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May 1st, 2013 
IMPOSING a rise in the Medicare levy to pay for a national disability scheme will shield funding for the plan from the budget and election cycle, say disability advocates.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on Wednesday the annual Medicare levy would increase by half a percentage point to two per cent from July 2014, with the average worker paying $1 a day.
People with Disability Australia spokesman Craig Wallace said this would lock in funding for the more than 400,000 people with disabilities, their families and carers.
“It locks it in, it makes it perpetual and actually means there’s a secure underpinning of the scheme,” he told reporters in Canberra.
The federal government now plans to seek a mandate for the levy increase at the September election, so it can introduce legislation to parliament next year if it retains power.
Mr Wallace wants the legislation passed as soon as possible and has urged the opposition to say if it will support the plan or to explain how it will fund a national disability care plan.
He said the former Howard coalition government had a “rich history of levies” and dismissed calls from business groups and former treasurer Peter Costello to delay the care scheme until the federal budget was back in surplus.
“We had better days, we had the brighter days with the enormous surpluses under the Howard government,” Mr Wallace said.
“If we didn’t do it then, how are we going to do it now?”
Australian Medical Association Dr Steve Hambleton said Labor’s plan would give certainty to disabled Australians who had gotten a “raw deal” over many decades.
“It’s something that’s very popular with the Australian people, and individuals have said they are prepared to contribute,” he told reporters.
The Queensland Liberal National Party government said it would support Labor’s Medicare levy increase proposal.
Premier Campbell Newman, who was briefed by Ms Gillard on Wednesday morning, said disability care was an important social reform.
“I think it is the right thing to do,” he told 4BC Radio.
“We need to be grown up about this, Australians have said that they want this scheme – well, it has to be paid for somehow.
“So to that extent, I’m not going to knock the prime minister for making this decision.
“I think we need to at least support this, because it really is about providing the money that is required to fund this scheme.”
The ACT minority Labor government also gave its support, with Chief Minister Katy Gallagher saying it would provide certainty to long-term funding arrangements for the scheme.
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) said the plan would provide a much-needed safety net.
“We believe this is an incredibly modest investment in such an important piece of social infrastructure,” ACOSS chief Cassandra Goldie told reporters in Sydney.
Dr Goldie welcomed plans for the money to be put into a special fund for the scheme, now known as DisabilityCare Australia, which is expected to accumulate to $20 billion by 2018/19.
“Everybody can be confident that that money will be going towards DisabilityCare, and that that scheme will be there for you if you or your family experience a disability,” she said.
Announcing the plans on Wednesday, Ms Gillard said there would be “no free ride for states and territories” but Dr Goldie would not say where the states should find their contribution to the scheme.
“Obviously we’re watching what the states and territories say today,” she said.
But West Australian Liberal Premier Colin Barnett has baulked.
“We’re not going to sign up to a take-it or leave-it proposal,” he told ABC radio.
“Part of the federal government model is that they take over state funding and spend it out of Canberra and I don’t think that is going to be good for people with a disability in this state.”
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