E&OE TRANSCRIPT

BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS, AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Today is a great day for NDIS participants, their families, the people love them, service providers, in fact, all Australians who support the generous principle that people with severe and profound impairment should have fulfilling lives in our Australian society. Today, after a journey of about nearly two and a half years, Labor has successfully passed with significant majorities in both the Senate and the House of reps. Legislation, which will get the NDIS back on track after two and a half years ago. Labor said that the NDIS was going off track, and we wanted it to be true to its objectives of making sure that participants for whom the Scheme was designed were getting real quality and support and having fulfilling lives. We also said we wanted to make sure it was sustainable for the future. Australia is the best country in the world in supporting people with disability and we can do a lot better. We can do a lot, lot, lot better. But no other nation in the world has our nation building vision of a mass Scheme of personalised budgets which are individualised. That is a massive undertaking. And when you stop to think of it in our busy days, what a remarkable country we are that we have a vision that says your disability shouldn't define your future. The Scheme though, when we came to Government we found was growing too fast and that there are some service providers who've been having a lender, the system that the payments integrity wasn't what it should be. That whilst this Scheme is changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for the better, it was still difficult to deal with bureaucratic. For many, traumatising and decisions were okay. So we did what we said we would do two and a half years ago, at the start of this term, we said we'd conduct a root and branch review and I'm very grateful for that review they interviewed. They listened to 10,000 people plus 4000 submissions. Is this remarkable? And they came up with a series of recommendations about changing how we dealt with access, changing how we dealt with budget setting, making the Scheme fit for purpose. At the same time, we've been clamping down on fraud. We've revitalized the leadership of the National Disability Insurance Agency, and I'm very privileged to have the chairman, Kurt Fearnley, who will say some words in a moment. And we've also been taking whatever measures we can to get better decision making in the agency and greater equity and transparency. We've reached out to the states and territories. That's been a journey. And we've been able to pay our co-governors of the Scheme and today we're probably getting on as well with the states and territories about disability as we have been since the start of the Scheme. After the Review, we then looked at how we can sort out the fact that over 90% of service providers are unregistered. So there's been a lot going on. This has been a morning to night task every day since Labour got elected. We put legislation into Parliament in March and now it's finally been passed. This legislation will improve the processes whereby people, um, enter the Scheme, get their plans organised and are able to use their supports, their NDIS supports, uh, whilst maintaining choice and control. So it's a big day. Now, I know that there have been some in the disability sector who said it's the end of the world? They're wrong. There are some who've said that, um, this is a terrible assault on the NDIS. Governments always have choices. Politicians and the community as choices. We could do nothing. We could put our head in the sand and say change is too hard. So I say never change in fear. But never fear to change. I understand that any talk of change is very anxiety raising for people with disability, but what I'm saying to people with disability, what today means for you, is he going to know what you can use your money on? You're going to know that you're going to get reasonable and necessary supports. You're going to retain choice and control. You're going to have greater accountability in terms of the quality of services people give. We can say to Australian taxpayers that it's going to be harder to rort. The growth is on a trajectory. It's still going to grow every year, and there'll still be more people on it. But the growth won't be as far as fast as was previously going to be, which means that this Scheme will be available for people in the future. So it's a big day. It's probably the biggest day in the history of the NDIS since we since it was established. I want to thank the states and territories. I want to thank the literally thousands of people I've met with. I want to thank the disability advocates we've been speaking to. I want to thank my colleagues are, and I want to thank the opposition for being constructive. I might invite the chairman of the Ndia, the National Disability Insurance Agency, to say some words.

KURT FEARNLEY, NDIA CHAIR: Thank you, Minister. Am I hiding behind these microphones? With the passing of the legislation, I thought that it was an opportunity to reaffirm the deep commitment that the agency has to co-design. And we are rebuilding. We are rebuilding the agency to make sure that disabled boys are at every layer of our Scheme. We have a board that is 50% of people with disabilities. We have senior leadership now who are disabled people. We have more lines of co-design than ever before, 23 separate lines of co-design. Within that we have the participant voice, we have the advocacy voice. We have some of our incredible independent advisory Council members who will be advising us on the pathway forward, as well as representatives from our disability and disability representative carer organisations, our DRC, those we will from this framework, ensure that the disabled voice is a part of everything that we do. And as I started with, I just need to say again, we are deeply committed to designing this with people with disabilities. Co-design is something that we have fostered that we that we commit to, that we believe that we believe in. I've always said that the disabled voice, it is where a lot of the answers are. And from here on, we continue the pathway and this legislation. People may see this in isolation, but this is a part of the pathway since joining the board. And this will, uh, this will hopefully ensure that we get it right for disabled people. So happy to throw it back to you or.

