Latest / The Morning Edition / My niece needs the NDIS. Yes, it must be cut – but with a scalpel, not a chainsaw
Transcript
- 0:03S1: As our journalist James Massola puts it, his niece Masha is,
- 0:07S1: like most three year olds, boisterous and bursting with energy.
- 0:12S1: Masha is also not like most three year olds. From
- 0:16S1: the moment she was born, her parents have had to
- 0:18S1: grapple with a complex set of problems that make life
- 0:21S1: very different. I'm Samantha Selinger Morris, and you're listening to
- 0:26S1: Morning Edition from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald today,
- 0:30S1: chief political commentator James Massola on Australia's National Disability Insurance
- 0:35S1: scheme and what next month's expected cuts to the scheme
- 0:39S1: really mean. It's April the 15th. James, welcome back to
- 0:48S1: the podcast.
- 0:49S2: Great to be here, Sam. Thank you.
- 0:51S3: Now you've just written a personal.
- 0:52S1: Piece about how the government's disability scheme has really been
- 0:56S1: a lifeline for your sister and her three year old daughter.
- 0:59S1: So can you just tell me about your sister Caroline's
- 1:02S1: journey to becoming a parent and her longed for daughter, Eunice.
- 1:05S1: Because many of us have had, you know, longed for children,
- 1:08S1: fought hard to have them. I know I have, but
- 1:10S1: very few have had the experience that your sister has
- 1:12S1: had after her daughter was born.
- 1:14S2: Yeah, look. That's right. My sister and her husband tried
- 1:17S2: for a couple of years. I mean, my wife and
- 1:19S2: I had the same thing. It's not uncommon these days, Sam,
- 1:21S2: is it? Um. They eventually. Caroline. My sister got pregnant
- 1:24S2: with Mateo, and that was, you know, obviously a great
- 1:27S2: moment for them, but, um, how do I put this?
- 1:31S2: Almost from the well, from the very early months, um,
- 1:35S2: after she was born, it was, I think, clear that
- 1:38S2: not everything was quite right with Mateo. Um, in sort
- 1:42S2: of a growth and developmental sense. She, uh, you know,
- 1:45S2: saw a range of specialists for the first couple of years. Um,
- 1:48S2: you know, Caro and her husband would be taking Mateo
- 1:52S2: to various specialists and what have you. And over time,
- 1:54S2: they sort of worked out a couple of things wrong. Like,
- 1:56S2: she can't kind of drink properly or close her mouth
- 1:59S2: properly to drink properly, you know, know, from her sippy cup.
- 2:01S2: Things like that. So they identified little bits and pieces
- 2:05S2: of things that weren't quite working. Eventually, some genetic testing
- 2:10S2: was done and it was found that Mateo has a
- 2:14S2: syndrome called Jansen de Vries syndrome, which is which was
- 2:17S2: only discovered in 2017. Um, uh, it's very rare at
- 2:22S2: this stage. Karel is aware of there being perhaps five
- 2:25S2: people in Australia who have it. Um, you know, the
- 2:27S2: Facebook group she's in the worldwide Facebook group she's in
- 2:31S2: has about 200 members. You know, sort of a support
- 2:33S2: group if you like. And it's only been identified in
- 2:36S2: 26 countries now. It's probably more widespread than that. But
- 2:39S2: it's just, you know, sophisticated testing is required to diagnose it.
- 2:43S2: Some of its symptoms include having an intellectual disability, um,
- 2:47S2: delays in sort of speech in walking. Anxiety. Yeah. And difficulty,
- 2:51S2: as I said, uh, feeding, drinking and gastrointestinal issues. So
- 2:55S2: it has an impact on the whole person. Um, and,
- 2:58S2: you know, really it has shaped or will shape Mateo's
- 3:02S2: life for the rest of her days.
- 3:05S3: And you've written.
- 3:06S1: That your sister and therefore Mateo receive funding from the NDIS.
