E&OE TRANSCRIPT

SUBJECTS: Joint ACT and Commonwealth newborn Centrelink and Medicare enrolment trial; NDIS legislation; NDIS access to sex therapy; NDIS Salesforce contract; CFMEU; COVID in the ACT.

RACHEL STEPHEN-SMITH, MINISTER FOR HEALTH OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY:

Important, but very, very busy time. the Child Project is an important initiative under the Best Start first thousand days strategy, and it's an important contributor to Canberra families who are bringing children into the world and raising them in their earliest days. We also know that we've made significant commitments into maternity services in the ACT and both Canberra Hospital and North Canberra Hospital, but here at Canberra Hospital, we've expanded the Centenary Hospital for women and children. We've invested in state of the art facilities and of course now we're investing in maternity ratios as well, which will be the second jurisdiction in the country to see the baby counted in ratios. And all of this is part of our commitment to supporting women, babies and families who are bringing new children into the world in the ACT and the surrounding region. So it's great to have Bill Shorten here today to talk about this joint initiative with Services Australia and the opportunities that we get by working together to support Canberra families and ultimately to demonstrate what can be done as this initiative is expanded across the country. So Bill next and then Chris.

BILL SHORTEN MP, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES:

Good afternoon everybody. It's fantastic to be here with Rachel, who I don't think there's a better Health Minister in the whole of the Commonwealth. She's doing a great job. And of course, Minister Steel is about improving Government Services for everyone living in the ACT. And it was lovely meeting Sonny, who's two weeks old tomorrow. This is a simple but smart announcement. We want to make sure that the paperwork, which takes up so much time in people's lives, is just solved. At the moment or before our initiative, you need to fill in seven different bits of paperwork in order just to let the world know that Sonny’s here and make sure that Sonny's in the system. But under the work, which has been pioneered by Services Australia at the Commonwealth level and the work of the ACT, we're just taking the headache away. We want new mums and new parents to be able to focus on their kids. It is amazing if you don't actually get the paperwork sorted out when you have a parent at hospital, you can spend months and months chasing up important documentation. Making sure that people get onto Medicare, making sure they're able to claim their benefits. Really, what this is all about, at its essence, is taking the government to the people. In an era where citizens are increasingly distrustful of government, initiatives like this reverse the pendulum. This is all about saving people time. This process will save parents, on average, half an hour. But it's more than that. It just means that for those who take time and don't sort it out on the spot, it can then take a lot longer. And indeed, people miss out such as Sonny’s Mum and the baby. It's great for the whole family. Why don't I hand over to our Act Minister to talk a bit further about the Government Services. But in summary, this is about saving new families time and effort and making sure that everyone gets the support that they require. And starting at the start of life, which is such a great experience for everyone.

CHRIS STEEL MLA, ACT MEMBER FOR MURRUMBIDGEE

Well, thanks Bill, and thanks to the Federal Government for collaborating with the ACT on this newborn enrolment trial. As a relatively new dad. I know that it's a very joyous time when we have the birth of a child, but it's also a time when there's quite a lot of administration. This new streamlined process will save families with newborns time. It will potentially save up to 30 minutes in administration time that it would take to enrol your child in Centrelink, enrol your child for Medicare benefits, and also to get your child registered and get their birth certificate sent through. So the combination of being able to work with the Federal Government on the services that they offer young families, as well as the ACT Government, means that people won't have to think. They'll just be able to give us consent to provide their information through to the two governments, and we'll do most of the work for them. There will be an opportunity for new parents to check the details that have been provided through using the Australian Government's myGov service, and that will enable also the partners of a birth parent to be able to update their details as well as the child's as well. So this is going to be an important way that we can save new families time. What we do know is that many Australians don't differentiate between the different layers of government and the different departments within each government. They just want their child and their family to get access to the important health care services and family benefits that they're entitled to. This new process, with the birth of birth of a child project, will enable them to do that simply by providing their consent at the hospital. Happy to take any questions together.