SHORTEN: All right. Are there any questions?

JOURNALIST: Minister, just to clarify, for people who've been, um, watching this and have some further questions. Do you plan to tighten up or make changes to eligibility after? Of course, foundational supports are rolled in Mid-next year and continue to roll out. Is that something that will still be looked at, or is what you've done today sets up the items that are in and out, essentially doing that in its own way?

SHORTEN: No, uh, we're going to work to develop clarity about our eligibility and access to the Scheme. Today's legislation just gives us the legal authority to start that conversation with people with disability. Our aim is to do it in conjunction, concurrently with the development of supports for people outside the Scheme. And can I just do a one of the sort of. I know I should ignore misinformation on social media because it just makes your head spin. Some of the rubbish. Um, we are projecting in the future, with all of our changes, that the number of participants on the Scheme will go up every year. So when people say this is some sort of, uh, nasty way of abandoning people, you know, they're lying to you. Um, the number of people on the Scheme when we came to power was 534,000. Under Labour, it went to 610,000, and now it's at 661,000. And we're projecting more growth in numbers. So I just want to reassure people that maybe sometimes turn off your Twitter feed because it's not always right.

JOURNALIST: Minister just confirmed 61,000 participants on the Scheme. It's a lot of people. Now that this legislation has passed, how are you going to make sure? And how's the Agency going to make sure that everyone is on the same page, that they know about the new rules, and everyone can feel confident in what's about to happen?

SHORTEN: I'll get Kurt to supplement this about the processes we're adopting. Just. I know it's sometimes hard in a busy world to stop and think how far we've come, but when Kurt and I were talking about an NDIS in 2009, if we had said that we could have a personalised budget Scheme providing $70,000 on average to people roughly 660,000 people, you'd have just said we're off the planet. So we've come a long way, but I want this Scheme to be here in the future, so I know that it can't keep growing at the rate it's growing. But what we're doing is going to work out how we get quality out of the system. There's investment in it. We've just got to make sure that, you know, some sneaky providers and yes, most of them are good, but some of them are not are not overcharging, not charging more when they hear you on the NDIS and they actually providing quality outcomes and not just, you know, lightning people's accounts. So we will keep working with people with disability. Are we assuming the numbers will go up? But the rate of growth, I can say to Australians, we do intend to trim, not to reduce, but just can't keep going at 20% and that's just the fact.

FEARNLEY: Can I, can I jump back to you? The foundational supports, which I think is one of the one of the really exciting things in the future for disabled people. We cannot be a country where one agency is responsible for all elements of what it is to be a disabled person in this place. We need states and Commonwealth to be working together to make sure that we get to live these multifaceted lives, to make sure that we get disabled people to be, to be served where they live. And I think it is one of the one of the biggest bits of feedback we heard from the, um, the independent review was that the NDIS, being the only lifeboat in the ocean is not it's not a way to live. Um, can I say about the, the costs and the, the investment in disabled lives as I see it, if we would have been able to speak about ten years ago that we would have $43 billion, 42 and a bit billion dollars invested into disabled lives with a commitment to grow by 8% from there. I don't think many people would believe us. And that's what this is. This is an investment in disabled lives. And as far as the changes come through, I think that all I can sit here and say is that the agency we deeply value, the voice of disabled people. We need to be the human agency, and we need to engage with all those who are willing to be a part of the process going forward.

JOURNALIST: Mr. Shorten, Roger Cook, the WA Premier earlier today said that the states reluctantly agreed to support this legislation after they were provided with an assurance that the Commonwealth would work closely with them in the process of designing foundational support. He said he remains concerned that there will be process of shifting costs, shifting responsibility from the Commonwealth to the States. How do you respond to that? What assurances can you give to the states about the process going forward? And also, this is going to require renegotiation of the bilateral agreements with the states and territories when does that process start?

