Friday, May 3, 2013

Australia: National Disability Insurance Scheme Funding At Last


Australia: National Disability Insurance Scheme Funding At Last (Global Voices Online):

NDIS campaigning logo

(NDIS campaigning logo – Courtesy: Every Australian Counts)



On the trending twitter hashtag #NDIS, there have been lots of people prepared to pay the levy whether it’s really a tax or not. Weezmgk is amongst them:
‏@weezmgk: Show me a person who begrudges the 0.5% #NDIS levy & I'll show you a person who failed ‘sharing’ in kindy & never has learned the lesson.
RubyRainbow is not happy with the media meme that it has been all about political advantage:
‏@ColouredView: Most journalists simply cannot comprehend, let alone report, that the Govts support for an #NDIS may be because it's the right thing to do?
The OzPolitic forum has been busy discussing its merits. Its New NDIS Levy thread soon became a popular one. John Smith led off:
I personally don't mind paying a little extra for this type of service, especially if it can help a lot of my opponents on this forum, who will most likely complain about it.


The funding of a National Disability Insurance Scheme has been a political football in Australia. Legislation for the NDIS passed with unanimous support in March 2013. Both sides of politics had argued that it should be funded from general revenue. However, the opposition questioned whether the national budget could afford new spending.

On 1 May 2013, Prime Minister Julia Gillard opted for an increase in the Medicare levy instead. She threatened to make it a
key issue in the Federal election in September unless Opposition leader Tony Abbott agreed to pass legislation for the levy beforehand. He has relented and given it conditional support.

More

No comments:

Post a Comment