JOURNALIST:

Mr. Steele, the New South Wales Government trialling digital birth certificates. Is that something that could be rolled into this system?

STEEL:

So we've been working closely through the Digital Data Ministers Meeting with the Federal Government and Bill Shorten, Katy Gallagher, as well as New South Wales ministers on life events. We know that the birth of a child is an important life event, and so we've been collaborating with the Commonwealth about how we can streamline all of the administrative processes associated with that event. We've gone through a very rigorous design process to map out the journey from when a child is born, right through to when they need to access Medicare, and the family getting access to family assistance payments. And then we've also now added on the ability to streamline access to get the birth registered and a birth certificate sent out to the family for the child. We're, of course, also looking at what other jurisdictions are doing through their trials that they've been undertaking under that banner of life events. And one of those is a digital birth certificate process. So we're interested in what other jurisdictions are doing as well. And we'd like to see as part of this project, other jurisdictions and other hospitals adopting this new newborn enrolment process so that they can provide streamlined access to their children and families that are born through their health care systems. We've already seen two hospitals in Queensland now jump on board, which is fantastic. And both Bill and I, at every meeting that we've been having with other digital and data ministers, have been encouraging other states and territories to do the same. And of course, we'll be learning from those other jurisdictions about the work that they're undertaking to streamline digital services.

JOURNALIST:

Minister Shorten, how much has this all cost and additional investment will be needed?

SHORTEN:

Well, this has been a very relatively small cost. And again, ACT has been an excellent partner for the Federal Government and leading. A lot of the things which we're doing, for instance, getting Commonwealth statutory declarations, you can now do them online through your myGov app. That project cost just a few million dollars, and it's had hundreds of millions of dollars of return. There's a lot of low hanging fruit here. And going to both questions about the birth certificates, different states are working on propositions about digital ID. Federally, in the last budget, we were able to announce over $600 million to help the next stages of myGov. We're not there yet, but the obvious dream is that you can go to your wallet and your smartphone. You will carry your smartphones. You already now have a wallet which has a face recognition, or it has multiple levels of security. And you might well already now have your credit cards, which certainly have a range of security. We want a myGov wallet which can have digital ID, it's got your Medicare card, which you can get now. We want to make life as straightforward for people to interact. The cost doesn't have to be hundreds of millions of dollars. What we're looking at federally is focusing on the project rather than the technology. What I mean by that is too often procurement in the past has been tech driven, rather than mission driven. So we think we can roll out a whole lot of exciting projects in the next couple of years where a lot of Australians will say, well, that's just useful. And some of the states and territories are also doing the same thing, so working closely with them.

JOURNLIST:

Another topic. The Victorian Premier is taking some action against the Victorian branch of the CFMEU this morning. Do you think the CFMEU should be deregistered?

SHORTEN:

Minister Burke has said all options are on the table. I used to work for the Australian Workers Union. I think the behaviour which we saw last night is deplorable. It's unacceptable. Worst of all, it's a betrayal of Australian trade unionists. There are millions of people, perhaps even some of you, filming this, certainly the nurses and health workers here, they pay their union dues. They're committed to it and there's literally hundreds and thousands of union reps doing the right thing. But there is no doubt that there is a culture in some parts of the construction sector which is out of control. So Minister Burke said all options are on the table. Premier Allan has suspended the CFMEU's membership of the ALP in Victoria. Watch this space. More to come from the Federal Government.

JOURNALIST:

Minister. Just a question on the NDIA and Salesforce. It's been reported that the agency's contract with Salesforce for the PACE billing system is blown up to $210 million. Are you able to confirm this? And how concerned are you by this blow out?