SHORTEN: I remember some journalists saying that we were never going to get this legislation approved. They predicted it was dead. I think some other journalists predicted that we'd never get the states to agree anyway. Uh, what I would say is, thank you, Mr. Cook, for agreeing to our reforms. Thank you, Mr. Cook, for your commitment to West Australians with disability. thank you, Mr. Cook, for agreeing to work with us on the future. Um, see, when I see a person with a disability, I don't see a West Australian with a disability or a Commonwealth person with a disability. I just see a human being. Someone who has dreams, someone who has hopes, hopefully a family who love them. And what that means to me, therefore, is we'll just keep working together. You know, I've got to be if I can be even as direct as this. And I know it's a bit hard in a cut and thrust of politics, and I know there's a bit of upset and tension at the margins. The reality is, the states did come to the party. They came to the party on 8%, they came to the party on foundational supports. And they've come to the party on this and we've compromised. So we live in an era where everyone says the politics is too difficult, but you can't get people to agree that we're all too polarised. Well, actually, the sensible centre has agreed.

SHORTEN: State and federal, Liberal and Labor. And I just want to finish the perhaps long answer just with this point, because it's sometimes important, as we're in the, you know, the hurly burly and you're talking about the next agreement, we'll get on with it, we'll negotiate and negotiations go on. Sometimes the states will throw the toys out of the cot. Maybe sometimes the feds will have a bit of a foot stamp. But we're moving forward here because the nation thinks that people with disability are important. And this is a point to remember. You know who else I think? I think the taxpayers, I think Australians, we are a bloody great country. I've travelled all around the world, as has my friend Kurt. No country does what we do. We don't do it as well as we should. We could do a lot better, but we are simply the best country on the earth in terms of the collective investment. And that reflects well on you, the media, on the political class, on activists, on advocates, on families, on taxpayers. But I know that they want us to run the Scheme properly. And anyone who says that we just, you know, turn a blind eye and we can't tighten things up. Beware the people who say that change is too hard, because they're the ones who would never have dreamed up the NDIS. If those bilateral.

JOURNALIST: Agreements, though I obviously don't have time for them, that's fine. But just is it before or after foundational supports roll out? Are we a bilateral agreement?

SHORTEN: We'd hope to conclude it before then. Yeah. See I can answer a question quickly.

JOURNALIST: Just from the communications side of things again for you both. Yeah, obviously, like you've both mentioned that there's folks in the community who, you know, for better or worse, are feeling really nervous, really scared. Um, I guess can participants expect to hear from the Agency soon with a bit of an explainer?

SHORTEN: We've got to go full-court press, I get it, there's been so much stuff floating out there that in some ways it's the political part which had to happen. Has that that part has now passed. Now the hard work begins of just straight out, let's make it work. We've got a direction, if you like. We've got a rail line, a direction to the future. Tram tracks. Now we just got to get on and start that journey together. But you're right. Communicate, communicate, communicate and we've got to do that a lot better. And that's a really good point. But over to you, Kurt.

FEARNLEY: Well, look, I think that that's the reason why I'm here. I think that to start talking about our commitment to work with disabled people, this is, uh, this has been a nervous time when you hear elements of your life discussed. And in Canberra, it can create a lot of anxiety. Um, it wasn't that long ago that we didn't have an NDIS. And I think that, well, for me, we will never go back to that space ever. Uh, the pathway forwards is with disabled people. We will not we will not give up on co-designing this with our participants, with the advocates we are we are deeply committed to this process going forward. And there are some exciting things in here, too. Some of the recommendations of the review, the top down budget settings where we are able to give more flexible experience for our participants as well. We've seen, you know, the line by line struggle and anxiety of interacting with our agency on a day to day basis, with the potential now to do something that is that has been a long time coming through the year that the independent review talked with disabled people, tried to find a pathway. Now we get to get on and make it and we will make it with disabled people. We will make it with the community. And that's the commitment. And those words I will I will continue to say them as, as, as long as we can. And we will also we will be meeting with our the DRCOs and the reference groups over the coming weeks to make sure that we re-up and reaffirm that commitment.

JOURNALIST: Mr. Shorten you've spent a lot of time working with people in the disability rights movement, marched through the streets with them to many members of that community. You are a hero. Some of those people are today saying that you have betrayed them. How does that make you feel?

