Transcript – Radio 6PR Perth – 9 August 2012

Radio 6PR Perth

With Howard Sattler

9 August 2012

3.20pm

E & OE

HOWARD SATTLER:

I think it’s an indictment of our political system that the disabled in this country have become the subject of a political football match. We’re talking about the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which had state and federal governments at each other’s throats, and then some people saying we’ll go along with it, others said they wouldn’t. Liberal states saying no we won’t go along with it and then changing their minds midstream, realising you can’t beat up on the disabled. Well visiting us here in Perth trying to sort us out is Senator Mitch Fifield, Shadow Minister for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector. Hello Mitch.

MITCH FIFIELD:

Good afternoon Howard.

HOWARD SATTLER:

Well it is a pretty shocking indictment that this has begun part of a political to-and-fro, isn’t it?

MITCH FIFIELD:

It shouldn’t be a political issue Howard, and that was the great disappointment of the Premiers Conference. That despite the fact the premiers came with enormous goodwill and money on the table, Julia Gillard sought to turn this into a political issue. She misrepresented the states by saying that they weren’t prepared to put money into an NDIS, which wasn’t true. The states said that they were prepared to put all the money they currently spend on disability into the NDIS pot, but Julia Gillard sought to misrepresent the states. She was more interested in beating the conservative premiers around the head than she was at bringing a cooperative approach to bear.

HOWARD SATTLER:

And then some days later some states said we will go along with it. Why did they do that?

MITCH FIFIELD:

New South Wales and Victoria were always keen to have NDIS launch sites, even before the COAG meeting.

HOWARD SATTLER:

What is a launch site by the way, just explain it to people. What do you mean by launch sites?

MITCH FIFIELD:

The Productivity Commission, who have done the work on the NDIS, recommended that there be some regional launch sites covering about 20,000 people, kicking off the NDIS in 2014. And after the lessons that we’ve learnt from those sites about eligibility issues and finetuning, then the NDIS would be rolled out to the rest of the nation. So it was always the idea that there be three or four launch sites and Victoria and New South Wales and Western Australia, as well, were keen to host launch sites. And even before the COAG meeting, just take New South Wales, they had already agreed before then that they would put $550 million into the Hunter Valley launch site. But if you listened to the Prime Minister you would have believed that New South Wales didn’t put a dollar in. It just wasn’t true.

HOWARD SATTLER:

From Western Australia’s point of view, our Premier was saying that we’ve got our own disability insurance scheme for the disabled.

MITCH FIFIELD:

Western Australia, it’s not perfect, but it has one of the better systems of disability support.

HOWARD SATTLER:

We’re ahead of the Commonwealth by the way, we’re ahead of the other states.

MITCH FIFIELD:

It’s a lot better than most of the other states and Colin Barnett and Helen Morton made very clear that they wanted to have a launch site. They were committed to the Productivity Commission view, which was the states put in the money they currently spend and the difference between that and a full NDIS, the Commonwealth would come up with. So Julia Gillard actually walked away from a deal and walked away from what the Productivity Commission had in mind. Part of what I’ll be doing today at a disability forum in Hasluck with Ken Wyatt is explaining the fact that at a federal level we are committed to an NDIS and also that Western Australia is a big supporter of an NDIS. Their position has been grossly misrepresented by Julia Gillard.

HOWARD SATTLER:

How will this scheme, whether it’s run by the state or the federal government, how will it improve the lot of the disabled?

MITCH FIFIELD:

In two ways. First is that it will get rid of rationing. At the moment if you need a wheelchair or supported accommodation, you go into a queue, you take a number and if the pot of money runs out by the time your number is called, it’s too bad.

HOWARD SATTLER:

That is a disgrace.

MITCH FIFIELD:

It is appalling. This is the sort of stuff that should be core government business. Governments get themselves involved in all sorts of activities, but this really should be core government business: helping people who face additional challenges for reasons beyond their control. So it would see an end of rationing, but it would also put the individual at the centre and in charge. So the individual would take their entitlement, whether it be for supported accommodation or disability employment, they’d take that to the service provider of their choice. So they would be in charge.

HOWARD SATTLER:

Where’s the forum if people want to go along?

MITCH FIFIELD:

The forum in Hasluck is at the Woodlupine Centre.

HOWARD SATTLER:

What time?

MITCH FIFIELD:

It starts in about ten minutes so there is still time to get here.

HOWARD SATTLER:

Don’t break any speed limits.

MITCH FIFIELD:

Don’t break any speed limits and Helen Morton, the state minister, will also be here. She’s a big supporter, as is Ken Wyatt, of the NDIS.

HOWARD SATTLER:

Yes we should be too. Thank you Mitch.

MITCH FIFIELD

Thanks very much Howard.