VICTORIA'S position is clear on the National Disability Insurance Scheme: we need to start talking now about how it will be funded ("Disability plan stalls over cost demands", 13/2).
Without discussion and agreement between all Australian jurisdictions on funding, the federal government's promise of an NDIS risks amounting to nothing more than a cruel hoax on some of our neediest citizens.
The problem is that the federal government is flatly refusing to even start this discussion.
The Victorian government is working with the federal government on the details of the operation of the scheme. But we must also simultaneously discuss the elephant in the room, which is how this scheme will be funded.
To do any less would be an insult to those relying on us.
Mary Wooldridge, Victorian Community Services Minister, Melbourne, Vic