LIBBY COKER MP
CHAIR OF THE JSC NDIS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CORANGAMITE
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC WESTERN PLAINS
FRIDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2024
SUBJECTS: JSC NDIS Dubbo Public Hearing; NDIS Support Lists; NDIS Back on Track Bill; Aged Care Pay Rise.
JAMES FINDLAY: Your next local news coming up in just over 10 minutes, but now there's no doubt that the NDIS has changed the lives of those living with a disability. But many acknowledge the system is not perfect. The Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS was in Dubbo yesterday to hear from NDIS participants, their families, service providers and community organisations about their experience with the service. Federal Labor Member Libby Coker is the chair of the committee. Good morning to you, Miss Coker. What did you hear yesterday?
LIBBY COKER: We heard that people want the NDIS to stay, that they think it is of great value compared to what we had before with block funding where people didn't really have choice, and they just had to take services that they got. So, look, they value the NDIS, they believe it is a really great scheme. However, we all acknowledge that there is more to do, and we heard stories about how your community – so, you know between Gilgandra and Dubbo – and other communities actually collaborate and do work together to make sure that we get the services we need. Because the focus of this inquiry that we're running currently, it's about remote communities, rural communities, regional communities. How do we actually get the services that people need and the supports to people with disability in those communities?
FINDLAY: What are some of the challenges that you heard yesterday from participants and service providers?
COKER: One of the key things is workforce. So, how do we actually get more people living in these communities – in your communities – who have the right skills to support people with disability locally, so that people don't have to travel long distances in order to get that support. Because if you're spending your planning dollars on transport, you're not spending those dollars on the treatments, the supports you need so that you can live a good life. So, there is challenge there. So, we also heard about some interesting solutions. So, from a government perspective, we are working with the states, our Minister Bill Shorten has made an agreement with the States and territories that they will provide foundation supports. And what that means is if your family you have a child with who's been diagnosed with a condition, maybe, perhaps autism, but it is not at a level where you will need the NDIS – not right now. If you get the right level of support, you may find that your child is going to do well. So, it might be speech therapy, for example, and that the states – which did when the NDIS came in, they stepped back – we're asking the states to step back in now, provide those types of supports and then the NDIS is still going to be available if that child needs to go on to the NDIS – that can occur. But it gives us more flexibility. It gives us more dollars to actually focus on how do we support people right across the board on disability, because one thing I know is that people believe in the National Disability Insurance scheme and they want it to stay – a bit like Medicare.
FINDLAY: I'd imagine that the challenge that we face in the regions with not having enough service providers is probably something that is felt acutely in the city as well. So, is there much that can be done to drag people from the cities to regional areas where there might not be as much work?
COKER: And that's a very good question. That's a question we put to those who came along yesterday. So, we had people from government, from Council, community groups, we had some of them, the medicos themselves there, and we talked about the type of working with state and local government to make towns attractive to come to, and I'm sure you've had this discussion before…
FINDLAY: About many sectors.
COKER: Yeah, and look, it is an ongoing challenge, not just with the NDIS, but about how we actually promote our regional centres as being places that are great places to live. And being in Dubbo yesterday was beautiful. We had the meeting at the zoo and we got to go out in the sunshine and watch the monkeys in the break which was great fun, but what I sensed was here's a community of Dubbo that has so much to offer. And we need to make sure people from cities who are often experiencing, you know, traffic jams on the way to work, [and] you know, struggling to feel a sense of connection. Whereas in places like Dubbo you get the, you know, the taxi driver on the on the way to where I stayed, we had a fantastic chat about Dubbo. He put his suggestions forward. You know, people are very community minded, so I think that we've gotta let people know that, you know, our rural townships are really great places to live, but it is also about ensuring that we build workforce. So, we have to look at how we attract people. Now, it was interesting, I think it was at Gilgandra where the local NDIS provider is looking at – and the Council – attracting people from overseas who can come into the Community and work in disability, and that's been really successful. It's also about creating the training that will attract people to come to places like Gilgandra or Dubbo so that they can up their skills. And also, it is from a government perspective, it is about how do we actually ensure people are recompensed for the work they do fairly? In aged care, we've upped aged care wages by 15% because people in aged care who worked in that field getting the same pay as someone who stacked shelves at Coles. Now that's a that's a reasonable job. But when you're working in a field where you have such responsibility, that's important, that we pay reasonable wages.
FINDLAY: You're on ABC Western plains. It's 26 past 7, with you is Libby Coker, who's the Labor MP and chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS and the Joint Standing Committee was in Dubbo yesterday for hearings. Miss Coker, you said there that workers in this, in the care sector need to be paid a certain amount. You know, better wages to attract them to the industry. Well, some people must be making money out of this because there are more reports this week in the NINE papers of service providers making thousands of dollars off referrals. It comes after reports of NDIS spending millions of dollars on sending participants on safaris, cruises, holidays, how confident are you that the government can crack down on this?
COKER: Look, we've just had legislation in the Parliament which is about how do we? But because it's true, we've got to sustain the NDIS. So, you know, wages are something that we need to we need to look at. But that's something that the Fair Work Commission will look at that if it is brought to them.
FINDLAY: Well, the service providers could be paying more money for their people instead of making more profits, right?
COKER: Well, look, that is an interesting conversation to have. But in terms of the type of things that people can actually have paid for under the NDIS. We have introduced lists that will provide really great guidance and flexibility on what people who have a disability are able to access those services. So, it is important that people can get the services they need, but there's also been confusion on what can be claimed and what cannot be, so that's where we do need to have clarity and which our government has done because we want to make sure the scheme is sustainable and that's really important.
FINDLAY: Yeah. He's hearing from the text line here. Algae in Gilgandra is saying, having experienced being accepted to the NDIS some five years ago, with the son being severely injured and has since passed, two agencies we used charged an arm and a leg for services. Yet the hands-on experts were being paid a token. My opinion is agencies need to be closely scrutinised. That's from Algae in Gilgandra.
COKER: Yeah, and. And look, I would agree that agencies need – we do need to scrutinise now. That's not to say that there are a lot of really good agencies that are doing great job. But the, what people can claim for, what providers advise, and what they claim for, we definitely, in the review, and in the implementation of the latest actions, we will be making sure that providers are, you know, doing the right thing because it is – once again – it’s very important the we keep this scheme sustainable so that we keep an NDIS and support people with disability.
FINDLAY: I've got to leave it there, Miss Coker, but thanks so much for your time this morning.
COKER: Well, thank you for your interest.
FINDLAY: That is Libby Coker there, the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS.