- 3:09S1: Of course, to help support her. So what sort of
- 3:12S1: funding does she get and how does it help Mateo
- 3:15S1: on a day to day basis?
- 3:16S2: So she gets this. She gets a stack of different therapies.
- 3:19S2: She gets ot occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy. She
- 3:25S2: has some work done on I guess. Oh, well, yeah,
- 3:29S2: it's behavioural therapy. I guess it's called because she has
- 3:32S2: trouble regulating her emotions sometimes because she gets frustrated because
- 3:36S2: she can't say how she's feeling.
- 3:39S3: Okay, but you've written that.
- 3:40S1: Even though the NDIS was actually built for people like
- 3:43S1: Mateo and her condition is severe, she's also, I think
- 3:47S1: believe got poor vision, uh, poor fine motor skills. Like
- 3:51S1: you've mentioned, feeding, drinking and gastrointestinal difficulties. She's also got
- 3:55S1: intellectual disability in addition to autism and ADHD, but that
- 3:59S1: the funding she receives under the NDIS. Even under its
- 4:03S1: current setup, could either drop or be cut for various reasons.
- 4:06S1: So how so and why? Because on the face of it,
- 4:09S1: like as a layperson, this sounds nonsensical or even cruel.
- 4:14S2: Yeah, yeah. Look, I mean, I don't think it's deliberately cruel,
- 4:16S2: but it is nonsensical. And I'm only obviously relaying, um, kairo's,
- 4:21S2: you know, experience, I'm sure not necessarily the experience of
- 4:25S2: everyone in the NDIS. And I should say as well, Sam,
- 4:27S2: I'm talking about Caro and Mateo's experience with their permission,
- 4:31S2: of course. So what happens in the NDIS is you
- 4:34S2: get your, um, uh, your package essentially reviewed not every year,
- 4:39S2: but most years, some years they roll it over. It
- 4:42S2: allocates a certain amount of money that you can use
- 4:44S2: for those physical therapies that I mentioned before. You know,
- 4:47S2: you could use them to get a support worker who's
- 4:50S2: sort of highly trained, um, to come in. I don't know,
- 4:52S2: let's say three days a week or whatever it might
- 4:54S2: be and help Mateo or help Caro and Mateo and Vaughn,
- 4:57S2: her husband, get her ready for school, those sorts of things.
- 5:00S2: Do some of the therapy with her so that mum
- 5:03S2: and dad can kind of get ready to go to work.
- 5:05S2: Those sorts of things. So in that sense, a tremendous help. Um,
- 5:09S2: it also, uh, Cara was a, she estimated that it
- 5:13S2: probably cuts and it's a generous package. She didn't want
- 5:16S2: me to say exactly how much, but it's probably covers
- 5:19S2: less than half of what Cara and her husband are
- 5:22S2: having to outlay each year, which is, you know, approximately
- 5:26S2: sort of 80 to $90,000. Um, NDIS covers less than half,
- 5:30S2: which is great, but it's not everything. And in terms
- 5:32S2: of the uncertainty and in terms of reviews, I mean
- 5:35S2: this year Cara was saying that they did roll over
- 5:37S2: review sorry, her package and it was fine. But the
- 5:40S2: preceding year she'd had to sort of go through the
- 5:43S2: hoops and prove various things. Now, I think some of
- 5:45S2: this is about integrity in the NDIS. Like there's this
- 5:48S2: perception that no one's doing anything to monitor the system.
- 5:51S2: That's not right. You know, Ndia staff are doing this work,
- 5:56S2: but it doesn't necessarily seem to me to make sense. Uh,
- 6:00S2: in Mateo's case. But, you know, there it is.
