Doorstop interview, Penrith
E&OE
FIONA SCOTT:
It is great to be here today at the Panthers Pavilion with Scott Morrison, the Minister for Social Services at this PossABLE event. The Abbott Government has been committed to the NDIS. In fact this part of Western Sydney, the Nepean/Blue Mountains has seen the early roll-out of the NDIS which is going to be wonderful for the 2,000 children that live in this area. Scott thank you so much for your advocacy. Thank you so much for your support because the impact of this early roll-out on children in this area is going to be so amazing in the early intervention for children with a disability. So it is wonderful to have you here today and I look forward to seeing you here again very soon.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Thank you very much Fiona. It is great to be here supporting you and of course Louise Markus as well because this early roll-out of the NDIS here goes through the Nepean and Blue Mountains and it is tremendous to have this PossABLE expo which has traditionally been in regional communities and is now being brought here to Western Sydney to coincide with this early roll-out of the NDIS. The NDIS is a tremendous reform. It should be the first dollar we spend every year in social services because it is a transformative expenditure which enables people to put themselves in the driver’s seat for their lives and make decisions and have the choice to be able to make those decisions that can so much impact on their capabilities. That is what this expo is all about. It is all about giving people the information they need. The NDIS is enabling people to decide the support they need and how they can get that support. So information is absolutely critical. The opening of the office out here in Penrith that process as well for the NDIS is really getting underway focusing on young people and we are looking forward to seeing that continue. I want to thank particularly the Baird Government, and John Ajaka the Minister, for the strong working relationship we have with New South Wales with the roll-out of the NDIS. It is important that we all continue to work together on all sides of politics for the roll-out of the NDIS. I commend Mitch Fifield, the tremendous job he is doing in managing that process. We have got to get this great scheme implemented all around the country. It will benefit over 400,000 Australians when it is at full roll-out but we have got to get it right. That means we have to keep working together in good faith to get it right as governments, with the sector and in particular with families and people with disabilities.
QUESTION:
How easy is it for people to access in this area and perhaps …[inaudible]… difficult to access the services that are available so what is going to happen for all the people out here in Penrith so they know that they can get?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I think that’s why events like today are so important and the early roll-out is important because it really does tease out a lot of these issues when it comes to the full implementation of the NDIS, whether it is the trial sites up in the Hunter or the earlier roll-out here or in other parts of the country. Whether it is people who may have issues because of a cultural difference or language issues or things like that – that is the sort of information we will be picking up through this process and working together with the state governments to ensure when we are at full roll-out we will be able to address those. Particularly for people who have language or cultural challenges in accessing information, that is feedback I am keen to hear and I know Fiona will be feeding back that and so will Louise as we work through that programme.
QUESTION:
The shopfront in Penrith how integral is that to people actually accessing services. This is a one-off event [inaudible].
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well Fiona might want to say something about this but the shopfront is part of a broader package of engagements with the community and so it is important to have a shopfront in the traditional sense so people can go there physically. But the other engagements whether on-line or on the phone, these are all the things that need to take place. Fiona might want to comment on the shopfront but it is part of an overall engagement, it is not the only engagement, it is just one of a broader strategy.
FIONA SCOTT:
Look the question of the engagement of the shopfront is a really excellent question. The NDIA have been phenomenal on how they have integrated the shopfront and the NDIA in the local community. I myself have held forums with local disability service providers right across the area but over and above that we have had the launch events here and then the NDIA has been out to all of the different local communities to really get the message out there. So for instance recently they had an event at the [inaudible] which is a school for children with a disability so the message was also getting to the families as to how they can engage and interact with the NDIA. So it is actually a very wide-ranging period of consultation the NDIA has engaged in right across the community to make sure the service providers, people with a disability, their families and their carers know about the NDIA, know about the NDIS and their ability to then engage with the systems so they can get the services, the goods they need to support them with their disability.
