ABC Radio AM Programme with Chris Uhlmann
9 December 2014
7.15am
E & OE
Subject: National Disability Insurance Scheme, Stella Young
UHLMANN:
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is designed to revolutionise disability services. Trials are underway and AM has been told some parts of the system are not coping. There’s growing concern that state and territory governments are withdrawing support before some trials even begin, leaving people with disabilities in limbo. Assistant Minister for Social Services Senator Mitch Fifield warns states not to do the wrong thing.
Senator Mitch Fifield, good morning.
FIFIELD:
Good morning, Chris.
UHLMANN:
Mitch Fifield, you said in a speech that there is a high level of frustration with the roll out of the system why is that?
FIFIELD:
Look, Chris, understandably Australians who have disability, who have been on waiting lists under state programmes for years would love it if you could flick a switch and have the NDIS rolled out nationally on one day. Because of the magnitude of the exercise it has to be rolled out in a phased way, but there is also frustration for service providers who are having to adapt from a block funded system to one where the money follows the individual, and that is a significant change. Providers are committed to working through the issues.
UHLMANN:
It is big. It is expensive. Can you give us some idea of the scale and the timeframe?
FIFIELD:
Well, at the moment there are about 9,000 people who are participants in the scheme in the trial sites nationwide. There is about $400 million that’s been spent supporting them. At full rollout in 2018/19 it will go to being a $22 billion a year scheme that supports about 460,000 people. So, it is a big ramp up in a fairly short period of time. So there is certainly a job of work to do.
UHLMANN:
Certainly, we have been told about one family for example who spent years sorting out services for their child and now everything has to be revisited and a layer of bureaucracy has been imposed over the top of the service providers. So, you can understand the frustration?
FIFIELD:
Part of the purpose of the trial sites around that nation is to learn lessons, see where things aren’t working perfectly and make adjustments before we move to full rollout. So where there are individual experiences which are not ideal we want to learn from those.
UHLMANN:
We have been told that bureaucracy is adding a burden to carers and workers with extra paperwork that didn’t exist before.
FIFIELD:
Well, the individual has an option in the Scheme; they can choose to manage their supports themselves or they can elect to have the NDIS Agency do that for them. At the moment that is what a majority of people are seeking to do. But we are determined to ensure that this is not a big new Commonwealth bureaucracy.
UHLMANN:
But you are in the process of inventing a new system, aren’t you?
FIFIELD:
Look, it is a new system and there’s change and change understandably causes uncertainty. But we want to work through that change to get to a much better system. And the whole rationale for the NDIS is that the state systems are broken. They’re not working. People are waiting. People are not getting the supports that they need. That’s the whole reason why we’re moving to the new arrangement. Yes, it is change, change can be challenging for people, but what is on the other side will be better.
UHLMANN:
Are some state services ending before the new system begins? Are you worried about that?
FIFIELD:
Well, some jurisdictions in parallel to the introduction of the NDIS are choosing to cease to be direct service providers themselves. Some states like Victoria, they’re not really in the business of direct service provision. In the ACT and New South Wales, they historically have been. So that’s a separate decision to the NDIS, but it’s very important that state jurisdictions do not withdraw their services whether they provide them directly or whether they fund them, before the NDIS rolls out in a particular area.
UHLMANN:
Well, in the ACT the only provider of early intervention services has stopped providing them.
FIFIELD:
We’ve got to work with jurisdictions to make sure that there is continuity of support for people receiving services and where jurisdictions are prematurely pulling out, then hell will have no fury like Mitch Fifield as the federal minister.
UHLMANN:
Are you concerned that there will be cost shifting and blame shifting because in the end, who is in charge of this system?
FIFIELD:
Well, it’s a shared responsibility of the Commonwealth and the states. It’s a joint venture, a joint creation of all jurisdictions. Ultimately, it’s the COAG Disability Reform Council made up of Commonwealth and state ministers, which I chair, that has the ultimate responsibility.
UHLMANN:
Are there enough disability workers in the system?
FIFIELD:
Well, at the moment there are about 75-odd thousand full-time disability staff in the system. By 2019/20 that will need to double. The disability workforce has doubled over periods of time before, and that’s going to be an important part of the bilateral negotiations between the Commonwealth and states over the next six months for the nationwide rollout, is to make sure that it’s phased in a way that can adapt to the changing workforce.
UHLMANN:
Finally Mitch Fifield, one of the strongest voices for the disabled in this country was comedian and journalist Stella Young. She died on the weekend, too young at the age of 32. She was a huge loss.
FIFIELD:
A huge loss. She was just a sensational human being. Yes, she was a ceaseless advocate for a better deal for Australians with disability, but what I loved most about her was that she used charm and humour to highlight the often patronising and negative attitudes that people with disability have had to put up with. She’s a huge loss.
UHLMANN:
Mitch Fifield, the world could use more charm and humour, thank you.
FIFIELD:
Amen. Thanks Chris.
UHLMANN:
That is the Assistant Minister for Social Services, Mitch Fifield.
ENDS
Media contact: Lydia Paterson | 0409 792 081 | lydia.paterson@dss.gov.au