- 6:03S1: But there were some things that you wrote in your
- 6:05S1: column that I thought, wow. Because for one thing, you
- 6:08S1: said that this incredibly rare syndrome that she's got that,
- 6:11S1: like you say, presents really whole person challenges. Uh, it's
- 6:15S1: hard to imagine any parent being able to manage this
- 6:17S1: without help, but that she actually isn't even getting NDIS
- 6:22S1: funding because of this syndrome. Because it's so new, it
- 6:24S1: isn't even recognised by the scheme, but rather it's actually
- 6:27S1: her development delays in intellectual disability or qualify her. So
- 6:32S1: you said she receives a high level of support now
- 6:34S1: at this critical stage. Of course, when early intervention can
- 6:37S1: make a big difference. But you said that when she
- 6:39S1: reaches six, her funding could drop unless it's judged that
- 6:42S1: she still has a significant intellectual disability. Now, that would seem,
- 6:45S1: as a layperson, again, problematic because if her intellectual disability improves,
- 6:51S1: let's just say, and it isn't as strong, her funding
- 6:54S1: could be cut, even though she's got all of these
- 6:56S1: incredibly severe challenges that are associated with this syndrome. So
- 7:01S1: isn't this not good enough or what?
- 7:03S2: In a sense, yes. I mean, look, she is, as
- 7:05S2: you just touched on, Jeeves isn't covered, but it's a
- 7:09S2: sort of global developmental delay category. So that means she's
- 7:14S2: in pretty good shape until she's six. It's not specific
- 7:16S2: to Mateo that her funding could go down once she
- 7:19S2: gets to six. That's pretty I think that's pretty standard
- 7:22S2: for the scheme. I mean, the other thing, and this
- 7:24S2: is no knock on anyone, um we don't know the
- 7:28S2: extent of her intellectual disability like some jdavies kids have.
- 7:32S2: It's almost impossible to identify that they've got it. Um,
- 7:35S2: you know the syndrome, it's very mild. Some it's, uh,
- 7:39S2: less mild. Personally, I'm, you know, I see characters in Melbourne.
- 7:43S2: I'm in Canberra maybe once every 2 or 3 months.
- 7:45S2: And so I see how many new words Mateo has learned.
- 7:48S2: She's maybe got 100 now and you can pick them out. Oh,
- 7:50S2: she can say my kids names now or she can
- 7:53S2: say this now. I'm an optimist and I'm hoping that
- 7:55S2: she'll get, you know, much further down the track of
- 7:58S2: developing her language. But we just don't know. And if
- 8:01S2: if you know, if things don't go quite as we
- 8:04S2: might hope. Then, um, you know, I guess the converse
- 8:07S2: of that is she's more likely to stay on the
- 8:09S2: higher support plan going into the future. So there's a
- 8:13S2: sort of a general uncertainty there, some of which is
- 8:16S2: NDIS related and some of which is just, you know,
- 8:18S2: the vicissitudes of life essentially.
- 8:20S1: But you also wrote that if she had qualified because
- 8:22S1: of her autism, because she's also got that that much
- 8:25S1: of the funding would be cut. So riddle me that, James.
