NSW Labor refuse to foot bill for NDIS replacement

News.com.au

18 hours ago

The NSW government is on a collision course with the federal government over changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Federal Labor Health Minister Mark Butler laid out his plan to slash the growth of the NDIS at the National Press Club on Wednesday by diverting children with autism into an alternative program called Thriving Kids.
But NSW Health Minister Ryan Park told Senate estimates on Thursday that his government would not be picking up the bill for the Commonwealth’s new program.
Mr Park said he wasn’t briefed on the specific details of the federal government announcement, a $2bn commitment to the new program that Mr Butler said state budgets would have to contribute to.
“I’m aware and cognisant of the need to reform disability care,� Mr Park said.
“What I’m not going to see happen is this just shifted to the states and us picking up the bill through a reduction in health funding agreement.
“We need to get the Commonwealth to what they committed to in terms of healthcare funding.�
The NSW opposition also took aim at the government’s failure to deal with the state’s hospital bed crisis and the delivery of a $120m expansion to beds in Blacktown and Mt Druitt hospitals.
Mr Park clashed with opposition members over claims the government was delaying on much-needed investments into public hospitals in Western Sydney.
Liberal MLC Susan Carter questioned why the minister was “playing politics� with the rollout of 60 beds between the two hospitals.
She accused the government of delaying the rollout, which is forecast to be delivered in the 2027-28 financial year but listed with a financial completion date of 2029.
“I’m more interested in what we should be saying to a 70-year old grandfather Raymond Ryan forced to sleep on the floor of the hospital ED after waiting more than 24 hours for a bed,� Ms Carter said.
“That was in July … what do we say to Raymond Ryan?�
In response, Mr Park referenced the previous Liberal government’s record of wage cuts and a lack of investment in “frontline staff�.
“It was your government that paid 0 per cent during the middle of Covid to frontline healthcare workers,� Mr Park said.
“Over the last three years we’ve invested more in the health workforce than any other government has.�
Ms Carter was ultimately held up on a point of order by committee chair and Greens MLC Amanda Cohn after she “crossed a line�.
“We do have rules around procedural fairness that include treating the witnesses with respect, and I think that actually did cross a line,� Dr Cohn said of Ms Carter’s “playing politics� comment.
The hearing was disrupted by consistent points of order after a series of fiery exchanges between Mr Park and Ms Carter.
Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence accused Nationals MLC Wes Fang of “screaming, pointing, ranting and raving� after he clashed with Mr Park over an inquiry into the issues at Blacktown Hospital
“You’ve been asked a question, you’re not answering the question. Your side of government supported an inquiry into rural health in the last term of parliament. Why won’t you support an inquiry into Blacktown Hospital?� Mr Fang shouted.
Mr Park defended the government’s record on inquiries into the state’s healthcare system.
“I had a royal commission into my own agency … I don’t know any other minister over the last 20 years who has initiated a royal commission,� Mr Park said.
He claimed the government was adding “significantly increased amounts of staff� and bed expansions “to the tune of $120m� at Blacktown Hospital and said his government was committed to focusing on “patient experience� at problem hospitals.
“We’ve seen significant improvements at Blacktown Hospital but there is more to do,� he said.
Mr Park also defended the government’s interim offer of a 5 per cent increase to the 15 per cent night duty penalties for nurses and midwives.
The government has previously come under fire for the gap in pay between NSW healthcare workers and workers in other states around the country.
“Do you expect this to address recruitment issues when for example in WA nurses have a night duty of 35 per cent, in Tasmania 27.5 per cent, in the Northern Territory 25 per cent and in the ACT 25 per cent,� Ms Cohn asked.
Mr Park said neither he nor the Premier Chris Minns were “doing a lap of honour� about the interim offer, instead suggesting the offer was a quick way to practically increase nurses pay.
“The challenge is after a decade of wage suppression brought about the Coalition government … there are discrepancies in pay for healthcare workers in NSW and other jurisdictions,� he said.
Clashes between Mr Park and Ms Carter continued into the midmorning, exchanging barbs over changes to the health infrastructure fund in the 2025-26 budget.
Budget estimates was told that spending on the health infrastructure fund had fallen by about a billion dollars from the forward estimates in the 2024-25 budget and spending in the 2025-26 budget.
The discrepancy was put down to money already spent on health infrastructure taken out of the forward estimates, though Mr Park failed to identify the specific expenditure items responsible.
Questions then shifted to the new Shellharbour Hospital on the NSW south coast, as Mr Park was grilled on the government’s decision to exclude a helipad and a birthing unit from the new hospital.
While Mr Park committed to pre and post-natal services at Shellharbour, he refused to commit to a plan for a specific birthing unit for the new development.
The closest nearby birthing unit is located at Wollongong Hospital.
“It’s about a 20 to 25-minute journey, I know people would want to do that at their hospital next door. I accept that,� he said.