E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TOM LOWREY, HOST: Can I take you first to those comments from shadow minister for finance, Jane Hume. What did you make of them and is there room to trim the NDIS further?
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Firstly, I would say Jane Hume has her numbers incorrect. The last year the Liberals were in government there was a 22 per cent growth rate of the NDIS. So, we've been working very hard to make this scheme sustainable. We've been working with people with disability, getting it back on track. And I have to say Jane Hume is also wrong to say that we are not meeting our targets that we set. National Cabinet set the target of eight per cent growth by 1 July 2026 and this year we had predicted that we would be at a 12 per cent growth rate. Actually, we're doing better than that. The most recent figures coming out from the NDIA year to date is we are down to 10 per cent. So, we're working very diligently but importantly we're working with people with disability. Now, Jane Hume does have to be honest about what she would cut. We've been very clear about what our pathway is for reform. She has not been clear about what her cuts would be. Some of the suggestions about where growth should track at would suggest that no new participants could enter the scheme next year if she was to follow some of the comments that she has thrown around. So, this would be deeply concerning if no new participants could enter the scheme in the next financial year. Unfortunately I think Jane Hume hasn't actually looked back at the record of the Liberal Party when they were in government a 22 per cent growth rate. We have got it down to 10 per cent. We're on track to reach our eight per cent target. We will keep doing that, but in a way that has equity, fairness and transparency at its heart.
TOM LOWREY: To be clear, Jane Hume said the first priority has to be hitting that eight per cent target. Are you confident that eight per cent target will be hit by the middle of next year?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I am very reassured about the progress that we've made. As I said, part of the way to meet that growth target was to reach 12 per cent this financial year. The most recent data has suggested that we would be hitting 10 per cent this year. So, that is significant progress that we've been making. But we've been making it by going back to the intent of the scheme, not just random cuts to people, but actually going back to the intent of the scheme, which is clearly outlining what are NDIS supports and what are not and working with people, to work within the budget of their plan. These are some of the changes we've made and we will continue to make progress. I'm very confident of us meeting that target.
TOM LOWREY: Yeah, the Grattan Institute had some analysis out, I think earlier this week or last week that suggested that hitting that eight per cent target won't be easy. But keeping growth below that eight per cent into the future would be particularly challenging. How do you constrain the growth of the NDIS into the future?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: What we're doing is making sure that we go back to the original intent of the scheme and that's reasonable and necessary supports. I mean some of the behaviour that we saw while the previous government was in office that they did let a lot of fraud flourish. So, we have been very much focused on cracking down on fraud and dodgy providers as just one example. But it's also been being clear about what is a NDIS support and what is not a NDIS support. How do we make sure that we have effective use of budgets and plans so that we have contained intra plan growth and that is making sure that people are getting supports that they need within their plan that they have received. So, we're doing a lot of work there. That is how we have been able to achieve the reduction from 22 per cent growth under the coalition. That's where we're making progress. But we know it's a challenge. We will continue to work with people with disability to ensure that we get the settings right, not make just gross cuts like it's that the coalition is planning to do.
TOM LOWREY: Part of that agreement at National Cabinet that you mentioned earlier was for the states to do more of the heavy lifting, to start to put in those services that perhaps had been in place before the NDIS was introduced that have since been removed. Have you seen any progress on that front? Are the states pulling their weight the way you'd like?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, what was in that agreement was joint funding between the states and territories and the Commonwealth for supports outside the NDIS. I've been having very good conversations with my state colleagues and we continue to work and talk about what are some of the gaps, what are the some of these services that they could deliver, what are some of the services that are needed. It's different in each state and territory. So, that work is progressing, but it is not conditional on the progress that we've made. The progress that we've made around, for example, what is and isn't a NDIS support has been done separate to the work being done on foundational support. So, we'll continue that work with our states and territories. I need to be clear that we offered co-funding with the states and territories and we'll keep working with them.
TOM LOWREY: I just want to briefly touch on some figures that came out today. You've suggested that withdrawing superannuation for housing could wind up adding a $1.4 billion hit to the age pension down the track. What were the assumptions you made to get there? How did you get to that figure?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: These were assumptions made by the PBO. It took a pretty conservative case of someone around the age of 40 withdrawing the $50,000 that the Coalition would allow them to do. What we already know from analysis done last week was that would potentially add more than $70,000 to a house price. But what this evidence and the modelling shows is that having a situation where you can withdraw superannuation for housing would mean more people having to rely on the pension in their older age and that would cost the taxpayer approximately $1.4 billion annually. So, this is just bad policy all around. It's bad for taxpayers, it's bad for people who want to have a secure retirement and don't necessarily, after they've paid into super, want to rely on a full pension or a part pension. But it's also bad at pushing up housing prices, making it more out of reach for more Australians to get into the housing market. So, it's lose, lose.
TOM LOWREY: Amanda Rishworth, out of Time. Thanks so much for joining me.