RICK MORTON, Social Affairs reporter
The future of the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme has been thrown into crisis after as many as 2000 people with serious mental health conditions and disabilities were shut out of the program in the ACT, the first jurisdiction to fully adopt the new model.
The territory scheme reached its “target” of 5075 clients within hours of full rollout on September 30. Newly eligible people have been turned away and told to wait for a vacancy, which is typically only available when someone in the NDIS dies.
The ACT is a test case for what experts say is likely to happen when the scheme in other states reaches maturity in 2019-20.