SHORTEN:

I can't give you the precise number. I'll find out. But when I became minister, I brought in a new leadership team into the NDIA. Of the top 11 reports who were at the National Disability Insurance Agency when I became minister, there's only one left. The point about that is that the new leadership have gone through and found disturbing practices where some public servants, a small minority but an unacceptable number, were receiving gifts from Salesforce. These were not declared. It's only been the work since I've come in and the people I've brought in, which has brought some of this to light. And there's more to look at there with Salesforce. The PACE system itself is new. It's a way of facilitating interactions between service providers and accounts. I accept that the Agency reports to me that there have been teething problems, but in terms of Salesforce, on the end, we had to get Salesforce to tell us the gifts they were giving to about 20 public servants. Now a couple of them were pretty small in nature. A cup of coffee isn’t the end of the world, but some of the gifts were of a much larger nature, and that's completely unacceptable.

JOURNALIST:

Minister, just to clarify, the 210 figure that's been reported is about $75 million higher than the NDIA has reported to a recent Joint Committee and also to the Senate in its contract reporting obligations. Are you concerned that there might be an incident of incorrect information having been reported in this case?

SHORTEN:

What I said is, I don't know the number, and I said I'd find out for you. In terms of the leadership of the NDIA, there has been a complete clean out at the top end. I might also say that, Serviced Australia, my other portfolio area, there were some very large procurement contracts allocated under previous governments where essentially for some of that work we've had to write it off. This is of course a great frustration because this is taxpayer money.

JOURNALIST:

On the NDIS packages. Have you got a precise number for the number of recipients who are using those packages for sex workers?

SHORTEN:

Can I just say, the debate about using sexual support services, it is a clickbait topic. That doesn't mean it's not an important issue, but on average, there are 100 million invoices or transactions paid per annum. 100 million in the NDIS. At this stage, for the last 12 month period, there were 228 requests for sexual support activities, 228 requests. None were approved. So without putting too fine a point on it, I think we need to have clearer guidelines about what's acceptable and not acceptable expenditure in the NDIS. But this debate has a life of its own. And just bear in mind, if there's 100 million transactions paid and none have been that we've identified for sexual support services, some of the debate from the sort of conservative, pearl clutching saying this is dreadful through to some of the very libertarian advocates who say, how dare we stop it. It's like an episode of Seinfeld. Remember that Seinfeld they used to argue nothing at all. So do I think it's appropriate? No. Do I think it's an epidemic? No. Do I think the NDIS is changing hundreds of thousands of lives for the better? Yes. Do I think that 99.99999% of all people aren't seeking these services? Absolutely. And if someone does, it's been rejected.

JOURNALIST:

Did you seek a briefing from the Agency on the number of these services that are used, and if so, what did that happen?

SHORTEN:

Well, the fact that I could reel off those numbers either means I'm guessing, or I got a briefing and you'd be right to say I've got a briefing.

JOURNALIST:

How close are you to be able to find some common ground for the NDIS Bill, with some of the concerns that have been raised around it, particularly those human rights concerns.

SHORTEN:

Well, first of all, our bill doesn't affront human rights. In fact, it's the first time any government has incorporated the UN Charter of Rights of People with Disability into domestic legislation. So we've made that very clear about the human rights. One part of the legislation says that - it's Section 10. At the moment, the CEO issues operational guidelines about what you can spend money on the NDIS on. Because these are operational guidelines and have that status, periodically these matters get taken to court and the government loses. So now what we want to do is create a transitional regulation, which without, you know, going too far down the sort of rabbit hole of legalism, transitional regulation has more power and cannot simply be overturned by a court. The reality is that most people are spending their NDIS money on the correct supports, but there are some supports being sought, sometimes through planned managers, which are simply not appropriate; holidays to Japan; some therapies which have no scientific basis at all, perhaps, dare I say cuddle therapy or crystal therapy or tarot cards. And what we want is the ability to issue regulations, which just makes it black and white. That's all. The Scheme is working well. We just want to make sure that people know what they can spend their money on. There's been a lot of discussion with the community sector. I'm more than confident that we will find resolution in the Senate when the Parliament resumes. The real shame is that we've taken eight weeks longer for a Senate committee to have hearings when they already had 12 weeks, and at the moment that extra cost, according to the actuary, and our waste clock is $410 million, has been added in costs which didn't need to be.

