ABC Port Pirie, Mornings with Sarah Tomlinson
E & OE
TOMLINSON:
Good morning. For families wanting to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme they say the figures are looking good in both getting applicants through the process and on budget. This is our first story this morning and to tell us more I’m joined by Mitch Fifield, he’s the Federal Assistant Minister for Social Services overseeing the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Good morning.
FIFIELD:
Good morning Sarah.
TOMLINSON:
You say numbers are good, at what stage is the national disability scheme at?
FIFIELD:
Well look on the whole it’s a positive picture. We have one year of trial sites under our belt now and what that shows us is there are about seven and a half thousand participants in the scheme. We’ve got to recognise this is early days. At full roll out there will be several hundred thousand people in the scheme. The budget is going pretty well. The average annualised package costs are $34,600 which is down from the first 6 months where they were close to $40,000. And also participants are pretty happy as a result of the work of the Agency staff.
TOMLINSON:
What was that figure per package?
FIFIELD:
$34,600, that’s an average package and in one sense there is no average package, because each individual has their needs assessed and they get the support that’s commensurate with the needs that they have. But average package costs are useful for the Agency to keep track of costs. And at the moment they are just about bang on where they should be.
TOMLINSON:
And what sort of services should be involved with that package?
FIFIELD:
Well it’s services such as daily personal attended care for people who need extra support at home. For young people there’s early intervention services if you’re someone who has autism for instance. And then there are things like aids and equipment. You might be someone who needs a wheelchair or home modifications. So it’s the full range of additional things that someone might need as a result of their disability.
TOMLINSON:
Mitch Fifield 8,585 is the figure I have here for the people that have been eligible for the NDIS, I assume that’s national figure?
FIFIELD:
That’s right. That’s a national figure for the number of people who are eligible. And about seven and a half thousand of those people have actually gone through the processes of the agency and are now receiving services.
TOMLINSON:
How many might have been found ineligible?
FIFIELD:
I don’t have that figure, but I think it’s a fairly low rate. One of the main access points for the scheme is what’s called the My Access Checker on the NDIS website. And that has a series of questions. So people can get a sense of whether they’re likely to be eligible for the scheme or not. A lot of people will go through that site and get a sense that there are probably other ways that they should be receiving services rather than through the NDIS. But the important thing is that the NDIS Agency doesn’t just deliver tailored packages for eligible individuals. It’s also an important source of advice for people as to what mainstream services they could and many times should be accessing. So it also has the purpose of being a national one stop shop for people who have disability. It’s important to recognise that the scheme is aimed at those 460,000 Australians with the most significant disabilities.
TOMLINSON:
Once people have been determined eligible how long have they needed to wait for that package or the details of that package?
FIFIELD:
There is good news on that front. The time taken to determine potential NDIS participant’s eligibility has been reduced from 29 days to 13 days. And the average length of time from when someone makes application to when their services commence has come down from 101 days to 94 days. That might sound like a long period of time, 94 days, but this is a very individualised process. And one of the reasons for that time is that individuals, who often have never had the opportunity of choice before in relation to the services that they receive, are wanting to take the time to think about the best services for them and who they receive them from.
TOMLINSON:
Is that done at a state level or still at a federal level?
FIFIELD:
It’s done at a federal level, if you view the NDIS as a federal organisation. At the moment the majority of disability services, with the exception of income support and employment programs which are federal, are state. The majority of direct supports for people with disability are done by the states. With the NDIS those state services transfer in effect to the NDIS, which is a creation of all Australian Governments.
TOMLINSON:
We are speaking to the Federal Assistant Minister for Social Services, who is overseeing the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Mitch Fifield. Have these figures that you’re quite happy with been shown to be good in both the regional and metropolitan areas of Australia?
FIFIELD:
Look it’s a pretty consistent picture across the nation. Obviously there are always extra challenges when it comes to receiving services in regional areas. And one of the benefits in having a series of trial sites across the nation, initially we had four, now we have seven, is that we can test what is working and what isn’t working and make adjustments before we move to full national rollout.
TOMLINSON:
Mitch Fifield, we talked about the costs there. What’s the next stage of the NDIS?
FIFIELD:
The next stage, I’ll go back a step. We started with trial sites in South Australia, Tasmania, the Hunter Valley in New South Wales and the Barwon Region in Victoria. On the first of July this year, some additional trial sites commenced in the ACT, the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory and the Perth Hills area in Western Australia. The objective is to have the NDIS rolled out nationwide by 2019-2020 so there will be a phasing from about 2016, nationwide, through to that end date in 2019-20. Now exactly where and how that’s done, between 2016 and the target date, is something that has yet to be negotiated between the Commonwealth and each of the states.
TOMLINSON:
Do you feel from this trial model that communications systems, that process of getting plans approved, will still work once it’s rolled out nationally?
FIFIELD:
Well, we’ve got to make sure that it does. There is enormous goodwill for the scheme. There is support from all Australian governments and all political parties and we also have the huge and great asset of the staff of the NDIS Agency who have put in an absolutely herculean effort. They are a group of people for whom this isn’t just a job. They know when they wake up in the morning that they are going to be making a significant contribution to the quality of life of people in their communities. So I’ve got great confidence that with the goodwill of all Australian governments and the staff at the Agency, that we’ll be able to make this a success nationwide.
TOMLINSON:
Could you be facing any future cuts?
FIFIELD:
Well, you only need to look at the Budget that was handed down in May to see this Government’s absolute commitment to delivering the NDIS in full. The full allocation of funds required to deliver the scheme was there in the forward estimates and I think that’s an important early dividend of the Budget repair that we’re endeavouring to do. If government lives within its means and if it prioritises, then you have the money as a government, to put towards those things which should be the core business of government. Things like providing support to people who face extra challenges for reasons beyond their control. Australians with disability are front and centre.
TOMLINSON:
Mitch Fifield, we appreciate your time this morning.
FIFIELD:
Good to talk Sarah.
TOMLINSON:
Federal Assistant Minister for Social Services, overseeing the National Disability Insurance Scheme.