Doorstop interview, Launceston, NDIS Reforms

E&EO

Bridget Archer:
All right, well it’s fantastic to be here in beautiful Launceston, the weather’s really put it on for Minister Stuart Robert here with Senator Wendy Askew as well. We’ve got some exciting tourism and travel announcements today of course but also welcoming Stuart here today to talk about some important work that’s being undertaken in the NDIS space, Stuart.

Minister Robert:
Thanks Bridget, it is great to be in Launceston and building on the Prime Minister’s announcement today with 800,000 subsidised packages for airline travel encouraging Australians to travel to places like Launceston, as well as Gold Coast, my hometown. So it’s a great initiative that government is backing in to get, and continue to get, the economy growing and running.

But today we’re here at St Michaels, looking at what is quite an extraordinary NDIS participant set up here not just in terms of building capacity but supported independent living and allowing participants choice and control as they grow which is superb.

And this builds into the Government’s reforms and at some of the things we’ve been talking about with the chief executive and the staff here today about the final reforms to build out the NDIS, of which independent assessments are one of those.

I’m just really cognisant in Tasmania, Bridget in your electorate here in the north, the average package is $80,000 for a participant, but Wendy if we were in Hobart it would be $105,000. If we were in the area of Franklin, the federal electorate there, you’re now down into the high 60s early 70s so there’s a real disparity about average packages.

And the bottom line is the NDIS, the National Disability Insurance Scheme is an insurance scheme for all Australians, it shouldn’t depend upon the postcode you live in as to what package you get it should depend upon your function. And that’s what independent assessments is all about bringing that equity back in the final piece to complete the NDIS, which is a national endeavour. It’s a world first all Australians should be incredibly proud of it and it’s being built in a bipartisan fashion to date. And I’m so, so thrilled, just to be able to see how it’s working, how well it’s working here at St Michaels, and I’m looking forward to completing the final policy builds of it.

Journalist:
How are we going to better engage with rural and regional communities like we have in Tasmania?

Minister Robert:
Well one of the things we’re doing is getting out and about listening to people and understanding what their needs are. The beauty of independent assessments when it comes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, is that you don’t have to go and get your own reports Australians are spending $150 million of their own money getting their own therapy reports to try and access the NDIS. So if you’re in rural or regional Australia. If you’re in an Aboriginal community and Meekatharra or Lockhart River, if you’re in the Torres Strait, you’ll be able to go to an independent assessment, you won’t need to spend all that money. You won’t need to fight your way to see therapists in the big city, you can go along to an independent assessment, and seek access to the scheme.

Journalist:
What’s your response to the 20 organisations from across the disability sector that have joined forces against independent assessments saying it’s being rushed through, and it’s just a box ticking exercise?

Minister Robert:
The Productivity Commission when it actually built the scheme in 2011 it strongly recommended independent assessments, as have multiple reviews, including the Tune Review the father of the scheme John Walsh, who spent two years in the Productivity Commission, and was then on the board of the NDIA, and the assurance body that sits with it. He is strongly recommending independent assessments. We’ve been running a number of trials now for over two years. So there’s been a lot of input. There’s been a lot of trials, and a lot of engagement and I look forward to continuing to work with the sector, as we build out what the Productivity Commission recommended.

Journalist:
Obviously there are concerns about independent assessments will you stop the rollout?

Minister Robert:
Not at all, because it’s recommended by the Productivity Commission. When everyone welcomed the scheme when it was rolled out in 2013 and saying no, we need to build what the Productivity Commission recommended that included the independent assessments. And as we have now got to full scheme now is the time to do the last piece of the build. We’re now on the second trial of independent assessments, the first one, starting in 2018. We’ll continue to engage strongly with the sector, as we have all the time.

Journalist:
The sector says it’s unreasonable to expect people with a disability to tell a stranger all about their support needs in a three hour meeting. Can you understand their concerns, given how complex disability can be?

Minister Robert:
Well the beauty of independent assessments is no one’s questioning your disability it’s all about your function and what support you need to achieve your goals. And this is about equity. This is about saying your postcode should not determine what your package is.

I was in South Australia last week. And if you’re in the state of Boothby, your average package is $92,000 but if you’re in the state of Makin it’s $58,000, the disparity between the area with the lowest packages, as an average, and the highest in Tasmania, there’s a 53% difference. What we want to see here is equity, we want to see your quality. I don’t want to see people from low socioeconomic backgrounds who are missing out because they, they can’t get to see therapists, they can’t pay for therapy reports, they get lost, they don’t know where to go. I want people, all Australians to have the opportunity to get support they need.

Journalist:
Do you understand that it could be concerning for someone with a disability to tell a stranger about their disability, their life with a disability, in just a three hour session?

Minister Robert:
Well the independent assessments will run for as long as they need to go. So we were talking about three hours but they’ll take as long as they need to. Of the 430,000 participants of course 50% are receiving support for the very first time, imagine that Australians for the very first time, receiving support. I don’t want those Australian spending tens of thousands of dollars and I don’t want them missing out.

Journalist:
But the disability sectors says they were not consulted before their assessments were introduced. What do you say to that?

Minister Robert:
The Productivity Commission recommended it 10 years ago the first trials began in 2018, we’re doing the second trial now. So this is now two and a half coming into three years we’ve been talking about it. We’ve been engaging with it. I’ve been speaking about it for two years and we’ve been trialling it for over two and a half years.

Journalist:
Were there direct conversations with people in the disability sector?

Minister Robert:
Substantial engagement and substantial conversations. Now I appreciate that is a change, I appreciate the we’re actually going back to the original design, building out the scheme as it was originally built as it was originally planned. Because we’re now finalising the build, this is the last piece to the puzzle and it’s a great piece. It’s an equity piece, and it’s a fantastic piece.

Journalist:
Is this is all about cost cutting?

Minister Robert:
It’s about fairness, why is it that, if you’re in Hobart, you’re plan on average is $105,000 but if you’re in neighbouring Kingston, it’s $68,000, why?

Why is it, the average plan right here in Launceston is 20% lower than in the capital city in Tasmania? Why do we see disparities of 40% and 45% in South Australia, and right across the country? Why does your postcode determine your package? It shouldn’t. 

Journalist:
The 20 organisations so they want further discussions with you moving forward. Will you do that?

Minister Robert:
I’ve been talking to all organisations, ever since I’ve been appointed the minister and I’ll continue to, I will continue to engage with the sector with the advocates with carers with people with disability and their families and we’ll continue to talk it all through, because this is bigger than politics. This is a great national endeavour. It’s something all Australians should be really proud of right across the political divide. And I think it’s something we should all continue to work towards.

Journalist:
People with disability have spent years fighting for supports and justifying themselves and their disability can you appreciate that they’re exhausted and tired of having to fight about some support funding.

Minister Robert:
They don’t have to fight, the Federal Government is spending over $20 billion, with the states and territories this year. Four or five years ago that combined spend was under $10 billion. The amount of support from taxpayers going into the sector is unprecedented. And that’s a great thing.

But it’s important that we provide support fairly to all Australians, people in Launceston right where we stand here should not have a 20% less package than people in Hobart.

It’s not fair. It’s not Australian, your postcode should not determine your NDIS package.

Thanks very much.