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5.13am BST
We are expecting to hear later this afternoon from prime minister Scott Morrison, who the ABC says is in Darwin for a defence announcement.
5.00am BST
Labor’s NDIS spokesman, Bill Shorten, says he believes “Australians probably wouldn’t think†it “appropriate†that the scheme funds sex worker services as a reasonable and necessary support.
Asked at the National Press Club on Wednesday if he agreed with the former minister Stuart Robert, who has begun moves to ban the supports from being funded, Shorten questioned the Coalition MP’s motives but also suggested it was outside community expectations.
He accused Robert of using a federal court case that ruled the support could be funded by the scheme as a “stalking horseâ€.
Shorten said:
What they want to do is the minister and the agency want to have the power to wind back the range of matters that people can seek funding on. Now, ultimately, do I think that service is sustainable? Maybe not. No.
But what I don’t accept is that the government just really wants to use a couple of examples, cherrypick one or two examples out of 433,000 participants, and justify wholesale cuts to the system. Let’s call a spade a spade.
