Radio interview with Minister Butler, 5AA – 3 October 2025

DAVID PENBERTHY, HOST: Well, there's been a hell of a lot of consternation over the last month or so with the disturbing reports that emerged from Bedford Industries, a wonderful, institution that employs 1,500 great South Australians, a lot of whom listen to our show. Obviously, there were huge issues with the financial management of it. There's been an upheaval with the CEO now gone and also the chairwoman of the board, the chair of the board, departed a couple of weeks ago. Now, the state government has intervened and has also had support on this matter from the federal government. We have the Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler, on the line now because we understand that there is some more positive news which is about to emerge in relation to Bedford. Mark Butler, good morning and thanks for joining us today. What more is the federal government going to do to try to keep Bedford a going concern?

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Obviously we fund all of their ongoing operations, Dave, as you know, employment services for people with a disability. They're the biggest in South Australia doing that work by a long, long way. Also, they're an NDIS provider, so they get a lot of money every single week to deliver those services. But what they need is money just to keep operating while a sales process is followed in accordance with the advice that the Premier, to his great credit, commissioned from McGrathNicol. That's how bad their financial position is. They can't even operate from week to week to allow the market to determine whether there's someone out there willing to buy them.
 
We're going to have to find $4.4 million of taxpayer funds to essentially keep them liquid while the sales process winds its way through the course of October. I'm pretty unhappy that we have to do that, frankly. They should be in a position where they can fund themselves week to week to allow this, but that's how dire their financial situation is. I'm even unhappier, though, for the situation of those 1,500 people, many of whom, as you say, listen to your program. They've been working their guts out. They've been working hard. They've got no part in the dire situation that effectively Bedford management has got this venerable South Australian icon into. But we've got to make sure it has another 80 years ahead of it. That's what we're giving the best chance of today with this money.

PENBERTHY: How confident are you, Mark, though, Mark Butler the Health Minister, sorry, I'll get to that eventually, how confident are you that with this $4.4 million sort of additional bonus money for the timeline, that someone's actually still going to buy it?

BUTLER: We think at its core this is a strong business. As I said, it's the biggest provider of employment services for people with disability in South Australia. It's actually the second biggest in the whole country. That's how significant that part of the business is. Obviously, the NDIS operation is sound as well. They just made some very poor financial decisions that don’t really have anything to do with their core business, but it's dragged the financial position of the company down or the organisation down. I'm really hopeful there's a buyer out there that recognises this has a great history, has a great brand still in South Australia I think, and wants to deliver a strong future for those 1,500 people.
 At the end of the day, I can't guarantee that. Premier Malinauskas can't guarantee that. All that we can do and what we should do is give that process the best possible chance of succeeding.
 
PENBERTHY: So is it a case then for Bedford or rather now for the people who have taken over the running of it until a new operator is found? Is it a case of stripping back all of that extraneous stuff that they got into under the former management where they expanded too fast into all these new directions?
 
BUTLER: That's right. They've got a start of a sales process already. As I understand it, bids are due by the middle of October. The money that we're putting on the table now means that the organisation can continue to run, people can continue to turn up to work while effectively the market is tested and we see whether there is interest out there to take up this terrific institution. But at the end of the day, that's up to people to have a look at, other organisations who might want to expand their existing businesses to look at. And we just want the best possible chance of that succeeding because I know this has been such a distressing period for those 1,500 employees, for many of their families too, because their families understand what an extraordinary lifeline this is. This is where people make their friends. This is where people get the chance to live a really strong contributing existence. We've got to give it every possible chance of having a strong future.
 
JONNO EDWARDS, HOST: Are you concerned, Health Minister, the changes that have been made to the NDIS scheme? We understand it's to rein in those that might be taking advantage of it. Are you concerned that potentially we're going to see more institutions like Bedford, like the MS Society, suffer as a result of these changes to the scheme? And is the government looking into the way that was put in place to try and avoid any serious institutions and places like Bedford from suffering?
 
BUTLER: Yeah, of course, we're really determined to make sure we do that in a way that preserves and protects the services that people with disability get. The MS, the Multiple Sclerosis Association, is another really good example, though, of an organisation that's got itself into huge financial difficulty, not because of NDIS funding, but because of other decisions they've taken. It's important to separate some bad financial management decisions that some organisations take from whether or not there's an issue with NDIS funding and the NDIS program. We obviously look at that very closely. We don't want to be in a position where services are falling down because of the design of the NDIS program, but that's not the case here with Bedford and it's not the case with the MS Society.
 
PENBERTHY: Well, it is good news and hopefully a new owner and operator can be found. Thank you for revealing that this morning with us, Mark Butler, the Federal Health Minister. We'll talk again soon.