- 8:29S2: Yeah. So this is I mean, autism and its coverage
- 8:32S2: by the NDIS is very much in or are rather
- 8:35S2: under the spotlight at the moment, because about 40% of
- 8:38S2: people on the scheme now have developmental delays or I
- 8:42S2: think it's called I might get the term wrong, lower
- 8:45S2: level autism. So it's not severe autism. And what the
- 8:48S2: government has been saying, look, that's too many. That's hundreds
- 8:51S2: of thousands of kids. We need to win that back. Now. Again,
- 8:55S2: it's simply the case that we don't know the level
- 8:57S2: of severity of Mateo's autism yet. So it, uh. Until
- 9:02S2: she gets older, until they can actually calibrate that, it
- 9:05S2: could be the case that she would lose a chunk
- 9:08S2: of funding because she judged to have only mild or
- 9:10S2: moderate autism. But then, as I said before, kind of
- 9:13S2: counterbalancing that, there's the question of how big is the
- 9:15S2: global developmental delay? So she might be covered under that stream,
- 9:19S2: if not the autism stream. Um, it's a bit I mean,
- 9:23S2: this is the thing about the NDIS, almost from the
- 9:25S2: moment it was born, became the kind of catch all
- 9:28S2: and fix all for everything. And states pulled back from
- 9:32S2: providing some of the services in terms of ADHD and autism,
- 9:35S2: for example, that they'd been providing for years. And the
- 9:39S2: NDIS became the thing that fixes everything. And it's not
- 9:42S2: supposed to be that. And that's not to say that
- 9:44S2: some of the people accessing it, you know, rorting the
- 9:47S2: system or undeserving, I'm not saying anything like that, but
- 9:50S2: it was meant for people with more severe disabilities. And
- 9:53S2: that's what the government is grappling with now, is how
- 9:55S2: do we give that support to high needs people? How
- 9:58S2: do we give it to low needs people? There's a
- 10:00S2: program coming online called Thriving Kids, which will be state delivered,
- 10:05S2: but partially, I think federally funded. That's going to be
- 10:08S2: for kids at the lower level on the autism spectrum
- 10:11S2: that they're hoping will take some of the burden off NDIS.
- 10:14S2: There are so many moving parts here. It's a hell
- 10:17S2: of a thing to try and get a handle on,
- 10:18S2: but it's something that we do need to get a
- 10:20S2: handle on because the cost of the NDIS, it's one
- 10:22S2: of the top five most expensive budget items.
- 10:27S1: After the break.
- 10:29S2: There are kids and adults and families affected by this.
- 10:33S2: And hopefully they, you know, cut with a scalpel and
- 10:36S2: not with a chainsaw.
- 10:39S1: Let's get into this because as you've just written, the
- 10:41S1: Prime Minister has declared that the government is about to
- 10:45S1: make changes to the NDIS. And you wrote that he's
- 10:47S1: actually just made the strongest comments yet on this count.
- 10:50S1: So what is he flagged?
- 10:52S2: So what the Prime Minister said, Sam, was that essentially
- 10:56S2: the scheme has to be sustainable, it has to be
- 10:59S2: affordable and indeed that it risks potentially losing its social
- 11:03S2: licence if the government can't shape it into a more
- 11:06S2: manageable expense on the budget. Bottom line now. Moving forward
- 11:10S2: from that, um Mark Butler has indicated it's going to
- 11:13S2: be one of the major areas that they'll seek savings
- 11:15S2: in the coming federal budget. He wants the scheme to
- 11:18S2: stop growing at a rate of 10% per year, and
- 11:21S2: wind it back to 5 or 6% next week. He's
- 11:24S2: at the Press Club. He's going to outline some of
- 11:26S2: the changes that he's making. And interestingly, the peak body
- 11:29S2: for the disability sector, you know, the people who provide
- 11:32S2: some of these services has actually said to its members,
- 11:36S2: this is a moment to lean into. This is a
- 11:38S2: moment to embrace change. Like, you know, I think reading
- 11:41S2: between the lines, what they're saying is they'd rather a
- 11:44S2: Labour government was doing this work than a Liberal government, perhaps.
- 11:47S2: Maybe that's unkind of me to the Liberal Party. But
- 11:49S2: that's that was my interpretation of what they're getting at. Um,
- 11:53S2: so there will be, you know, we'll know more about
- 11:55S2: what's been cut, what's being wound back, what's being reprioritized.
- 11:58S2: I think it's next Thursday or next Wednesday at the
- 12:01S2: Press Club.
- 12:01S1: Okay, but let's get into, you know, for those who
- 12:04S1: haven't been following this closely, because we know that people, bureaucrats,
- 12:07S1: disability insiders, they've been wringing their hands over the NDIS
- 12:11S1: for years. So can you briefly sum up for us
- 12:14S1: how bad have things blown out? How bad is the
- 12:17S1: rorting and the frauding which we keep seeing reports about?
