Transcript by Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield

2GB Radio Nights with Steve Price

Program: 2GB Nights with Steve Price

PRICE:

The previous government changed the name [of the NDIS] to DisabilityCare, which is what they did. They actually spent, hold your breath, because you’re going to choke when I tell you. They spent $18 million of your money, not their money, your money changing the name of NDIS, which we had all got used to, to DisabilityCare because they thought that it would be a catchier phrase I presume.

The problem was, many people saw that as patronising. So the Coalition pledged to change it back and they have. I hope it hasn’t cost $18 million to change it back. Joining us on the line is the man who has committed, committed to make this cheap I hope. This changeover, Senator Mitch Fifield, the Assistant Minister for Social Services, please tell me it didn’t cost $18 million to change it back?

FIFIELD:

Steve, it didn’t cost $18 million. It cost $68,000. But you’re right – the frustrating thing was just as Australians were starting to get used to and understand what the NDIS was, the previous government said, ‘no, no, no, we’ll change the name to DisabilityCare.’ They wasted $18 million and they confused people in the process.

But even worse than that, a lot of Australians with disability found the name DisabilityCare patronising because they don’t want to be objects of care. They want to be supported, sure, but to be as independent as they can be, in control of their own lives.

PRICE:

You know how to track this back through paperwork or by people in the department that now answer to you, as to whose genius idea it was to go from NDIS to DisabilityCare?

FIFIELD:

Look, I think it was Jenny Macklin’s idea and Julia Gillard’s idea. They wanted a name that sounded like Medicare so they went for DisabilityCare. But Steve, this may or may not surprise you but when I first said to the Agency, ‘Look we’re going to honour our election commitment, we’re going to go back to NDIS,’ their advice to me was, ‘well we can do that Minister, but it’s going to cost $2.8 million.’ And you can imagine my reaction, I said I don’t think so. So anyway, we’ve come from $2.8 million down to $68,000 which I think is a much more reasonable figure.

PRICE:

Did you agree with people who are either disabled or work in the disability care industry that, that name was patronising?

FIFIELD:

I do, and I think you’ve got to put yourself in the shoes of someone who is likely to be a participant in the NDIS scheme. You’re someone who might need a few extra things because of your disability. You might need a wheelchair, you might need some personal care at home…

PRICE:

Or ramps?

FIFIELD:

Yes. You want to have those things because you want to be in a position where you can get a job. You want to be in a position where you can fully participate in the community. You don’t want to be an object of care, and that’s what the name implied.

Another reason why we wanted to get back to the name National Disability Insurance Scheme is to try and reinforce that the scheme is meant to be based on insurance principles. That it’s meant to be about value for money, support on a needs basis, have a strong actuarial focus and minimise costs over time through appropriate early intervention.

PRICE:

Look, I’m yet to be convinced we can afford it, and you and I have had that discussion before, and we’ll continue to debate how the trials go. As the responsible Assistant Minister, how do you think the NDIS trials are going? What stage are they at?

FIFIELD:

It’s still early days, we’ve just finished the second quarter. So far we’ve really only analysed the first quarter results and what that showed is that average package costs were higher than anticipated, it’s taking longer for people to come into the scheme than was anticipated, and demand is higher than was anticipated.

But it’s early days. One thing that the last COAG meeting did was to change the name of the sites from launch sites to trial sites. And the reason for that was to underline again that the purpose of these sites, the recommendation of the Productivity Commission, was that these be trial sites so that we can learn, so that we can make adjustments before proceeding to full nation-wide rollout.

Now, no one should read anything into the word trial, it’s not a lack of commitment to a full scheme, but we’ve got to make sure that we learn the lessons from those sites before we do a full national rollout.

PRICE:

You have told me before you are committed, the Prime Minister says he’s committed to it, are you still?

FIFIELD:

Absolutely. It’s something that has to happen. This is the sort of support that should be the core business of government. Yes, the Liberal Party is the party of smaller government, but we’re not the party of no government. Yes, we believe in hard work and reward for effort, but we also believe in helping people who have extra challenges for reasons beyond their control.

PRICE:

The trial site is Newcastle in New South Wales isn’t it?

FIFIELD:

That’s right in Newcaste, in the Barwon region in Victoria and also in South Australia and Tasmania.

PRICE:

Disabled people listening to me tonight who don’t live in those areas, what can you tell them about what the NDIS is going to do and when is it going to do anything for them?

FIFIELD:

Well the schedule, the agreements that have been entered into with the various jurisdictions, is a target date of 2018-19 for full rollout. And what it’ll mean for an individual is that, if you’re currently on a waiting list, if you have a significant and permanent disability, you’re waiting for a wheelchair, you’re waiting for a piece of assistive technology, you won’t be in a situation where you’ve taken a number and you’re waiting in a queue with a pot of money having dried up. You’ll get what you need in reasonable time.

PRICE:

Have you had any evidence of people moving to the trial sites?

FIFIELD:

Look, not at this stage. There is a requirement that people had been resident in the trial sites before the commencement of the trials. But there isn’t yet any evidence that people are seeking to shift to take advantage of those sites.

PRICE:

Do you still say as you did in opposition that you believe that you should have a public release of how we asses release of how we access disability?

FIFIELD:

Look, I think that the maximum transparency possible is important. People should have confidence in the scheme and to the extent that it’s possible to share information about the scheme and its operation then that should be done.

PRICE:

I should remind people by the way, and you’ve had these figures provided by AAP. When the previous government went from NDIS to DisabilityCare, they spent $200,000 on focus groups. Gee I wish I was in the focus group business. $130,000 on a logo and brand strategy, and $17.96 million advertising the new name?

FIFIELD:

That’s right Steve. Well they advertised it nationwide, despite the fact that the scheme isn’t going to be nationwide until about 2018-19. If you’re going to put information into the public domain it should be targeted in the trial sites to where people will be receiving supports, you shouldn’t be splashing it around. Information that’s put out there, it should be factual and it should be unadorned.

PRICE:

You must have been bemused today when the AWU’s Paul Howes in a speech at the Press Club and I spoke earlier tonight with Andrew Bolt about this, he stood up there and said some will tell you that our industrial relations system is dragging us down, hello? The blinding obvious, someone turn the light on.

FIFIELD:

Steve, we made clear before the election that there were a limited range of things that we’re going to do in this term of office and one of them was to have an inquiry into the IR system and if there is any idea of making any other changes beyond that which we’ve announced then those would be taken to an election. We’re going to stick to what we said before the election.

PRICE:

Mr Howes says there has been a pattern of unsustainable wage growth in some sectors of the economy. We, as in the unions, could be pricing ourselves out of the market. He must’ve been looking down at Shepparton perhaps?

FIFIELD:

Paul Howes has lots of views on lots of things. What I wonder is when he’s going to make a commitment and put his hand up for public office rather than just commentating from the sidelines.

PRICE:

I thought you saw the policy speech today, it’s the new Bob Hawke, it’s the second coming.

FIFIELD:

Well is there room for two of those? We’ve already got Bill Shorten who sees himself as the next Bob Hawke.

PRICE:

Fair point, thank you Senator for your time.

FIFIELD:

Thanks indeed Steve, good to talk.