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Senator Mitch Fifield Interview With Chris Uhlmann On ABC AM Breakfast

Fifield says the government is considering its options to ensure these enterprises remain viable and continue providing employment to 20,000 Australians with disabilities.

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83 views

Senator Mitch Fifield Interview With Chris Uhlmann On ABC AM Breakfast

Fifield says the government is considering its options to ensure these enterprises remain viable and continue providing employment to 20,000 Australians with disabilities.

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SENATOR THE HON MITCH FIFIELD

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES


MANAGER OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS IN THE SENATE
SENATOR FOR VICTORIA

TRANSCRIPT

ABC RADIO AM PROGRAMME
Interview with Chris Uhlmann
7 May 2014
8:10am

E & OE

Subjects: Business Services Wage Assessment Tool (BSWAT), National Disability Insurance
Scheme

UHLMANN:

The Assistant Minister for Social Services is Senator Mitch Fifield. Welcome to AM.

FIFIELD:

Good morning Chris.

UHLMANN:

Does this decision mean that theres a real threat that some severely disabled people could lose the only
work they have?

FIFIELD:

Im deeply concerned and disappointed about the decision of the Human Rights Commission. I appreciate
that they have the best of intentions. But if Australian Disability Enterprises were required to immediately
move to a new wage assessment tool which would double the cost of providing employment, then ADEs
most of which really struggle to break even as it is a lot of ADEs would become unviable and cease to
exist.

UHLMANN:

So is the right to whats been deemed a fair wage losing sight of the fact that the sole reason these
workplaces exist is to give work to people who wouldnt otherwise have it?

FIFIELD:

Thats right. We need a continuum of employment options for people with disability. We need open
employment for those people who have that capacity. But there are a lot of Australians with significant
intellectual impairment who will never be able to work in the open work force. And thats why Australian
Disability Enterprises are so important. Because they provide the dignity of work. They provide a social life


for these people. They also provide respite for the families. So these are incredibly important organisations.
Theyre not like the sheltered workshops of old. And the wage assessment tools which are currently used
pay on a pro rata basis recognising that these people, in the workplace, have a different capacity.

But I also think its really important not just to look at the hourly rate that an individual might get. Youve
really got to look at the package of supports that they receive. So its the hourly rate. Its the Disability
Support Pension. Its the health benefits card that they receive. And its the disability support workers on
site. So its a package of supports that theyre getting and its wrong just to isolate the hourly rate for
employment.

UHLMANN:

And yet Disability Enterprises have known that this decision has been coming since 2012, so does the fault
lie with them?

FIFIELD:

I dont think so, because the Australian Government and Disability Enterprises have been working together.
The Australian Government has announced that theres a payment scheme that well be putting into place
later this year, that those people who feel that theyve suffered an economic loss under the BSWAT can
make application to. And looking forward, the Australian Government during the caretaker period of the
last election, with the support of both sides of politics made an application to the Human Rights
Commission for a three year exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act to give the opportunity to
Government and Enterprises to work through in an orderly manner a new wage assessment tool. And I
think thats entirely reasonable.

UHLMANN:

Well now there are calls for the Government to bridge the gap in wages. Is that something you will
consider?

FIFIELD:

My priority is to make sure that Disability Enterprises continue. There are 20,000 Australians who receive
employment through Disability Enterprises. Many of whom, if not for Disability Enterprises, would not have
that opportunity of work. So were going to study the Human Rights Commission decision carefully. Were
going to look at our options. And I know that Australian Disability Enterprises are also reviewing their
options. But my commitment is that these organisations, these businesses are too important not to
continue.

UHLMANN:

On another matter, the Budget is coming up and the Commission of Audit has recommended that there be
a slower rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Is that something youre considering?

FIFIELD:

The timeframe for the rollout of the NDIS is embedded in a series of intergovernmental agreements
between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories. Those cant be altered other than by
agreement.



But alongside that, the independent Board of the NDIS Agency appointed under the previous
Government have commissioned KPMG to provide them with some advice as to what the optimal
timetable for rollout is. And I think thats got to be our guiding principle with the NDIS; what will lead to the
best and most successful rollout.

UHLMANN:

Mitch Fifield, thank you.

FIFIELD:

Thanks Chris.

ENDS

Media contact: Lydia Bevege | 0409 792 081 | [email protected]

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