It was all going so well.
For about two seconds. Right up to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s cheery, “G’day, Jon” as his post-budget selling offensive blew in to the studio of Jon Faine, host of the ABC’s Melbourne morning conversation hour.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison began the day with a flurry of media interviews to promote the budget.
Faine took barely a breath before launching his own offensive.
“Is it a moral fail to build an election surplus off starving the National Disability Insurance Scheme of money, leaving disabled people without the services they need?” he demanded of the Prime Minister.
“Well,” said Morrison. “That’s a terrible lie, Jon.”
“What is?” inquired Faine.
Prime Minister: “What you’ve just said.”
Faine: “What part of it?”
Prime Minister: “All of it.”
Faine: “None of it.”
Prime Minister: “All of what you’ve just said is untrue.”
Faine: “The NDIS has been starved of funds, it’s not getting what you yourselves said would be its allocated money, and people are desperate for services and are not getting them.”
About then, listeners probably clued up that this wasn’t a friendly chat. Or even a conversation.
It may also have begun to dawn on the Prime Minister that just about all those listening were Victorians.
If the imminent federal election was a western movie, Victoria would be cast as the badlands for Morrison and his wagon train. The Liberals got all but run out of town during last year’s state election, and federal electorates in Victoria that once were considered unassailable are looking shaky.
And here was the Prime Minister trying to sell his election budget and he was in a “liar, liar, pants on fire” contest with Jon Faine, who has Melbourne’s second-biggest morning radio audience.
The Prime Minister tried to escape from the “Is not! Is so!” loop by trying to explain the workings of the disability insurance scheme.
“What happens is based on estimates that are provided by the states working with the Commonwealth to understand what the expected demand is, and then you pay out what the services are that are provided in response to that demand,” Morrison said.
“Now we overestimated the demand in the NDIS. That money actually shows up in extra expenditure on hospitals where a lot of those services have been provided through the states. It’s just swings and roundabouts.”
Faine, however, wasn’t buying.
“No, you’ve squeezed the pipe,” he declared, referring to the $1.6 billion reduction in NDIS payments for 2019-20, revealed in the budget.
While the government says this is because of a shortfall in forecast demand, disability advocates say the slower than expected uptake is because people are having trouble gaining access to services.
Morrison said every invoice for every service was paid for everyone requiring a service.
The Prime Minister has reflected on the Federal Budget the night after it was handed down.
But Faine said he had spoken to the providers and they had declared they did not have the cash flow.
“You cannot tell those lies to the Australian people,” bridled Morrison.
“It’s not a lie,” said Faine.
“Every demand for the NDIS is fully funded,” Morrison insisted. “Not just next year, this year, into the future.”
And on and on it went, neither giving an inch.
You really wouldn’t want to be an ABC executive making a submission to the Morrison government for more funding for the national broadcaster any time soon.
For about two seconds. Right up to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s cheery, “G’day, Jon” as his post-budget selling offensive blew in to the studio of Jon Faine, host of the ABC’s Melbourne morning conversation hour.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison began the day with a flurry of media interviews to promote the budget.
Faine took barely a breath before launching his own offensive.
“Is it a moral fail to build an election surplus off starving the National Disability Insurance Scheme of money, leaving disabled people without the services they need?” he demanded of the Prime Minister.
“Well,” said Morrison. “That’s a terrible lie, Jon.”
“What is?” inquired Faine.
Prime Minister: “What you’ve just said.”
Faine: “What part of it?”
Prime Minister: “All of it.”
Faine: “None of it.”
Prime Minister: “All of what you’ve just said is untrue.”
Faine: “The NDIS has been starved of funds, it’s not getting what you yourselves said would be its allocated money, and people are desperate for services and are not getting them.”
About then, listeners probably clued up that this wasn’t a friendly chat. Or even a conversation.
It may also have begun to dawn on the Prime Minister that just about all those listening were Victorians.
If the imminent federal election was a western movie, Victoria would be cast as the badlands for Morrison and his wagon train. The Liberals got all but run out of town during last year’s state election, and federal electorates in Victoria that once were considered unassailable are looking shaky.
And here was the Prime Minister trying to sell his election budget and he was in a “liar, liar, pants on fire” contest with Jon Faine, who has Melbourne’s second-biggest morning radio audience.
The Prime Minister tried to escape from the “Is not! Is so!” loop by trying to explain the workings of the disability insurance scheme.
“What happens is based on estimates that are provided by the states working with the Commonwealth to understand what the expected demand is, and then you pay out what the services are that are provided in response to that demand,” Morrison said.
“Now we overestimated the demand in the NDIS. That money actually shows up in extra expenditure on hospitals where a lot of those services have been provided through the states. It’s just swings and roundabouts.”
Faine, however, wasn’t buying.
“No, you’ve squeezed the pipe,” he declared, referring to the $1.6 billion reduction in NDIS payments for 2019-20, revealed in the budget.
While the government says this is because of a shortfall in forecast demand, disability advocates say the slower than expected uptake is because people are having trouble gaining access to services.
Morrison said every invoice for every service was paid for everyone requiring a service.
The Prime Minister has reflected on the Federal Budget the night after it was handed down.
But Faine said he had spoken to the providers and they had declared they did not have the cash flow.
“You cannot tell those lies to the Australian people,” bridled Morrison.
“It’s not a lie,” said Faine.
“Every demand for the NDIS is fully funded,” Morrison insisted. “Not just next year, this year, into the future.”
And on and on it went, neither giving an inch.
You really wouldn’t want to be an ABC executive making a submission to the Morrison government for more funding for the national broadcaster any time soon.
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