JOURNALIST:

So you think you'll have a consensus pretty soon with stakeholders?

SHORTEN:

Do I think I can make everyone happy? No, no. The last person who made everyone happy was about 2000 years ago. Do I think that I can arrive at a position which means the Scheme is sustainable for the future? Yes. Do I think I can arrive at a position which means that people know that they can spend their money on? Yes. Do I think we can arrive at a position where we know whom you can spend your money on? Yes. Do I think we'll arrive at a position where we can be more confident that the quality of services which people with disabilities are receiving? Yes. Do I think we're going to work with the states to create supports outside the NDIS for people who don't need the NDIS? Yes. So yes, I do think we're going to make a lot of progress. I think that we can slow down the rate of growth in the Scheme by focusing on the original intent of the Scheme and just ensuring that the hundreds of thousands of people benefiting from the Scheme have a consistent quality experience.

JOURNALIST:

Minister, just to clarify, on the PACE system, the value of that contract that was reported to the Senate occurred under the new leadership. Do you have any concerns or would you be looking into why the value of the contract has been so greatly misreported?

SHORTEN:

Sure. I said, I think twice before, but I'm happy to say it again. I'll find out about those numbers.

JOURNALIST:

On a totally different topic. The energy transition to lower emissions. There is a warning from the government funded Power Rankings Organisation that Australia won't meet its 2030 target unless we find another 17,500 energy sector workers, like electricians in those electrical trades. Are you confident that we can find those workers, skill them up, and actually meet that 43% reduction target?

SHORTEN:

Yes. The organisation you're quoting, the PSO, was set up by Labor to start identifying what our skills gaps and needs are. So the fact that you're able to ask me that question is because it's taken a Labor Government to get to the bottom of what we need in a way of skills shortages. The truth of the matter is that Australia will be a renewable energy superpower in the future. At last, we've got clear market rules for investment. We've also set up a $10,000 energy apprenticeship bonus. So we're optimistic that we will attract people to take up apprenticeships in those areas that you identify in terms of energy, especially through our $10,000 bonus. We've also funded 300,000 free TAFE courses, and many of them will be going to the energy sector. So I'm confident, but the reality is we inherited the worst skills shortage in 50 years, but Labor in the last two years hasn't wasted a day to set up the structures to understand the size of the challenge, and to put in place the financial supports to encourage more kids from school and more adults to retrain to become the tradies which will help power the future of the nation.

JOURNALIST:

On the newborn enrolment trial, when can we expect the rest of the nation to be on the same page?

SHORTEN:

We'd like them to be on the same page as soon as possible. The work which we've done, and Chris mentioned earlier, was two Queensland hospitals and the ACT. This is the last of the sort of developmental stages. I'm confident that next year people will start having a common experience across the country and just think about it. Just think about all the things which you do in a day. The one thing we haven't found a way to replicate is time, and we never want a parent or a mum leaving a hospital without having their child documented. So we can make sure that from immunisation through to just getting the basic child support if necessary, or getting the very basic Medicare, if we can do it once and do it right and do it right now. That's just one whole area of bureaucracy and frustration taken out of the laps of, new mums and dads.

JOURNALIST:

Shadow Minister Paul Fletcher last month said that the Albanese government had gone cold on digital life events. Now that you've launched this trial a month on, do you have any response to those comments?

SHORTEN:

Listen, Paul Fletcher, I think you're referring to a speech he gave last June?

JOURNALIST:

Yeah.

