31 October, 2012
ABC TV News Breakfast
With Michael Rowland
26 October 2012
8:00am
E & OE
Subjects: NDIS
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Right across Australia this morning disability rights advocates are calling on politicians from both sides to commit money to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Morning teas are being held around the country to raise awareness of the issue. Mitch Fifield is the Opposition Spokesman for Disability and Carers and he joins us now from Federation Square in Melbourne. Mitch Fifield, good morning.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Good morning Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Do you agree for a start that there is a lack of awareness or not enough awareness of what this scheme is about?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Look, we’re having these morning teas around Australia today to raise the profile of disability, the fact that if you have a disability in Australia today you actually get a pretty raw deal. If you need a wheelchair as an 11 year old kid you might have to wait a couple of years. If you are ageing parent carers looking after an intellectually impaired adult son or daughter, you’ve got no certainty as to what their accommodation arrangements will be when you move on. So we need to raise the profile of the issue. Australians with disability need a better deal. We’re a first world country. We’ve got to do better.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Well they’ll get a better deal won’t they from the National Disability Insurance Scheme?
MITCH FIFIELD:
The National Disability Insurance Scheme I think is the answer. It’s got support across the political spectrum which is great, but the concern for me is that in the last budget only a quarter of the money required for the first stage of the NDIS was allocated and there was absolutely no provisioning for the NDIS beyond the launch sites which are due to commence in the middle of next year. There was no further light shed on that in the mini budget on Monday and I think Australians with disability are looking to the next budget for funding certainty for the NDIS.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
But the government has said the funding will come but it just wasn’t necessarily in the midyear budget handed down this week but they are committed to it.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well look I want to be an optimist and I hope we see the provisioning for that and in the next budget. But the last budget was cause for concern because, as I say, only a quarter money that the Productivity Commission said was necessary for the first phase of the NDIS was allocated. The Government have yet to explain how they are going to make up that funding shortfall. And adding to the concern is $120 billion worth of unfunded commitments by this government, including dental, including Gonski, and I just want to make sure that the National Disability Insurance Scheme isn’t what loses out.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Yes, but at the same time your colleague Joe Hockey, the Shadow Treasurer isn’t committing a Coalition Government to funding the NDIS at all.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well Joe has been asking the perfectly reasonable question of the government as to how they are going to provision the NDIS. If there had been funding certainty in the last budget we would have warmly welcomed that. We want to see the NDIS happen. It’s something that should be achievable by a government that is managing well and that is being a careful steward of tax payer resources.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Can you understand why viewers Mitch Fifield can see a pretty big difference from what you’re saying, a commitment to the NDIS, with what Joe Hockey is clearly saying, that he won’t commit the Coalition Government if it’s elected to funding the NDIS at all, he is very concerned about the cost involved.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Look that is just not true. Joe is a big supporter of the NDIS. Joe supported the billion dollars that was in the budget …
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
… It is true he has said that there won’t be funding because he is concerned about the funding.
MITCH FIFIELD:
No, Joe supported the billion dollars that was in the last budget for the NDIS and we hope that the current government do provide funding certainty and if they do we would certainly support that. The current government, the onus is on them to explain how they are going to make provision for the NDIS. We want them to do that. We want to see it happen. And the next budget is the opportunity for them to do that.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Mitch Fifield in Melbourne, thank you very much for your time.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Thank you Michael.