- 12:21S1: Has it just been badly managed or something else entirely?
- 12:24S1: Because you've written that almost from the moment the NDIS
- 12:27S1: was brought to life by the Julia Gillard government in 2013,
- 12:31S1: that there have been complaints about the size and the
- 12:33S1: cost of the scheme.
- 12:34S2: Yeah, look. That's right, the scheme now costs a bit
- 12:37S2: over $50 billion a year. I think that's sort of
- 12:40S2: roughly not quite double, but close to double what it
- 12:42S2: was estimated to cost. At this point in time, the
- 12:46S2: number of participants has gone. It's about 760,000 people. I
- 12:50S2: think that's about 220,000 250,000 people more than were expected
- 12:55S2: to be accessing the scheme. It's projected to be costing
- 12:58S2: over $100 billion a year by the early 2030s. Like
- 13:03S2: there is a there is a bit of a problem there.
- 13:05S2: If you if you see what I mean, Sam, that
- 13:07S2: is a massive amount of money. And then that's not
- 13:09S2: to say that, uh, people don't need that help. Of
- 13:12S2: course they do. That's the point of the piece about Mateo.
- 13:14S2: But the other thing that's been playing out is that
- 13:16S2: there has been, um, have been rather some rorts. There's
- 13:19S2: been allegations of criminal gangs getting involved in providing services
- 13:23S2: through third parties, obviously, and that one of the chief knocks,
- 13:26S2: I guess, against the scheme is once, you know, the
- 13:30S2: claim goes that once, let's say a cushion for your
- 13:34S2: wheelchair or whatever is certified as acceptable for the NDIS,
- 13:39S2: you know, you see the prices on it double or
- 13:41S2: triple or quadruple. You know, there's complaints about physical therapists
- 13:45S2: for kids, you know, kids learning to walk like my
- 13:47S2: niece costing sort of $150 an hour. Whereas if they
- 13:51S2: weren't accessing the care through the NDIS, it might be
- 13:54S2: $75 an hour or something like that. I'm sure those
- 13:56S2: figures aren't quite right, but you get the idea. Um,
- 13:58S2: it's significantly more expensive. And then there's a question of accreditation.
- 14:02S2: So this does seem to be something that the government's
- 14:05S2: moving towards. It seems like it seems likely there'll be
- 14:08S2: more stringent guidelines for people to qualify as an NDIS provider.
- 14:13S2: So you'll have to do a bit more bureaucratic paperwork, frankly.
- 14:16S2: But the idea being that that will weed out some
- 14:19S2: of the sort of misuse of funds, the rorts that
- 14:22S2: are taking place and essentially bring a bit more stringency
- 14:26S2: to how the program spends money.
- 14:27S1: Yeah. And so and why are some people within the
- 14:30S1: disability sector viewing this upcoming federal budget as something like
- 14:34S1: a D-Day for the NDIS? Because I saw that one expert,
- 14:37S1: Martin Laverty, he was on the first National Disability Insurance
- 14:40S1: Agency board. He now runs a large non-profit provider. He
- 14:44S1: told our colleague Natassia Chrysanthos that he thinks, quote, this
- 14:47S1: is the last budget in which the Australian government can
- 14:50S1: save the NDIS. If we don't chart a course to
- 14:53S1: cost correction, it will spiral and those that need the
- 14:56S1: scheme the most will be those hardest hit. When inevitably
- 15:00S1: a future government needs to cut the scheme back. So
- 15:02S1: first off, is this hyperbole or is there some truth
- 15:05S1: that this could be the last budget for the government
- 15:08S1: to save the NDIS?
