Multicap welcomes positive outcomes promised for people with disability in the Federal Government’s 2023-24 budget delivered this month.
Some highlights that will improve future systems and services for people with disability include:
- $732.9 million investment in the National Disability Insurance Agency
- increased funding in primary health care, such as funding for multidisciplinary teams in general practices (GP), urgent care centres and bulk-billing GPs
- increased and extended funding for Disability Support for Older Australians (DSOA)
- $3.7 million investment to progress the National Autism Strategy
- $57 million support for social enterprises with a focus on new employment opportunities and innovation, and the evolution of Australian Disability Enterprises to move forward from subsidised wages
- 31.4 million investment in the National Disability Data Asset.
Approximately 4.4 million people in Australia identify as having a disability. This funding will support them by enabling the delivery of outcomes planned in Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-31 and through better access to primary health services.
Multicap Chief Executive Officer (Services and Operations), Andrew Hanson said Multicap is pleased to see the government addressing some key areas in the budget such as DSOA, the National Autism Strategy and the supported employment sector.
“We have long acknowledged the gaps in funding for some of these programs, so it is encouraging to see these reflected in the budget,” said Andrew. “In particular, we are extremely supportive of the investment into the supported employment sector to increase workforce participation and employment opportunities.
“Multicap has proudly worked to remove the barriers to employment for our supported and assisted employees for more than 30 years. Over this time, we have seen first-hand the positive impact a decent job has on a person’s confidence and their sense of purpose,” he said.
“I am pleased to see the Government investing in the supported employment sector, which can make a transformative change not only to the individual, but to our communities in general.”
An area to watch is the projected savings from the NDIS of $74B over the next 10 years.
“Some of the ways we think savings may be achieved is to look at eligibility and the services they are funding, but we will find out more when the NDIS review is completed in October this year,” said Andrew.
Submissions to the NDIS Review are open until Friday 18 August 2023 can be made via the NDIS Review website.
For more information about Multicap’s services for people with disability, please visit our website.