Michael Sukkar MP

Interview with Chris Kenny – Sky News Australia

SHADOW MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, NDIS, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS – THE HON MICHAEL SUKKAR MP

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS KENNY – SKY NEWS

Wednesday 10 April, 2024

TOPICS: Criminals accessing the NDIS

E&OE

Chris Kenny: Now the National Disability Insurance Scheme is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. The Australian has reported the scheme is being used as a dumping ground for violent criminals who have been released from jail, including serial sex offender Wayne Wilmot, who was involved in the horrific kidnapping, rape and murder of Janine Balding in 1988, Wilmot will be released from jail with the help of an NDIS support package. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten reckons he’s going to do something about it.

Bill Shorten (grab): I want their advice before we admit people with serious criminal history anywhere near our NDIS. The NDIS was not created to be a dumping ground for the state correctional systems for people they don’t know how to cope with in society.

Chris Kenny: Let’s go to Michael Sukkar. The shadow NDIS Minister. Thanks for joining us, Michael. Bill Shorten keeps talking about things he wants to do to fix the NDIS, but he’s got to deliver, doesn’t he?

Michael Sukkar: Well, he’s been diagnosing problems for the last two years and seems to have forgotten that he’s the minister in charge of the scheme and can actually do something about it and he keeps playing catch up. We raised this issue in Senate Estimates a few weeks ago. The number of people out of the criminal justice system quite terrible and disgusting criminals and the number of them within the scheme. And we’ve now seen a succession of these stories come to light in response to those issues that we raised in Estimates. And obviously the Wayne Wilmot example is an egregious one. But Bill Shorten had nothing to say about that a few weeks ago. He was shamed into it yesterday when we raised this particular example. And the truth is and it came out in Estimates that the Agency itself admitted that there are two and a half thousand people who have come out of the justice system or had interactions with the justice system, as they have said, and we’re trying to get answers from them and the Government on how many of them are dangerous criminals, because there are two issues here that I’ve been raising for some time, Chris, and that is firstly that Australian taxpayers are not here to be funding these sorts of individuals, one, and two, there are no protocols in place to ensure the safety of workers within the scheme and indeed the example that we most recently raised was an example of a former sex offender with a self-managed NDIS plan trying to procure young women as carers and to prey on them. Now, Bill Shorten had nothing to say about that a few weeks ago, but he’s been shamed into it now and he needs to get moving.

Chris Kenny: Two big issues and you’ve got to address them. But let me play devil’s advocate. Somebody comes out of jail, they’re criminals, they’ve served their time. If they have a disability, isn’t the NDIS the place for them to get any services that they need?

Michael Sukkar: Well, the thing is, Chris, in most of these cases you’ve got individuals who’ve got psychosocial conditions, PTSD and other things. Now, in my view, that’s not what Australian taxpayers signed up for. Australian taxpayers have very generously supported this scheme, tens of billions of dollars, but they didn’t sign up for the scheme being used by sexual predators who have got mental health issues that should be dealt with through our state health systems because under the NDIS you get to self-manage, you get to procure your own workers to assist you, your own therapists to assist you. And there’s no way that I would want any worker in the NDIS anywhere near individuals like Wayne Wilmot and it’s just a shame that it takes the front page of The Australian before Bill Shorten will act.

Chris Kenny: Well, well, he said something, but we’ve got to wait for him to act. Let’s let’s hope he follows through. Thanks so much for joining us, Michael. I appreciate it.

ENDS