Fri Sep 6

Bill Shorten’s greatest legacy is the NDIS. It transformed the lives of people like me with disability

Written by George Taleporos, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University

Bill Shorten is resigning from politics in February next year. Throughout his 17 years ^[1] in parliament, no achievement stands out more than his role in the creation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

As a person with a severe physical disability, my life, like that of so many others in Australia, has been transformed by the NDIS. It has enabled me to live independently with the support I need to have a good life. Because of the NDIS, I can work full-time and contribute to my community.

Without the NDIS, I doubt I would still be alive.

Before the NDIS, we were powerless

Before the NDIS, life was very different ^[2]. Support was fragmented ^[3], varying greatly depending on where you lived and how you acquired your disability. With an unsustainable reliance on family members and with service providers holding all the power, it was hell for many of us.

For years, we were calling for reasonable and necessary support and for choice and control over our lives. But no one was listening.

Turning an idea into reality

Shorten’s role in establishing the NDIS began when he served as parliamentary secretary for disability in the Rudd/Gillard government.

The original idea was grounded in the recognition that Australia needed a national approach to provide reasonable, equitable support for people with disabilities. Such a universal system would provide people with disabilities choice and control over our lives.

The original idea was based on people with disabilities controling their own care. Alan Porritt/AAP ^[4]

To make this happen, he skilfully garnered bipartisan support, recognising early on that the NDIS had to rise above political divisions. His ability to frame the scheme as a moral and practical necessity helped secure the backing of both sides of politics, ensuring its passage through parliament in 2013 ^[5].

Public support was equally crucial, and Shorten worked with advocates, communities and the media to build a broad coalition that saw the NDIS as a necessary step forward. This included convincing Australian taxpayers of the necessity to increase the Medicare levy ^[6] from 1.5% to 2% of taxable income in 2014 to pay for the scheme.

The NDIS was the first scheme of its kind in Australia, shifting from welfare-based support to a rights-based approach, where people with disabilities could access personalised services based on their individual needs and aspirations.

In a political landscape often filled with promises and inaction, Shorten not only had a vision but also the determination to make it happen. By providing individualised funding packages to Australian’s with permanent and significant disability, the NDIS shifted power and control from service providers and government, to people with disabilities.

Here I am with Linda Burney and Bill Shorten at an NDIS forum in Melbourne in 2019. Darren England/AAP ^[7]

Containing costs

When Shorten became Minister for the NDIS in 2022, he initiated a 12-month review ^[8] of the NDIS. This concluded the NDIS was on an unsustainable trajectory and recommended needs assessments and tighter controls over scheme costs.

In opposition, Shorten had been a fierce critic ^[9] of independent assessments, which were proposed by the former government to contain the costs of the scheme. However, in government, Shorten spoke about the need for financial sustainability in the NDIS, supporting stricter oversight on how funds were spent.

The once passionate critic of government efforts to reduce spending on the NDIS was now arguing for more stringent controls. It seemed the pressure to keep a lid on the growing costs of the scheme had led Shorten to adopt some of the measures he had once opposed.

With the recent passage of legislation, Shorten has made significant changes to the NDIS, aimed at addressing scheme sustainability, but these reforms have sparked concern among participants ^[10].

One of the key changes is the introduction of NDIS support lists ^[11] that would narrow how NDIS funds can be spent. Though Shorten has positioned these changes as necessary to provide clarity on how NDIS funds can be used, the impact on participants could be a loss of flexibility and greater difficulty in accessing the personalised services we need to live our lives.

Shorten’s work in establishing the NDIS will be remembered as a turning point for the disability rights movement in Australia. I know that his work in government has transformed the lives of countless Australians with disabilities, including my own, and for that I am truly grateful.

While his recent reforms haven’t always fully reflected the concerns of our community, his commitment to ensuring the future of the scheme cannot be denied.