A blowout in National Disability Insurance Scheme costs and dire budget forecasts mean the Geelong-based agency will face cutbacks.
Treasurer Joe Hockey this week signalled a May budget filled with cuts with the NDIS high on the list.
The federal government’s budget update shows that, on current plans, the cost of the NDIS will rise from $2 billion in 2016-17 to almost $10 billion by 2019-20.
Demand for the scheme has risen considerably, outstripping original forecasts.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Government was committed to delivering the NDIS efficiently and cost-effectively.
He said efficiency and cost effectiveness was the key topic of discussion with the states carrying out the NDIS rollout.
Mr Hockey said even the NDIS pilot program suffered “a massive blowout in costs”.
He accused the former Labor government of “getting it all wrong” on the NDIS rollout.
The previous Labor government committed $14.3 billion over seven years to the NDIS in the 2012-13 budget.
The policy had bipartisan support and passed Parliament in May.
Opposition spokeswoman for families Jenny Macklin called on the Government to rule out cutting or slowing the rollout of the scheme.
She said there was no evidence the scheme was ineffective or inefficient.
