NDIS Minister Bill Shorten secures backing of premiers for controversial disability scheme plan

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has struck a deal with premiers across Australia that locks in their support for contentious laws to start overhauling the troubled scheme.

The backing of the States is a boost for Mr Shorten on the eve of a crunch Senate vote on the legislation.

Premiers — including WA’s Roger Cook — had urged the Federal Government to hold off on a planned overhaul of the NDIS to curb spiralling costs amid fears the first tranche of legislation could lead to “worse outcomes” for people with disabilities.

The Bill includes a raft of measures to contain costs including stopping automatic top-ups to participant budgets and restricting what items and services can be purchased with NDIS funding.

The States also have serious concerns about funding the revamped scheme, which will include an entirely new system of “foundational supports” for disabled people who fall outside the NDIS.

While the crucial question of costs remains up in the air, premiers have agreed to endorse the Bill after negotiating a series of changes to how the scheme operates.

Under one amendment, changes to major rules governing the NDIS can be made after agreement from a majority of States and Territories — rather than all of them.

A new process to escalate disputes directly to premiers will also be set up.

“I just say to people with disability and participants ... the States and the Federal Government are getting their act together, and that people with a disability and NDIS participants are not a political football,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Parliament House.

The Coalition is still negotiating with Labor on amendments but is expected to support the legislation when it is brought to a vote on Thursday, ending a months-long impasse that Mr Shorten claims has cost taxpayers more than a $1 billion.

More to come.