SHORTEN: Well, they're wrong. As simple as that. Listen, in a perfect world, everyone would love you. I've learnt a long time ago that perfect world. I've yet to find it. All I can do is ultimately be true to myself. I can live with myself long after I live with the goodwill or an opinion poll, or a pat on the back, or a frown, or a dirty troll email. You know they've got to live with yourself. I love the NDIS. I'm more passionate about the NDIS than a lot of the partisan stuff we do in this place, to be honest. Um, I genuinely think that if we let the Scheme go on and I didn't realise when we came in quite how poorly run it was, I didn't realise they didn't have back office payment systems. I just didn't realise Frankly, the facade and the lack of homework that was being done on the behind the facade. Um, but one thing's for sure. What good would I be to a person with a disability if I just told them no problems. Everything's going to be fine. You can keep getting more and more and more. How do I help anyone? See, for me, I spend my day answering the individual emails where I see perhaps a bad planning decision made by the Agency or I see a service provider who's ripping off. Or I see someone whose plan isn't enough and they need more. Look, I'm right in the detail of what's happening in that Scheme. But what I also know is that leadership is not telling people what they want to hear. Leadership, at the end of the day, is trying to work out where the horizon is. Listen to people all the time. Listen to the lived experience. Listen to brilliant bloody people like, uh, like Kurt. And then you work a plan together. This review was out there. It was public. Um, so to those who are feeling anxious, I respect that. I just want to say that the sun will come up tomorrow. And as we roll out the changes, the people of Kurt's passion are making sure that co-design happens. Take a deep breath, because what we've done today is we've given the NDIS a new lease of life, that if we hadn't made this intervention after two and a half years of work with great people, I worry that the counterfactual is not the changes we're making. But if we hadn't acted now, then down the track, there'd be a lot more drastic stuff happening, which would have a lot more disastrous consequences for a lot more people.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned the good will of the coalition. You might have seen Linda Reynolds and Maria Kovacic abstain from the final vote in the Senate. Did you have any thoughts on that? Linda bemoaned you not taking the hand of bipartisanship when she was NDIS Minister? Is there anything that you want to reflect on for that particular action?

SHORTEN: I think Linda Reynolds has found herself in a very dark place. I'm not going to contribute any more. The reality is that when she was Minister, she came up with a half baked idea, which was going to hurt a lot of people, and she couldn't get it up. We've come up with a better plan, more co-design, and we've got it up. But as for Senator Reynolds, I think I will try not to ever talk about her again.

JOURNALIST: The latest quarterly report for the NDIS shows that the it's $600 million in savings over the forecast. That was before the legislation. Obviously. How are you- How much is going to be saved through this bill in the coming four, uh, quarterly report? But also but also the forward estimates as well, because obviously -

Well the short term answer is nothing's going to change tomorrow. There's two measures across that whole bill which hopefully will come in from the end of September beginning of October, so it won't even catch that next quarter because we've got to go through the Governor-General and all that. That's section ten list changes after we listen to the consultation and the section 33 stopping an automatic top up. Um, over the forward estimates, we think that we will invest over the next four years, roughly, and I'll send it to you by my very skilled advisers will give you the precise numbers that we will spend about $212 billion on the NDIS over the next four years, but that'll be 14 to $16 billion less than we would have if we hadn't done this legislation. So you notice I go to what we are investing. So if someone tries to tell you this is all terrible, man, this nation is putting a lot of money and we want to make the Scheme better and get better quality outcomes, is that we sort of this press conference reaches its natural conclusion. All right.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask one question about that man? Just about the draft list. There's lots of concern about the inclusion of menstrual products.

SHORTEN: Yeah. I'm sorry you missed yesterday's press conference, but, you know, it's good to clear it up again because I saw some green waffle off into pixieland. Um, the Department of Social Service put out a draft list of what you can spend your money on. What we think you shouldn't. No one's ever done that before. There's always been a list that has never bothered to talk to people about it. We're different. Uh, and there was a complete mistake made where, uh, women's menstrual products were under a category of, I know, lifestyle. Clearly, it's not a lifestyle product. So that was just absolutely tone deaf and I apologised yesterday. But, you know, happy to do that again. And when we actually come to women's menstrual products, the Scheme doesn't pay for the ordinary costs of living for a whole lot of items. But where there are items and this could include the category of women's menstrual products which have a particular disability application, they'll be included. All right. But I appreciate the chance to clear that up again. Thank you.