29 November, 2012
ABC NewsRadio
With Marius Benson
29 November 2012
E & OE
Subjects: NDIS, AWU slush fund
PRESENTER:
Well it may have been a long time coming but on the last day of parliament for the year the Federal Government is this morning introducing legislation to establish its planned multi-billion dollar National Disability Insurance Scheme. You heard from the minister responsible earlier this morning, for an Opposition view on the Government’s plans, Marius Benson is speaking here to Opposition spokesman on disabilities, Senator Mitch Fifield.
MARIUS BENSON:
Senator Fifield you are in agreement, the Opposition is in agreement in principle on the NDIS. You welcome the legislation today.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Yes it’s a good thing that legislation is coming into the parliament to establish the NDIS Transition Agency. It would have been good if the legislation had been publicly released before Monday but I’m pleased it’s coming into the parliament. But the Government have still yet to answer the question as to how they’re going to fund the balance of the scheme. Having legislation, is good but without funding certainty it runs the risk of being an empty gesture.
MARIUS BENSON:
May I ask what the Opposition’s plans are because the likelihood according to the polls is that you’ll be the government? Very early in this scheme, ten months or so you might well be the government. What happens then?
MITCH FIFIELD:
We’ve supported the billion dollars the government put forward in the last budget. We support the five launch sites. We want to see the NDIS become a reality. If the government had provided funding certainty in the last budget we would have backed that and if they do that today we would be more than happy.
MARIUS BENSON:
But in terms of the future funding of the scheme beyond the initial trial, beyond the initial $1 billion spent, will the Opposition support the multi-billion dollar annual budget for this scheme?
MITCH FIFIELD:
It should be possible for a government that is managing well to introduce the NDIS within the Productivity Commission’s timeframe, achieving a full scheme by 2018-19. We don’t know what our starting point will be if we form government. We don’t know what we will inherit. I hope that the launch sites go well. I hope that the government provides funding certainty. But if the government doesn’t provide that certainty now then obviously that would have an implication for the timetable no matter who wins the next election.
MARIUS BENSON:
So that sounds like a lot more uncertainty than certainty in terms of the full scheme.
MITCH FIFIELD:
We don’t know what our starting point will be. We’re calling on the government to provide funding certainty. If they do that and if they manage the launch sites well, then the Productivity Commission’s target date of a full scheme by 2018-19 should be achievable.
MARIUS BENSON:
Can I go to another topic which may take more attention in federal parliament, the last day of parliament today, and the expectation is the Opposition will be asking questions both in the House of Representatives and the Senate where you are on the Prime Minister’s actions twenty years ago, two decades ago roughly as a lawyer. Is that something you’ll be pursuing in the Senate and the House today?
MITCH FIFIELD:
I’ve got no doubt we will be asking questions in the parliament. What the Prime Minister has yet to address, and this is fundamental, is why the account name of the AWU Workplace Reform Association was different to the stated intent of the fund. The Prime Minister by her own admission has said that it was a slush fund. Yet the title of the account would give any reasonable person the impression that the funds were for an entirely different purpose. She was involved in establishing the fund. She has not accounted for that discrepancy.
MARIUS BENSON:
Is that the biggest question in the Opposition’s mind today?
MITCH FIFIELD:
There’s also the question of what she knew in relation to the fund of its true purpose. When she knew it. And who did she tell. Did she tell any relevant authorities? She still has not answered those very fundamental questions.
MARIUS BENSON:
How much do you think the Prime Minister has been damaged or diminished by these Opposition questions and attacks over recent days and over a longer period?
MITCH FIFIELD:
I think the Prime Minister’s credibility has been damaged because she won’t give a straight answer. People want to know that the Prime Minister of the country is a person of integrity. That they have conducted themselves in accordance with the law at all times in their professional life. The Prime Minister by her evasive answers is leaving question marks over her integrity.
MARIUS BENSON:
Mitch Fifield thank you very much.
MARIUS BENSON:
Thanks Marius.