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Labor's NDIS reform plan has hit a stumbling block in Queensland

SBS News - Latest ·
Labor's NDIS reform plan has hit a stumbling block in Queensland

A plan to shift billions of dollars worth of NDIS spending to the states is snagging on one holdout jurisdiction as a minister also warns criminal gangs have penetrated the scheme.

Queensland is the only state or territory still refusing to take responsibility for autistic and developmentally delayed children with low-to-moderate support needs under the government's new Thriving Kids program.

States have agreed to chip in a combined $4 billion into Thriving Kids over five years, helping prop up Labor's sweeping efforts to curtail what it calls runaway NDIS spending .

But Canberra and Brisbane still appear divided on the issue despite the looming 1 October deadline for jurisdictions to sign up, angering Health Minister Mark Butler.

"I'm a little frustrated they haven't signed because all other states and territories, Liberal and Labor alike, CLP government in the NT has signed on," he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

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Queensland Premier David Crisafulli was shirking a responsibility he had previously promised to accept, according to Butler.

"I can't imagine a Queensland government that, for the next 15 months, would sit on its hands and pretend it does not have a very serious obligation to follow the rest of the country," he said.

"Frankly (it should) implement commitments that the premier made at the National Cabinet meeting earlier this year."

Queensland was losing time to bring its Thriving Kids program online, according to Butler, with the state expected to take up development checks, support programs, workforce capability preparation along with a suite of other obligations under the new framework .

The state has reportedly raised red flags over insufficient assurances about the welfare of Queenslanders relying on the NDIS.

The stern rebuke from the minister comes the day after Australia's most important security partners were warned organised crime syndicates were feasting on government programs, in an address by NDIS minister and senator Jenny McAllister.

McAllister said the government had saved $2.1 billion through NDIS fraud crackdowns since 2022, before US, New Zealand, Canadian and British representatives in a Sydney meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partners.

On Wednesday, McAllister described the NDIS as having been a "very soft target" and nearly defenceless against criminal gangs.

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5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.sbs.com.au — the content belongs to SBS News - Latest.

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