Thousands of Canberrans with disabilities would benefit from an additional $192 million in funding, as part of the federal government's 0.5 per cent increase to the Medicare levy.
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The long-awaited funding announcement on Wednesday morning has been made a major election issue after the Prime Minister revealed it would be put to the Parliament after the election in September.
The fund, which would be used solely for disability care, contains a major sweetener for those states yet to sign up for the program, with up to 25 per cent of the money to be available to states in the form of grants to help the states contribution to the scheme.
But the move to wait until after the election has prompted a prominent ACT disability advocate to call on federal Parliament to pass laws to lock in the increase prior to September.
Christina Ryan, general manager of Advocacy for Inclusion, said she was concerned the government's announcement of an increase in the Medicare levy would spark a divisive pre-election debate.
Ms Ryan urged the government to legislate immediately for the 0.5 per cent increase to boost the chances that it would go ahead regardless of the election result.
''There's a great deal of nervousness about the fact that the scheme might not go ahead at all, or that it might be delayed, or that it might be changed fundamentally so that it doesn't actually support people in the way that we hope that it will,'' she said.
''It's actually very concerning that the government's done this. I'm quite disappointed.
''I think if they can announce this now as a lead-up to the budget in a couple of weeks then it would actually be preferable to see it as part of the budget bills and put it through with the budget so that it is actually locked in and we know that the future of the NDIS is assured. It is by no means assured if we're waiting until after the election.''
Ms Ryan said there appeared to a view in some sections of the Liberal party that the NDIS should be delayed until the federal budgetary position improved. She said people with disabilities needed bipartisan support for the scheme.
''We don't want this turning into an election bunfight. We want this to be a bipartisan issue that doesn't have politics involved,'' she said.
Ms Ryan said comments posted on social media indicated that many Australians without disabilities were willing to pay a higher Medicare levy to help fund the NDIS.
''There's a real sense that those of us with disabilities are being supported by everyone else towards this happening, which is marvellous,'' Ms Ryan said
The move to fund the scheme through a Medicare levy has been backed by ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, who said Julia Gillard's plan to raise the Medicare levy to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme was the right thing to do.
"Having signed up to be one of the first jurisdictions to see full implementation of the NDIS, the ACT is set to benefit from the funds made available through the levy which is expected to raise up to $192 million over a ten year period," the Chief Minister said.
"We support an extension of the Medicare levy by 0.5 per cent which will deliver full implementation of the NDIS in the ACT because it is the right thing to do.
"It means that around 5,000 Canberrans will be extended the support they need, and allow them to access funds needed to meet the costs associated with the needs relating to their disability.
The ACT signed up to full implementation of the NDIS last month and is already a "launch site" for the scheme.
The government said Australians earning incomes of $70,000 a year would be asked to pay about $1 a day in an extra Medicare levy to fund the insurance scheme, which will come into effect on July 1, 2014.
