A taxpayer-funded overseas trip to Europe for politicians has been canned, with NDIS Minister Mark Butler conceding work to curb the ballooning cost of the scheme “should best be done … here in Australia”.
His comments follows reports in The Daily Telegraph that members of the Labor-dominated Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS were planning to send five members on a 10-day trip to the United Kingdom and Sweden.
The trip was set to canvas how overseas models deliver disability services and regulate providers, with Labor looking to reduce the scheme’s growth rate from 8 per cent to 5 or 6 per cent.
While Mr Butler said overseas study trips were a “pretty standard operation of the parliament,” he acknowledged work to bring the NDIS under control could be best done in Australia.
He also noted the government was “not involved in this decision” with funding for the trips determined by “presiding officers” like the Senate President Sue Lines or Speaker Milton Dick.
“There is lots of work that parliamentary committees – obviously, including this one – can do to assist the government in that task and that work should best be done, frankly, here in Australia,” he said.
“My understanding is that the NDIS committee has reflected on this question over the course of this morning, and will not be taking up that trip.”
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, committee members and the Coalition’s assistant NDIS spokesman Phil Thompson said the proposed trip was “out of step” with community expectations.
“I don’t think the NDIS committee should be travelling to the UK to go on some junket when there’s significant issues that need to be addressed and listened to here,” he said.
https://thewest.com.au/news/ndis-minister-mark-butler-confirms-proposed-ndis-study-tour-to-europe-axed-c-19895059
