1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:04,800
Speaker 1: The federal government announcing changes to the NDS to refer

2
00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:09,200
Speaker 1: suspected fraudsters to police. These are people who hear the

3
00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:13,960
Speaker 1: words or the letters NDS and the cashrit just rings

4
00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:18,479
Speaker 1: up in their eyes and rip offs occur to the

5
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,520
Speaker 1: tune of thousands of dollars in cases, maybe even more.

6
00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,920
Speaker 1: It shouldn't be allowed. It's been happening. It happens across

7
00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:32,920
Speaker 1: the board where taxpayer money is concerned. Let's have a

8
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,440
Speaker 1: chat to the NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, who is on

9
00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:38,080
Speaker 1: the line. This is good news for people who want

10
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,239
Speaker 1: to hear exactly this. We've been talking about this for

11
00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,400
Speaker 1: so long. The people who are scamming taxpayers through the NDS.

12
00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:45,400
Speaker 1: It needs to end.

13
00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,599
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I don't think there's much lower in life than

14
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,199
Speaker 2: someone who rips off a person with a profound or

15
00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,400
Speaker 2: severe disability and someone who rips off a taxpayer. The

16
00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,240
Speaker 2: days of viewing the NDIS as a government honeypot well

17
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,760
Speaker 2: and truly over. Today. I'm announcing consultation on further tougher

18
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,920
Speaker 2: changes to the scheme to strengthen the powers of the watchdog.

19
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,399
Speaker 2: What it means is that we will be able to

20
00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:14,959
Speaker 2: have higher penalties, so a maximum of four hundred thousand

21
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,160
Speaker 2: dollars will go to in excess of fifteen million dollars

22
00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,880
Speaker 2: where a participant has heard or injured under a provider's care.

23
00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,200
Speaker 2: You know, it's what we're doing is treating people under

24
00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,000
Speaker 2: the NDIC the same you treat them under workers' complaws

25
00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:34,520
Speaker 2: that we're under wh work Health safety legislation. The value

26
00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 2: of a worker's life is valued in some jurisdic since

27
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,480
Speaker 2: it's thirty eight times the value of an NDIS participants

28
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:41,280
Speaker 2: and that stops.

29
00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and they should send the message to people

30
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,600
Speaker 1: who are thinking of ripping off. Well, essentially, as I

31
00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,360
Speaker 1: said the tax payer, this can't continue. It just can't.

32
00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,280
Speaker 2: We've already put in a whole new task force to

33
00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,240
Speaker 2: catch the crooks. I have to say I was shocked

34
00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,720
Speaker 2: when I became minist just you know, the welcome at

35
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,400
Speaker 2: was at the back door of the scheme for people

36
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,440
Speaker 2: to come and help themselves to the NDI ice kitchen.

37
00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,720
Speaker 2: Most participants are doing the right thing, Most providers are

38
00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,760
Speaker 2: doing the right thing. It's changing hundreds of thousands of lives.

39
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,639
Speaker 2: But unfortunately, you know, in the first eight or nine

40
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:17,799
Speaker 2: years of the scheme, there's been a naivete to put

41
00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,360
Speaker 2: generously naivety that with this government money, you've got to

42
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,760
Speaker 2: expect rogues and scoundrels to turn up and try and

43
00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:29,320
Speaker 2: help themselves. So we've put in new fraud detection methods,

44
00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,720
Speaker 2: We've put in more resources to investigate complaints. Get this.

45
00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:35,959
Speaker 2: There wasn't you could put in a claim between five

46
00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,840
Speaker 2: and six thirty pm under the previous government and it

47
00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,800
Speaker 2: would never be checked what happened there? So what just

48
00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,120
Speaker 2: to just to sleep at the wheel, just just you know,

49
00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:47,840
Speaker 2: I'll be honest. You had some ministers who viewed the

50
00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,520
Speaker 2: NDIA ICE is an inferior portfolio or maybe they're you know,

51
00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:53,840
Speaker 2: in the departure a lounge to political life and just

52
00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:56,919
Speaker 2: you know, rosing along, just you know, good old boys

53
00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,840
Speaker 2: and girls sleep and we two and a half years,

54
00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 2: we've been investing in new it, more people, and we're

55
00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,720
Speaker 2: also focusing on the quality of outcomefort participants. This is

56
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,560
Speaker 2: not about a participant not getting what they deserve. On

57
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,440
Speaker 2: the contrary, we want to make sure that this scheme

58
00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,800
Speaker 2: is true to its original purpose. But we are this

59
00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:20,200
Speaker 2: next round of legislation which will be hopefully agreed by

60
00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,399
Speaker 2: all parties. I hope even the Greens work this one

61
00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:27,200
Speaker 2: out early next year and get it through before the election.

62
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,519
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely needs to. Does this crack down to the

63
00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,600
Speaker 1: lowest extent where for instance, if you need to buy

64
00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,760
Speaker 1: I don't know a shower chair as an INDIS user

65
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,480
Speaker 1: and you say it's NDIS and suddenly it's up thirty percent?

