The Australian economy is literally disabled

Friday 16 August 2019

Yesterday’s good jobs number had me wondering again just how big is the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and associated spending. There is still a mystery in national accounts data over why GDP is so poor but jobs growth still solid and one answer may be welfare spending.

There is a boom underway from a total spend of roughly $150b in 2015/16:

Ramped up to $200b in 2022/23:

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.