NDIS architect tapped to help steer review of $30bn scheme

The Canberra Times understands the federal government has tapped Bruce Bonyhady to co-chair a panel running the review, which is expected to be announced as early as this week.

Labor went to the federal election promising to review the design, operation and sustainability of the NDIS, as part of a plan to "defend and fix" a scheme it claimed had been undermined by the Coalition.

Professor Bonyhady is considered one of the fathers of the NDIS, having served as its inaugural chairman and steered the panel which advised the Productivity Commission on the 2011 report which led to its creation.

Now the executive chair and director of the Melbourne Disability Institute, he played an influential role in the campaign to sink the former Coalition's government's attempt to subject NDIS participants to independent assessments, describing the proposal as a "disgrace" which would "blow up the vision" for the scheme.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten's office would not comment on the timing of the review's announcement or Professor Bonyhady's possible appointment when contacted by The Canberra Times.

However, multiple sources with knowledge of those details have confirmed the appointment.

Almost a decade after it was established under the Gillard government, there is a growing consensus that the NDIS has become plagued with problems.

The scheme's surging cost has become a major talking point ahead of the October 25 budget, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers listing it as one of the major spending pressures on the Commonwealth.

The scheme is forecast to cost about $33.8 billion this financial year, growing to $44.5 billion in 2025-6, according to figures from the Morrison government's final budget in March.

Mr Shorten has discussed the terms of reference for the new review with state and territory disability ministers in recent months.

Ministers agreed to focus the review on the design, operation and sustainability of the scheme, and on "building [a] more responsive and supportive market and workforce", minutes from a July 29 meeting showed.

Another focus of the review could be the dearth of the support for the roughly four million Australians who are disabled but are ineligible for the insurance scheme.

Professor Bonyhady has long been concerned that the NDIS is an "oasis in the desert", in which there is support for the 530,000 participants on the scheme but little help for those outside it.

The prevalence of fraud in the NDIS, the running of the National Disability Insurance Agency and the role of the states and territories, which co-fund the scheme, also loom as possible areas of focus for the review.

It will be the most significant probe into the scheme since David Tune's 2019 review of the NDIS Act, which the former government used to justify the controversial independents assessments plan.

Mr Shorten, who is also considered one of the architects of the NDIS, has tried to put his stamp on the scheme after taking on the portfolio following Labor's federal election win.

He has shaken up the agency's senior leadership, with champion wheelchair racer and high-profile disability advocate Kurt Fearnley appointed as board chair.

A new taskforce headed by former Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes has also been established to help reduce a massive backlog of NDIS cases in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The Canberra Times contacted Professor Bonyhady for comment.

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