The Prime Minister Julia Gillard MP will ask voters to decide on whether they support an increase to the Medicare levy to fund DisabilityCare.
The Leader of the Coalition, Tony Abbott MP, who supports DisabilityCare, is unsure whether a levy would cover the full cost of the scheme and wants the Government to introduce legislation before the election due in September.
The Prime Minister announced that if elected in September 2013, a Labor Government would move to increase the existing Medicare levy from 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent on a person’s taxable income from 1 July 2014 to help fund DisabilityCare.
For someone earning $70,000 a year, this extra amount would be less than $1 a day. The Government has said that low income earners would continue to receive relief from the Medicare levy through the low income thresholds for singles, families, seniors and pensioners. Current exemptions from the Medicare levy would also remain in place, including for blind pensioners and sickness allowance recipients. The levy is expected to raise $20 billion between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
The Coalition, led by The Hon. Tony Abbott MP, supports the introduction of DisabilityCare and is considering options on how to fund it should the Coalition win office at the election which is due this coming September.
The Coalition has called on the Prime Minister to change Medicare by introducing legislation before the election. The Hon Tony Abbott said, “I think it really is incumbent on the Prime Minister to now tell us exactly where the rest of the money is coming from… and if she can't tell us where the rest of the money is going to come from, what will be left out? Will people with vision impairment be left out? Will people with autism be left out? To what extent will a mobility assistance be included in the scheme and so on? … Well, I am very happy to see a National Disability Insurance Scheme in legislation in this Parliament. Why not? Why not? Let's get it into the Parliament and let's deal with it in this term of Parliament.”
The Federal Budget is due on 14 May 2013 and further announcements and developments are likely to take place.
More information:
- The Prime Minister’s media release
- The Leader of the Coalition’s media comments on the proposed levy