PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has put disability care at the centre of her government's re-election strategy, announcing a tax rise to pay for Labor's new scheme.
But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott may try to thwart her ambition by agreeing to support legislation for her proposed hike in the Medicare levy in this parliamentary term.
Treasurer Wayne Swan says Labor will wait for the coalition's support because the government is unsure it can gain the backing of the Australian Greens and independent MPs for the levy.
Ms Gillard reversed her opposition to a tax hike on Wednesday, saying she would seek voter approval at the September 14 election to impose a 0.5 percentage point rise in the levy to fund DisabilityCare Australia.
The levy increase to two per cent would cost the average wage earner about $1 a day and go into a special fund that would collect about $20 billion by the time the disability scheme is fully operational in 2018/19.
Ms Gillard said Australians "embraced" a Labor request 30 years ago to pay a levy to fund the Medicare universal health scheme.
"I'm asking Australians to do the same thing with DisabilityCare," she told reporters in Melbourne.
Ms Gillard's change of heart follows a $12 billion drop in government revenue, pressures on state budgets, and disability-sector demands for a long-term funding source.
The levy would raise about $3.2 billion of the $8 billion annual cost of the scheme, with the remainder coming from federal budget savings and the states and territories. But there will be no changes to the disability support pension in the May budget.
The treasurer says the levy will fund around 60 per cent of the scheme at the end of 10 years with the shortfall to be paid for by cuts and savings in the budget.
Mr Abbott initially challenged the prime minister to bring on the legislation for the levy hike before parliament rises in June, but signalled the coalition would not offer immediate support.
But he later added he would have more to say on Thursday, paving the way for talks on the legislation, possibly to head off any criticism of the coalition's stance.
"I want everyone to know that the coalition wholeheartedly supports the national disability insurance scheme," Mr Abbott told reporters in rural Victoria.
"We want it to happen and we want it to happen in this term of government."
Mr Swan says the support of the Greens and independents for the proposed levy increase is not guaranteed.
"Let's see if we have that support, I don't know that," he told ABC television.
Ms Gillard says she doesn't want the scheme to turn into a "political plaything".
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey appeared to reject the levy proposal earlier on Wednesday, saying it would hurt business and damage consumer confidence.
"This levy is going to hit every household budget," he told ABC radio.
Ms Gillard concedes that asking households to pay more tax won't be easy, but the government believes most will agree that a universal scheme is needed for Australians born disabled or who become so later in life.
The disability care scheme will be launched in parts of South Australia, NSW, Tasmania, Victoria and the ACT in July 2014, but only NSW has signed up to a full state-wide launch from 2018.
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