E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SUBJECTS: Vaping crackdown; NDIS reboot; Reserve Bank
KENNY HEATLEY, HOST: Joining me live now is NDIS and Government Services Minister Bill Shorten. Good morning to you, Minister. So, you just heard Paul Fletcher there. How do we effectively crack down on vaping, particularly in teenagers?
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICESHORTEN: Well, The Minister for Health, Mark Butler, is addressing the National Press Club today, where he'll go into quite a bit of detail. But some of the headline propositions which have already been revealed are following: we believe that our the vape manufacturers and big tobacco companies are circumventing the rules around encouraging young people to smoke and they're using, or they're hooking people, by vapes, teenagers. So, what we want to do is make sure that it's a lot harder to – outlaw single use vapes, we’ll make it easier for the people who genuinely need them to get them through prescription at chemists, but we want to crack down on the sale of vapes, which can be easily accessed by kids. So, you know, long story short, we don't want the tobacco industry reinventing itself in the guise of, you know, lolly flavoured vapes, hooking kids as young as 12, 13 and 14.
HEATLEY: And pharmaceutical like packaging, is that like cigarette packets? They're going to change the packaging to make it, you know, with warnings on the front and things like that.
SHORTEN: Well, I think it's pretty insidious the way they're currently promoted. They're promoted as lollies; they're promoted as sort of fun things. They're - vapes can be come looking like toys. We've got to stop that because that's how they're hooking teenagers and it needs to go back into the more standard, sort of less market retail kid-friendly shapes and sizes and get back into the sort of thing we're doing with cigarettes. But as I said, Mark will give further detail today at 12:30.
HEATLEY: Convenience stores no longer to sell vapes. It's pretty popular. You see it everywhere you go. How do you stop vaping taking off in the black market once this comes in?
SHORTEN: Well, I think it's already happening in the black market. Kids who are 12 and 13 shouldn't be able to access vapes, but they're getting access to them. So, it's not a case that this will push it underground, it already is. And not regulating it isn't working. Quite often the distributors of vapes might be an older brother or sister, and then they literally get reimbursed for selling product to little kids in their schools. It's happening right now. I'm a parent of teenagers, I see it. I think these measures will be welcomed by a lot of parents. And the reality is that once you're hooked into vaping, it's a lot easier to get hooked into tobacco.
HEATLEY: Okay. Disability advocates have reacted furiously to your government's move to rein in spending on the National Disability Insurance Scheme after it unveiled a plan that could save the budget $50 billion over a decade, targeting an 8% NDIS growth instead of 14% currently. So, is that cleaning up the fraud and the waste in the system through your reboot?
SHORTEN: Well, first of all, I'm not sure that all disability advocates have reacted in the way you've said, but I do think there's a job for us to keep explaining our changes. The substance of the changes, as opposed to perhaps some of the headlines, are pretty straightforward. We want to make sure that every dollar in the scheme is getting through to the people for whom it was designed. I outlined at the Press Club on April the 18th a series of measures about improving the ability of the National Disability Insurance Agency to provide support, moving to longer term plans, making sure we stamp out unethical practice. I believe that if these reforms are effective over the next four years, that we will see a moderation in the growth of the scheme. But I must make very clear that the idea of having a target is a far cry from having a cap on the scheme. The scheme is demand driven. I think, and a lot of disability advocates, some are asking how do we think we can get it down to a range of 8% growth? That's a fair enough question and we'll just work with people with disability to implement reforms which prioritise the best interests of the person with a disability in this scheme, not an impersonal bureaucracy or some service providers who are feathering their own, you know, lining their own pockets.
HEATLEY: Just looking at some reports today, is there a problem with the amount of children coming into the NDIS with a diagnosis of autism?
SHORTEN: The challenge is if we can do early intervention better, then kids will get a better start in life. At the moment there is a challenge where the diagnosis is sort of following the money. What I mean by that is that if there's not a whole lot of other supports out there for early intervention for kids, then the only thing which exists is the NDIS. So, if a child needs to be on the NDIS, they will still keep being on the NDIS. But I think we need to build up the supports for families and for the early diagnosis of kids without having to just rely on the NDIS to do all the heavy lifting. The reality is the NDIS, it's a great idea, it's life changing, but it wasn't for every Australian with a disability. I think if we can screen kids earlier than we are, if we can detect developmental delays early than we do, then one option will be the NDIS. But other options might not need the NDIS to do it but might require just better support and childcare. Parent to parent peer group support, playgroups. So, I just think we just need to not leave it too late to identify developmental delay in kids and then we can have a bigger menu of options to help kids fulfil their potential.
HEATLEY: Okay, just finally, Minister, because we're running out of time. The RBA rate decision today, minutes from the RBA's April board meeting, noted concerns that 700,000 new arrivals in migrants over two years to 2024 could put significant pressure on Australia's existing capital stock, especially housing, which would in turn manifest in higher consumer prices. Do you agree record migration is going to lead to more interest rate rises there, what's your take on that?
SHORTEN: I think there's a big leap to go from migration to interest rate. First of all, the Reserve Bank sets interest rates so what they do is up to them. It is important that when we have migration that we are able to keep pace with the infrastructure and that we don't overcrowd our systems. We're doing a review of the migration system at the moment. The truth of the matter is it's been allowed to fall to rack and ruin, and you can't fix up the last ten years of the previous government just by clicking your fingers overnight. We need to get the balance right. We need to always make sure there's a good training and education system for our own people. But also, we've seen during COVID when we saw a mass exodus of temporary workforce that in some strained sectors of the economy, they need to get these visa workers back. It's about just getting the balance right. It's about training our young, promoting the employment of Australians. And also, we will always need and always have needed some proportion of people from overseas to complement our birth rates and to complement our skill shortages. And so, I think we'll get the balance right.
HEATLEY: And to build the houses too. Bill Shorten, really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much.
