There are growing question marks over the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, as the federal government seeks advice from the agency responsible for delivering it.
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Labor and the Greens are convinced that the Coalition is setting the scene to tinker with the "most fundamental social policy reform since Medicare" as it heads towards a full national roll out by 2019.
Assistant Minister for Social Services Mitch Fifield said that while the government would "deliver the NDIS in full", it was seeking advice about "time lines" for the scheme from the board of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
KPMG is assisting with the advice, which is expected back to government in the coming months.
NDIS board chairman Bruce Bonyhady said the board wants to ensure the $22.2 billion scheme is introduced as quickly as it can but also ensure it is "sustainable", given the huge scope of the reform.
As of July, trials will have started for the NDIS in all states and territories but Queensland, with the full roll out due to begin from 2016 and finish by 2019.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament last week that "we are not delaying the roll out" of the NDIS. But, when asked if he stood by his comment, Mr Abbott's office directed Fairfax Media to a news conference he gave on Monday, where he said, "in the end, what's important is getting it right rather than rushing it".
The government has repeatedly noted that Labor brought forward the trialling of the scheme by one year.
The Prime Minister's comments follow a warning from Treasurer Joe Hockey this week that he faces a "tsunami of expenditure" on programs including the NDIS.
"Potentially, if we don't get on top of the proper management of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, not only would it not be sustainable but it could end up as big a farce as the pink batts program or the $900 cheque program," he told ABC Radio on Monday.
Labor's disability spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said that the government was building a "dishonest" case to make cuts to or delay the NDIS.
"People with disability have been waiting forever," she said.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert is similarly concerned about a cut or delay.
"You can't help but get the sense that's what they're trying to do," she said.
Last month, Senator Fifield released a report into the capabilities of the NDIA, which had been commissioned by the board.
The report likened the NDIA to a "plane that took off before it had been fully built". It found issues such as an IT system that was "not fit for purpose" and a "lack of clear guidance for staff on the way the scheme operates".
