Doorstop interview, Cosmos-Star
E & OE
FIFIELD:
It’s great to be in Hobart with Senator David Bushby catching up with disability and aged care organisations. And terrific to meet with Cosmos-Star who are a terrific disability provider in Tasmania and to hear their experiences of the NDIS.
JOURNALIST:
So how is it going at the moment? Is it all going to plan?
FIFIELD:
Look the NDIS in the trial sites is tracking pretty well. In Tasmania, which is a state-wide trial for 15 to 25 year olds, there are about 900 participants at the moment. Their experiences on the whole have been pretty good. But we very much see the trial sites as a learning opportunity, so that where there are things that need adjustment before the full national rollout we can do that.
JOURNALIST:
So what’s the next stage of the roll out, it’s due in July 2016?
FIFIELD:
That’s right. At the moment I’m in negotiations with each of the States and Territories about how the NDIS will be rolled out state-wide, beyond the current trial sites. And our aim is to commence rolling out throughout the rest of Tasmania from the middle of 2016.
JOURNALIST:
There’s been a little bit of teething issues with the service in these sort of pilot sites here in Tasmania, I’ve heard disability services say it was implemented too quickly before proper processes were actually dealt with or set up, what’s your perspective of that?
FIFIELD:
Well the Productivity Commission in their landmark report recommended that the trial sites commence a year later than they have. The previous government brought forward the timeframe by a year. That obviously posed some additional challenges for service providers to get ready. But the fact is, the trial sites are underway, and we’ve just to work extremely hard to make sure providers and participants have a good experience.
JOURNALIST:
There’s almost a ten-fold increase in money that’s going to be spent on the roll-out by 2019, are you confident that’s going to happen and services will actually be effective?
FIFIELD:
Well at full roll-out the NDIS will be a $22 billion a year scheme, which represents effectively a doubling of the amount of money going to support people with disability. This really is the core business of government and we will do whatever we have to do as a Federal Government to make sure that the funding is there.