66
00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:45,840
Speaker 1: Are we level we have?

67
00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,120
Speaker 2: I managed to find five million dollars for this a

68
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:54,200
Speaker 2: triple C. That's the sort of competition watchdog. It is

69
00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:58,880
Speaker 2: now illegal for a service provider to offer an identical

70
00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,520
Speaker 2: service or product a person on the scheme for more

71
00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,240
Speaker 2: money than off the scheme. Yeah.

72
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,240
Speaker 1: Good, Can this be? It's a different portfolio, But this

73
00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 1: needs to happen in age care as well. We're exactly

74
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:11,920
Speaker 1: the same sort of roughts occur.

75
00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,240
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think wherever there's government money, governments can't be naive.

76
00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,920
Speaker 2: But I do want to say this, I'm not critical

77
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,760
Speaker 2: of participants. You know, in my experience, ninety nine point

78
00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,080
Speaker 2: nine percent of the participants, straight up and down, they

79
00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,440
Speaker 2: have a disability they never asked for and never wanted.

80
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,000
Speaker 2: And this is about them having fulfilling lives. So when

81
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,480
Speaker 2: we talk about the crackdown, also, I've got to say

82
00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,160
Speaker 2: most service providers, most disability care workers, they put their

83
00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,640
Speaker 2: heart and soultent into it. You know, they're getting on

84
00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,600
Speaker 2: thirty bucks an hour to look after someone and keep

85
00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,160
Speaker 2: them safe and give them a sense of social engagement.

86
00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,560
Speaker 2: So most people are doing the right thing. One of

87
00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,280
Speaker 2: the tricky things when talking about the crackdowns is you

88
00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:56,800
Speaker 2: don't want to give everyone a bad name, but you

89
00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,320
Speaker 2: don't want to be Pollyanna and pretend that everything's brilliant. Well,

90
00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,200
Speaker 2: it's not trying to thread the needle of truth. Yeah.

91
00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:06,840
Speaker 1: And the other thing too, cancelation fees. This is just outrageous.

92
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,600
Speaker 1: Where you cancel a massage, for instance, and it costs

93
00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:11,040
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty bucks to cancel.

94
00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,039
Speaker 2: That should be happening absolutely not Like again, this goes

95
00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,360
Speaker 2: back to this situation if you are a service provider,

96
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,960
Speaker 2: maybe an allied health professional. And again I must still

97
00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,119
Speaker 2: weigh say most of them are just amazing, lovely people,

98
00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,880
Speaker 2: but don't charge your endy ice participant more than your

99
00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:28,920
Speaker 2: charge for all your other customers. Really, because there's a

100
00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:30,800
Speaker 2: price guard that says you can charge up to a

101
00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:36,960
Speaker 2: certain fee doesn't make them the maximum the minimum you charge.

102
00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,680
Speaker 2: Just you know, if man's struggling with a kid with

103
00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,800
Speaker 2: you know, high developmental needs and has to choose between

104
00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,000
Speaker 2: the school interview or having to cancel a service within

105
00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,040
Speaker 2: twenty four hours or for forty eight hours. Don't charge

106
00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,880
Speaker 2: mum and the kid. You know that ninety percent of

107
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:53,800
Speaker 2: the fee. It's just not on.

108
00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:55,680
Speaker 1: Yeah. Has that been cracked down?

109
00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:56,640
Speaker 2: Yeah?

110
00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:57,680
Speaker 1: Same thing?

111
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,240
Speaker 2: Okay, but I'm sure it's still going on. And every

112
00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:01,600
Speaker 2: time I do an interview like this, so I get

113
00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,120
Speaker 2: that you're angry email from a service providers as I'm

114
00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,599
Speaker 2: demonizing them. I'm not demonizing service providers, but I just

115
00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,160
Speaker 2: don't view people with disability on the ndisis human ATMs.

116
00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,280
Speaker 1: Well, that's the thing, and I'm sure, as you say,

117
00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:17,520
Speaker 1: most people do the right thing, but there are some

118
00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:19,880
Speaker 1: and they're the ones who are spoiling it as always,

119
00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:21,719
Speaker 1: no matter what it is for everybody else.

120
00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,560
Speaker 2: Well where you know, it's one of my American TV

121
00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,880
Speaker 2: actors once said, Crook. Do you feel lucky?

122
00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:32,920
Speaker 1: All right? Well, hopefully this makes the difference. Bill short

123
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,200
Speaker 1: and thank you for your time. Cheers, Matt Bae Ndis Minister.

124
00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,080
Speaker 1: I'm cracking down on the rawts in the system needs

125
00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,040
Speaker 1: to happen across the board. It doesn't matter whether it's

126
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:45,040
Speaker 1: ndish Care, where it's taxpayers money. This cannot be allowed

127
00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,680
Speaker 1: to continue and the government taking steps to try and

128
00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:48,080
Speaker 1: stop it.