Yesterday's meeting of state and federal governments failed to break the political impasse. Although the failure should be shared, it must prompt the Gillard government to rethink its strategy, revisit its model and redouble its efforts to allay the concerns of the non-Labor states - or it will never be realised. It is also a test of whether the co-operative model of federalism has been temporarily set back or is broken.
Julia Gillard and the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, deserve credit for their commitment to an NDIS and allocating $984 million in start-up funds. It follows a campaign by the disabilities services sector, whose efforts were turbocharged by the advocacy of the then parliamentary secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, Bill Shorten.
The Productivity Commission recommended an NDIS model that could help 400,000 Australians with disabilities by providing personalised care and support services. The scheme would focus on early intervention, a life-long approach to support and increasing choice in the delivery of services. It would see these support services delivered by community providers and tailored to individual needs. The commission recommended the scheme be fully funded by the commonwealth at a cost of $6.5 billion in addition to the $7.1bn already spent each year on disability services.
A reform of this kind, however, needs bipartisanship to succeed, as implementation will take several years. It requires state and federal co-operation and a long-term funding plan and revenue stream. This is where politics can pay a dividend if our political leaders are able to surrender their short-term political interests and instead look to the long-term national interest and cut a deal. Otherwise, with parliaments constrained by short electoral cycles, major reforms are subject to the vagaries of politics.
The prospect of bipartisanship at the federal level was dashed when the Prime Minister rejected offers by Tony Abbott to work with the government on the design and implementation of an NDIS based on the commission's model. But it is not only the federal government who failed to seize the opportunity for co-operation. Several premiers used yesterday's meeting to score political points rather than work with the federal government to deliver the reform. Queensland's Campbell Newman remains implacably opposed to contributing any funding, even though his state spends less on disability services, on a per capita basis, than any other state. The non-Labor state governments again pledged their in-principle support for an NDIS, but could not reach agreement with the commonwealth. Both blame each other.
Unless our politicians are able to reach across the political divide and work together, achieving consensus on important national reforms will remain ever elusive.
China spat less than it seems
Mr Abbott made a point of stressing his support for Chinese investment in Australia, but was also frank with his hosts about the difficulties posed by the nature of the communist giant's state-owned enterprises. By raising the national interest risks in allowing "a foreign government or its agencies to control an Australian business" the Opposition Leader was stating the obvious and reflecting a continuity with the policy settings of the Rudd and Gillard governments.
The Australian is a robust supporter of the foreign investment that underpins our national development, but we also recognise the issues raised in deals with nations, like China, where reciprocal investments from Australia would never be countenanced. In recent years, Wayne Swan has been confronted with repeated Chinese investment dilemmas. In 2009, the Treasurer was spared a difficult decision when the controversial Chinalco deal with Rio Tinto collapsed. But in the same year China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining was blocked from buying a controlling stake in rare earths miner Lynas. The government also blocked China's Minmetals bid for Oz Minerals' Prominent Hill mine because of proximity to the Woomera defence rocket range. And this year Chinese telco Huawei was blocked, on security grounds, from participating in the National Broadband Network. Each of these decisions was different and each, no doubt, was assessed on its merits. But the state's role in these enterprises was a significant factor.
Still, while the government's criticism of Mr Abbott has been more opportunistic than statesmanlike, it does serve as something of a warning. Xenophobic passions can easily be stirred on foreign investment, especially when it comes to China and regional land purchases. So while the alternative prime minister is right to be frank with Beijing, he needs to be equally measured with his domestic constituency, urging a rational approach rather than emotive posturing on Chinese investment.
PNG's reconciliation chance
All are former prime ministers. Sir Michael, Grand Chief and PNG's founding father, was before the election locked in a bitter battle with Mr O'Neill over rival claims to the prime ministership - a chaotic farce that also saw rival claimants for the offices of police commissioner and defence force commander.
Now, after the election and with vote counting concluding, indications are that Mr ONeill's People's National Congress will be the new parliament's biggest party. Sir Michael, comfortably re-elected in his own East Sepik seat, says he has put aside his differences to support a government of reconciliation. For this Sir Michael deserves great credit. Only weeks ago he was fulminating over the claimed injustice of his dismissal. Now, in pledging the support of his National Alliance for Mr O'Neill, he says he wants no more disruptions. With endorsements from the parties of Sir Julius and Mr Wingti, this should boost Mr ONeill's chances of forming a stable government to end the debilitating rivalries of recent times and create the political stability the country's institutions and economic development so desperately need.
It will not be plain sailing. Mr O'Neill's ambitious former deputy, the controversial Belden Namah, whose PNG Party has won six seats, claims he is building the numbers to become prime minister, though that seems unlikely given the backing now pledged to Mr O'Neill by the powerful leaders who have aligned themselves with him. Mr Namah retains the potential, however, to spoil the consensus emerging for Mr O'Neill, who claims to have the backing of at least 56 of the 111 members of the parliament. If he is to achieve the political stability so essential for PNG's progress, Mr ONeill should continue to cast his net wide, seeking support from as many as possible across the range of parties and independents set to take their seats in the new parliament.
Only by doing so will he be assured of the numbers necessary to close the shameful chapter of the past few chaotic months, to start afresh with a new mandate and, hopefully, genuine political stability.
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