28/04/2022
The published version was edited to take out the first para and the last line. Here it is in full!
John Randall’s letter was always going to elicit a response from me. He starts the letter in a particularly condescending manner by immediately pinning his colours to the mast of discrimination and a position of a complete disregard for human rights. And, in particular the rights of people with disability.
He refers to the NDIS as an “unaffordable rort” because of the actions of Julia Gillard. Let me try and explain the NDIS to Mr Randall. The NDIS funds human beings with disability to allow us to access the same services that are provided to people such as Mr Randall. It is not access to some mythical new service that we are being funded.
Secondly, when a person with disability receives a dollar of funding, it is simply to allow them the ability to pay for a service from a service provider in the area. In other words, every cent that is paid to a human being with disability is pushed back into the economy by way of payment for services or assistive technology and goods. The marginal propensity to save for this person is close to zero. So there is no ‘leakage’ out of the economy.
When the NDIS was conceived (and I worked closely with both Mr Shorten and Jenny Macklin in the design of the system) it was always intended to be funded by way of an additional levy on Medicare. This would provide the funding necessary. Mr Morrison, when he was Treasurer, chose to scrap that levy and forced people with disability to line up and go through a competitive tender process to access scarce funds.
Finally, let it also be said that the sign of an engaged and empowered society is the way it treats those needing assistance. Mr Randall’s society is none of that and is nothing but an uncaring and callous one.
Suresh Rajan