Radio 2CC Canberra Breakfast with Mark Parton
PARTON:
Now, we were detailing, prior to eight o’clock, some of the pessimistic rhetoric that’s going on in the lead up to this Federal Budget being announced next month and some of the figures are just astounding. The Commission of Audit has presented a much bleaker outlook for tax revenue than was contained in the mid year budget, and they’re talking about massive amounts of savings that have got to be made, like $60 billion a year, we’ll have to find it by 2023. Now, that’s an enormous amount of money and you know, in the past we’ve had people come out and say everything’s on the table. And I know in The Australian this morning, they’re talking about the axing of complete government functions, they’re talking about reductions in spending on pensions and allowances. This is The Australian, this is not the Government talking, alright, this is speculation from The Australian. Speculation of course is always rife about the NDIS. Senator Mitch Fifield is the Minister for Aged Care and Disabilities and he is absolutely adamant that the full delivery of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is on, and he’s on the line right now, good morning sir.
FIFIELD:
Good morning, Mark.
PARTON:
You can understand why people continue to question this when these prophesies of doom continue to abound about the budget position.
FIFIELD:
I think it’s important to bear in mind, Mark, that from the point of view of the Government, proper support for people with profound disabilities is core government business. In fact, the Commission of Audit, which have handed their work to Government, they have as one of their three principles that Government should do those things that only Government can do. And proper support for people with disability is one of those things.
PARTON:
But can we afford it?
FIFIELD:
Well, the simple heart of the matter, Mark, is we have to. Australians with disability, with significant disability, have been on waiting lists for decades. There’s rationing. If you’re a child, you might be 11 years old, need a wheelchair, at the moment, you’ll have to wait a couple of years. That’s just not good enough. The NDIS is about fixing that situation and we’re determined that that will happen.
PARTON:
Are you prepared to agree with me this morning that the NDIS is much more important to this country than an extensive paid parental leave scheme?
FIFIELD:
Well Government has to do multiple things at the same time. We’ve got to ensure that as a nation, we’re productive. And one of our productivity measures is a paid parental leave scheme. If you have a strong and growing economy, you’re in a much better position to fund important things like the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
PARTON:
But I think push is going to come to shove at some stage and surely there is going to have to be a decision made, and if indeed, we were lining up those two things, which are big big ticket items as far as expenditure goes. Surely, surely, surely the NDIS would get the guernsey and the paid parental leave scheme would go by the wayside?
FIFIELD:
Well, we’re determined to honour all of our election commitments, Mark. We committed to a proper paid parental leave scheme. We’re going to deliver that. And we’re committed to a full National Disability Insurance Scheme. And we’re going to deliver that too.
PARTON:
Now, I just, and certainly when you look at the numbers that are being bandied around this morning, I just cannot see that we can afford to fund all of these promises. Now, I understand that in the time that your Government has been in office, Tony Abbott and all the ministers have gone out of their way, bent over backwards to make sure that promises are fulfilled, but, if the sums don’t work out, the sums don’t work out.
FIFIELD:
Part of the challenge of Government is to prioritise and to make the numbers add up. And that’s what we’re going to do in this budget. We are going to honour our election commitments.
PARTON:
Mitch, how do you think things are going to play out in Western Australia in that Senate, well, by-election I guess, the rerun..
FIFIELD:
Well Mark, it’s always very hard to know with Senate elections, what will happen. You can usually predict with a fair degree of accuracy the first four out of six positions. But it’s always the last two, and particularly the last position, which is the hardest to figure out. We’re just going to have to wait. But the important thing is that this is a opportunity for Western Australian voters to make it clear that they want the carbon tax gone and they want the mining tax gone and I hope that’s the message that comes through,.
PARTON:
Do you reckon that Newspoll was on the money when they suggested that Greens primary support had grown to 15 per cent?
FIFIELD:
Polls are a measure of what people are thinking at a point in time. We don’t know what will eventuate on election day, but obviously, I hope that the Greens vote is as low as it possibly can be.
PARTON:
Alright, spoken like a true conservative. Thanks for coming on this morning.
FIFIELD:
Thanks indeed Mark.