90 per cent of the total, will have coverage.

Only Western Australia and the Northern Territory are yet to join the scheme.

Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett said there was still time for the state to negotiate terms.

“I don’t think a pre-election environment is a good time to be debating this,” he told Fairfax radio.

NDIS