- 15:10S2: Look, I think it's slightly there's an element of hyperbole there,
- 15:14S2: but I understand what Martin's saying is essentially, if we
- 15:17S2: don't do it in a kind of, um, do it
- 15:20S2: now in a careful, cautious and sensitive way, it will
- 15:23S2: continue to grow and we'll get to a point where
- 15:26S2: it really does need a chainsaw, you know, taken to
- 15:29S2: it because it's just rising in cost so quickly. Um,
- 15:33S2: so I think that's where he's coming from. Do it
- 15:35S2: now and do it the right way rather than letting
- 15:37S2: it slip into disaster territory.
- 15:39S4: And what would the chainsaw.
- 15:40S1: Approach look like? Like if we're looking down the sticky
- 15:42S1: end of again, because obviously so many governments arguably have
- 15:46S1: not managed this, it has continued to blow out. It
- 15:49S1: has been rife reportedly with rorting, which is not helping
- 15:52S1: any of us. Uh, so who will be hit hardest?
- 15:56S1: I guess if this chainsaw approach comes in.
- 15:59S2: It would it would presumably be kids or people rather
- 16:02S2: with the lowest or relatively speaking, the lowest need for
- 16:06S2: these services. So you might see, um, a and I'm
- 16:10S2: not saying this is going to happen in this budget
- 16:11S2: because they're trying to avoid doing this, but you might
- 16:14S2: get to a point where you suddenly say, right, anyone
- 16:17S2: with autism is off the NDIS rather than the gradations. So,
- 16:21S2: you know, if you're sort of this category, you should
- 16:23S2: do thriving kids. And if you're in this category, you
- 16:25S2: can get this much support but not that much support.
- 16:27S2: And if you're in this category, you get more support.
- 16:29S2: It would it would. Yeah. I mean, it would be
- 16:31S2: a blunt, to use another metaphor, a blunt stick approach, basically,
- 16:35S2: rather than a nuanced and careful approach.
- 16:40S1: And James, just to wrap up, I guess, how are
- 16:42S1: you and your sister and Mateo feeling in advance? I mean,
- 16:46S1: the budget's just coming down next month. Is, is Caroline
- 16:50S1: very nervous?
- 16:51S2: Uh, no, I think she's watching with interest, like most
- 16:54S2: participants in the NDIS. I mean, one of the, one
- 16:57S2: of the things that really struck me about the piece
- 16:59S2: I wrote last Friday about Mateo. Sam, um, was just
- 17:02S2: how much feedback I've had from, you know, across the
- 17:04S2: political spectrum from our, our loyal readers and subscribers. Like
- 17:08S2: I've had dozens of messages and LinkedIn posts and what
- 17:12S2: have you. It's been, it's been great. And people have
- 17:14S2: been sort of saying like, thank you for saying this.
- 17:17S2: You know, we do need to course correct on the NDIS,
- 17:20S2: but we do need to remember that there are kids
- 17:22S2: and adults and families affected by this. And hopefully they,
- 17:27S2: you know, cut with a scalpel and not with a chainsaw,
- 17:30S2: as I said in the piece. Um, so I think
- 17:32S2: she's watching with interest. Yeah.
- 17:35S1: It's so important. And I'm so grateful to you and
- 17:37S1: your sister for sharing, being happy to share her story
- 17:40S1: and Mateo's story. So thanks so much, James, as always,
- 17:43S1: for your time.
- 17:45S2: Your pleasure Sam. Thank you.
- 17:48S1: In other news today, Qantas has flagged cuts to domestic
- 17:52S1: routes as it grapples with up to $800 million in
- 17:55S1: additional fuel costs due to the US Israel war with Iran.
- 18:00S1: Harry and Meghan are in Melbourne again today. Harry heads
- 18:03S1: to Western Bulldogs HQ for Movember and then travels to
- 18:06S1: Canberra for a series of engagements at the Australian War Memorial,
- 18:10S1: including a reception for Invictus, Australia. Follow our live coverage
- 18:15S1: at the age.com and view. Today's episode of The Morning
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