E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
4BC BRISBANE
THURSDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2021
 
SUBJECTS: Standards for politicians; new report shows economic benefits of NDIS; Australia’s relationship with France.
 
SCOTT EMERSON, HOST: I might ask this next bloke about that, some sort of standards for pollies. We've got Bill Shorten on the line. How are you, Bill?

BILL SHORTEN, MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG: I'm good. My timing's excellent isn’t it, we’ll have a little pollie bash.

EMERSON: Oh no, it's not going to be a pollie bash. I'm an ex-pollie, you know that. So, I - now look, let's be very clear here, Bill Shorten. He's the Shadow Minister for the NDIS. I occasionally have a bit of a stoush with him on Today program on Tuesday mornings, but it's good to have you on my 4BC Drive show this afternoon.

SHORTEN: Fantastic. Thanks for having us on, Scott.

EMERSON: Now, just on that point that they just mentioned there, do you reckon there should be some sort of standards for pollies? Isn't the standard they get enough votes at the election?

SHORTEN: Well, the Constitution sets out some standards. If you're not allowed under Section 44, so listen, I can see that we don't have to have a driver's license or other things which other people get, but you've got to be an Australian citizen only - as we found out, that standard was quite hard to, and you can't be a bankrupt or convicted of a penalty, which carries a criminal sentence longer than a year and a day. So, there are some standards

EMERSON: I think Dave was arguing for us having a little bit of a written test there, maybe numeracy and literacy. I think most of them would pass.

SHORTEN: You'd hope most of them would pass, wouldn't you? I mean….

EMERSON: I would hope that would be the case, I would.

SHORTEN: I'm relaxed about, you know, spelling test or your times table. But I think it's the choice of the voters if the voters choose you and you're eligible under the Constitution, that's a start, isn't it? 

EMERSON: That is the real test. Now while I've got you on the show today. Now it's all about the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Now it's estimated to leave the economy, this is any research that's come out, $52 billion better off - $52 billion. Now you're the Shadow Minister for NDIS and Government Services. Now look what I hear about the NDIS. Look, a lot of people like the scheme, but what we hear a lot about also is how expensive the scheme is. So, this is interesting research. What's your understanding about this? Because look, when they work out these calculations about. you spend this dollar, you get this amount of money - in the back of my mind, I'm always a little bit dubious about that. Who's making the calculation? How are they working it out?

SHORTEN: Well, the people who commissioned the research, I suppose - the researchers said that for every dollar spent on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, it generates 2.25 back, which is better than I did on the Melbourne Cup Tuesday. And it's a good investment, in all seriousness. There's now 467,000 profoundly and severely impaired Australians who get individual packages of support. There's 270,000 people working directly as disability carers and tens of thousands of more – many people in Queensland work in the caring economy. So, these are net pluses. Now the research, though you always got to ask yourself when you hear research, who's pushing it and who commissioned it. This research was commissioned by the National Disability Services, so they're the peak body for the 1200 or so largest and through to small disability service providers. So, it's not that the Liberal Party's commissioned it or the Labor Party or the unions. It's as legitimate if we’ve commissioned research, but this is done by an apolitical group who was saying that they keep hearing about the Government wanting to cut the system, and they're saying, Listen, before we get too excited about cuts, just understand there is a plus towards investing in people. This scheme has meant, as it's expanded, that unpaid carers family members have been able to go into the workforce because they get a bit of paid help looking after their loved ones. It's meant that people with disabilities have got a better quality of life, so it just says that perhaps rather than counting the price of everything, look at the value of it.

EMERSON: Now, if you're involved with the NDIS, give us a ring on this on 133 882. Do you see the benefit? And if you're a taxpayer out there, I guess, and you're not using it, do you support the scheme or do you have concerns about how much it does cost? Look, I think this is something in a progressive society, a society that cares for its entire community, I think the NDIS has been sensational. It has been sensational. But you can understand in the back of people's minds who probably don't have a face-to-face encounter with it, that they see how much it does cost, but they do wonder about the value of it.

SHORTEN: Let me put two points. One point is the NDIS is a universal scheme, and you never know if you have a family member who has a baby child and all of a sudden doesn't develop in the way you hoped, and they've got a developmental delay, you mightn't think you know the NDIS until it happens, but when that does, you want that early intervention. It can happen in the blink of an eye through a car crash. It can happen through Parkinson's or Motor Neurone Disease or Multiple Sclerosis. So, I just say to people who say, oh, we don't need this, you know, everyone should just look after themselves. This could be you or someone you love. But I will also say sometimes I think there is money wasted in the scheme. That's not an argument to cut the scheme. That's an argument to make sure that some service providers aren't dodgy, to make sure that people with disabilities are not being overcharged. You've got to make sure that the care that's being promised is actually delivered. So, there are improvements you can make. The scheme has changed people's lives, but by the same token, sometimes we've tied people in so much red tape that it practically becomes a full-time job dealing with the scheme. So, I'm not saying the scheme is perfect, but I just wish that the government would stop trying to wind back people's packages because they really think that there's a quota for the disabled, and that's it. And if there's too many people disabilities, well, then we've got to, you know, shut the gate - and I don't think we should do that.

EMERSON: I'm talking with the Shadow Minister for the NDIS and Government Services, Bill Shorten. Bill, obviously, the political narrative has been dominated this week by Scott Morrison over in Rome and then Glasgow and the stoush with Emmanuel Macron and obviously - 

SHORTEN: And bonjour to your listeners.

EMERSON: Yes. Well, Sacré Bleu, I think has been very much the case, in terms of what's been happening here now. Peter Dutton, the Defence Minister, he's come out today and said, look, much like Scott Morrison said yesterday that we just need to move on. Well, what's your advice to the Government? How do they move on from the stoush with France?

SHORTEN: Listen, I think that the decision to move to nuclear propulsion technology for the submarines was the right call. So, I'm not going to be mealy mouthed about that. I think that the men and women in our defence forces deserve the best technology available in the world, because we asked them to go in harm's way. And if nuclear powered submarines are the best submarine technology in the world, that's what we should do. I do think, though, that the Government - this Government loves to say they're the overlords of defence, and they're the only people who can ever handle defence matters. I do remember Tony Abbott wanted us to buy Japanese submarines, and Malcolm Turnbull wants to buy French submarines. Scott Morrison was the Treasurer when they made that decision. Now they've worked out that nuclear propulsion is the way to go. Like, I just wonder if it could have been handled a bit better from the get-go. And for me, it's a defence argument. You know, I get the French are outraged, but you know, at a certain point, you know, Monsieur Macron, you know, we're going to need to turn down the temperature on the old French onion soup here. But I do think that this Government has for eight years just, you know, they've told us the Japanese submarines are the best in the world, then we were told the French submarines were the best in the world and now we've been told nuclear propelled submarines are the best in the world. I happen to think the last point is probably true. But I can understand why the French thought they had a $90 billion contract. We were all saying they've worries. Bonjour mon ami. Let's all go out to dinner in Paris. And then all of a sudden, the date's off. You know, it’s all cancelled. So, you know, I just wish that we'd sort of got to this conclusion a lot earlier, because it's always better not to disappoint your allies and the people who you've dealt with over 100 years.

EMERSON: Alright, Bill Shorten, great to have you on 4BC Drive this afternoon.

SHORTEN: Thanks, Scott. Cheers.

ENDS