Dr. David Hayward (0416 174 833 or david.hayward@rmit.edu.au)
Topics: NDIS, healthcare, care economy, disability, social policy, aged care, childcare
“The care economy continues to dominate the headlines, but sadly for all the wrong reasons.”
“From aged care to disability, from social housing to mental health, family violence and child protection, all we seem to hear about are hair raising service delivery failures and workforce shortages as far as the eye can see.”
“For once, the problem is not money, at least in aggregate. The bucket keeps getting topped up with eye-watering sums, whether it be a projected extra $30b to be spent on the NDIS in 8 years' time, or an additional $1.8b per year more to pay for Labor’s universal childcare subsidy or $1.4b per year for its aged care reforms.”
“We are talking about an awful lot of dosh. But it’s not the volume of cash that’s the problem. It’s the way it’s spent.”
“We once worried about government waste, now we don’t bat an eyelid if we hear that $1b annually is being lost to corruption in the NDIS, and maybe half as much in family day care.”
“We don’t complain when government spending fuels a property market bubble for those who want to make money by building and renting accommodation to our care industries, by businesses that are typically run by men.”
“Yet, we somehow manage to find all sorts of reasons and clever ways to make sure that money doesn’t end up where it is needed most – the care workforce, which is dominated by women.”
“We prefer to look to migration, from places as strange as the Solomon Islands, rather than pay a decent wage. We prefer low level qualifications from the last century, rather than new ones that truly recognise the highly skilled nature of the work.”
“If ever there were a time to turn things round it is right now.”
“To its great credit, the Albanese government was elected on a high-profile platform championing care. It promised a waft of legislative reform, but one by one these are being watered down or deferred because labour market shortages are so bad.”
“More than anything else, the care economy needs a big bang, visionary set of reforms and investments, not piecemeal legislative change.”
“Is the Government up to the challenge? One way or the other, we are about to find out.”
Dr David Hayward is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy and the Social Economy at RMIT University. David’s research interests are the funding of social policy, with a focus on the State Governments. He has published widely, most recently on the NDIS (Journal of Critical Social Policy), the Social Economy (published by VCOSS), and the impact of COVID government stimulus measures on poverty in Australia (for VCOSS).
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Interviews: Dr. David Hayward, 0416 174 833 or david.hayward@rmit.edu.au
General media enquiries: RMIT Communications, 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au