QUESTION:
Minister the Nanny Association and Community Child Care Co-Op say the draft nanny pilot programme guidelines will [inaudible] children involved. Some of their issues they say – the one to seven ratio is too large, nannies could have no experience at all and children will be at risk. What is your response?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I saw that story in the Australian today and it is another beat-up. It is just rubbish. We are working through a Regulatory Impact Statement for the implementation of the nannies in-hone trial which I was pleased to actually launch with Fiona Scott in her electorate some months ago. It is a trial programme which has qualification requirements for those who would be engaged in that programme. There is no suggestion in anything we have put there which would enable friends and family and other causal arrangements to be caught up in the programme. They have to work through registered service providers and we are working through the details of the regulatory process to ensure those protections are in place. This is a consultative process and I think the sort of sensationalised reporting of these sorts of things creates needless anxiety and it’s another case from that same reporter.
QUESTION:
Do you accept some of the draft requirements are different to the way the private nanny industry operates?
MINISTER MORRISON:
It is different to the way the private nanny industry operates because this is a child care program that goes beyond those arrangements. The in-home nannies program is about giving child care services and support to families who can’t access what other families can through mainstream child care subsidies. So up until now those families have been left out. They’ve had no support and we’re talking about key workers such as nurses and police officers and those working in our fire brigades and others who haven’t had the opportunity, shift workers, to get access to child care services. Now we’re running a trial and I thank the vast majority of the industry for engaging constructively with that trial process. We will continue to do that. I hope to be able to have that trial up and running in January of next year but that, of course, depends on the ability to get these measures through the Senate over the back half of this year. But it’s an important program, it is providing services to families who currently don’t have them and all of the issues that are canvassed in the regulatory impact statement are there for consultation so we can ensure the appropriate protections are in place.
QUESTION:
Minister are there any more [inaudible]?
MINISTER MORRISON:
What’s been announced to date is what is the government’s plans and as I said earlier, it’s very important in rolling out the NDIS that we get the pace right, that we don’t unrealistically raise expectations, that we communicate very clearly about what can potentially be provided and then we work closely with those families and people with disabilities so they have a good understanding of what may be on offer. That’s why I think events like today are important because there are parts of the exhibition today where you can go along and have that exact conversation about what your plan might be for how you might be able to be supported and then how you can engage with the NDIS in terms of ultimately being able to put a package together. So information first, I think managing expectations and making sure that the practical issues are covered off so this is a scheme which is not just a great idea but something that turns into reality. But already we’re seeing that happen right here in Western Sydney.
QUESTION:
Why did you choose Penrith?
MINISTER MORRISON:
We have a large number of young people here and it’s a growing part of Sydney and in working with the State Government here it was an area they also identified as a priority and I think it makes perfect sense.
QUESTION:
Is Queensland scheduled yet?
MINISTER MORRISON:
We will continue to work with the Queensland Government as we work with all the governments but it will take its pace based on the relationships and working through of issues with each of the States. There’s nothing but good faith for this process but it will move at a pace that those partnerships and the working arrangements allow.
Can I just say one other thing before we go on other matters and it relates a bit to my old portfolio. I am absolutely amazed that while Bill Shorten has finally acknowledged what everyone had a year ago, that the Coalition’s border protection policies have been successful, that he would imagine that anyone out there today would think he would be genuine in his conviction on this issue. I know from personal experience that these are very difficult policies to implement and you’ve got to be deadly serious about putting them in place and you’ve got to be able to follow through and have conviction. When I was the Minister for Immigration I had the support of my Prime Minister, the Cabinet and every one of our members, including Fiona, and unless you have that resolve across your entire party, across the entire Government, then you cannot bring to that issue the sense of resolve and purpose that is necessary to stop those people smugglers in their tracks. We were able to achieve that because we did it as a united team and all I can see from the Labor Party on this issue is complete division. Division on that issue in a political party, if they were ever to be in government, is the best news that people smugglers could ever have. Thank you very much.