SHORTEN:

That man's unhealthily obsessed with me. He mentioned me 17 times in his speech. I guess he needed something interesting to say. We haven't gone cold on it. But you've got to test it. You've got to make it work. I mean, not that one wants to talk about the previous government, but wow, they really knew how to waste money on ICT when they put their mind to it. But, yeah, we haven't gone cold on life events. And as you heard my colleague say, we talk about this at our Digital Data Ministers meeting. We've now got Digital ID through the Parliament. Listen, this isn't a Liberal-Labor issue. I mean, you know, Paul isn't going to say well done, Labor, but this is where we're going. We haven't gone cold on it.

JOURNALIST:

Minister Steel, are you concerned at all about the ACT branch for this year from you and what all these allegations might mean for the territory?

STEEL:

Well, this is a obviously a matter that's come up in relation to the Victorian branch of the CFMEU. As you've heard, the Federal Government is looking at a range of options. And of course, we're forward to seeing what comes out of that process.

JOURNALIST:

Do you think it could impact our housing and building struggles that were already having?

STEEL:

Well, we need to continue to work on building up the skills in construction and also in the jobs of the new economy. We'll continue to do that through our registered training organisations. We work closely with employee representatives as well to make sure that they're represented as part of those that decision making. But of course, it's really important that unions remain focused on what matters, which is their members. And so we hope that that continues to be the focus for the construction sector.

JOURNALIST:

South Australia has called for police to investigate bikie links to the CFMEU. Do you think the act should follow suit?

STEEL:

Look, I'm not aware of those, so we'll see what comes out of the matter being investigated in relation to Victoria.

JOURNALIST:

Ms Stephen-Smith, I know it's not quite your portfolio any more, but we've stopped, releasing the ages of COVID deaths in the territory. Can you explain that decision a little bit to me?

STEPHEN-SMITH

My understanding is that this decision was taken to bring COVID-19 reporting into line with the reporting of other reportable infectious diseases. I want to be clear, that doesn't mean that the data isn't collected and might not be reported on a less frequent basis than weekly. I have to say that some of the reporting that I've seen about the COVID deaths that have been reported in that weekly data don't seem to have understood the basis on which we changed to reporting. We changed to reporting on the basis of when a death had gone through all of the processes. Not that necessarily someone had died in that previous week. And it's regularly reported that someone died that week. So the reporting has been unhelpful in terms of accuracy in providing that information. But more importantly, I think, Canberrans can be confident that that kind of data will be collected and that data will be used for epidemiological work to understand the prevalence of disease and the impact of disease, not just for COVID-19, but across our community where we have infectious diseases that need to be reported. I heard Professor Peter Collignon on the radio this morning saying that the important thing was that the data was collected and that it was reported not necessarily on a weekly basis, but maybe for a smaller jurisdiction, six monthly or annually. But the really important thing was that people understood the community prevalence of the disease and the potential impact likely impacts of it. And so when you see reporting, for example, of one person in their 40s who died with COVID-19. That actually has the potential to skew community understanding of the disease away from the people that it normally impacts.

And Peter Collignon was really clear about that, that the most harmful impacts of COVID-19 are generally seen in older populations as well as, of course, to some extent in people with underlying conditions, but really primarily in that older age group. And so the weekly reporting are very small numbers of people who have died from COVID-19. And of course, you know, every death is a tragedy, but that weekly reporting can actually not be helpful in terms of community understanding of the impact of COVID-19 at a broader epidemiological level. So that's really where we want to focus our resources, is to align our reporting across infectious diseases that are reportable, but also to ensure that our broader epidemiological reporting is giving the community a clearer understanding of who needs to be protected from the most likely severe impacts of COVID-19. And that continues to be older people. And that's why the recommendations around COVID-19 vaccination continue to recommend boosters for people  65 and over, and not necessarily for younger people. So that's really where the impact in terms of morbidity and mortality needs to be taken into account. Is that then evidence based information that's being provided to the community and the recommendations that are being made to the community based on the whole of the epidemiological picture, not based on something that might happen on a week to week or a month to month basis. That might actually skew people's views about what's happening with COVID-19 away from a real evidence base.