Illawarra MPs Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones have welcomed the Illawarras entry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme from July 2017.

Labor established the NDIS to ensure that all people with disabilities had access to the services and equipment they need to lead full lives. It puts an end to Australias deeply unfair, inefficient and fragmented disability support services.

The Premiers of Victoria and New South Wales today signed funding agreements with the Commonwealth which set out how the scheme will be rolled out to 245,000 eligible people.

Australians who have a disability, their carers and their families have waited long enough. It is great news that Victoria and New South Wales have signed up to the scheme, it will transform the lives of so many people, Ms Bird said.

The agreements with these two states provide certainty to people in the Illawarra with a disability that the NDIS will be there for them. I would like to give a big thank you to the thousands of local people in the Illawarra who campaigned to make the NDIS a reality.

Stephen Jones said that the NDIS will be remembered as one of the great social policy investments in the nations history.

Labor designed and built the NDIS because we knew there were calls for change across Australia. The current disability system had been broken for some time and we said enough is enough.

It is a shame that this agreement didnt happen a year ago and it is time now for the new Prime Minister to finalise agreements with the remaining states and the Northern Territory. Every person in Australia with a disability should be able to benefit from the NDIS, regardless of their postcode.