Radio interview with Minister Butler, ABC Adelaide – 3 October 2025

SONYA FELDHOFF, HOST: Now, of course, the Federal Government has been considering what role it might take in Bedford’s future, and it was only a few months ago that we learned that it was in dire financial strife. The state government stepped in with a financial package of $15 million to help it get through a period where a restructuring process was brought in to try to resolve that situation. But we’ve been interested to hear what the Federal Government’s role in this might be. The Federal Health Minister and Disability and Ageing is Mark Butler. He joins us now. Minister, good morning.
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Morning, Sonya.
 
FELDHOFF: Now, you can announce some financial help towards Bedford. How much, and for what reason?
 
BUTLER: I can. Just to answer your first question, though the role of the Commonwealth is to fund the services that Bedford’s been providing South Australians for 80 years now. Obviously, disability employment is their core business, has been for a very long time. They’re the biggest employment provider to people with a disability in South Australia by a very long way. They’re actually the second biggest in the country, just to give you a sense of their scale, and they’re also an NDIS provider. We, every week provide Bedford with substantial funding to deliver the services they deliver to Australians with a disability in our state.
 
But what I’m doing today is confirming we’ll also provide $4.4 million in taxpayer funds essentially to allow a sales process to continue. You’re right to say that the Premier, to his great credit, put some money on the table to bring an outside advisor, McGrathNicols, an expert advisor about how to dig Bedford out of the very, very deep financial hole their management has got themselves into. And the report from McGrathNicols, which we've been considering over the last several days in consultation with the Premier obviously, I think makes it inevitable that the only way Bedford has a future is a sale. And so, we are putting money on the table effectively to allow Bedford to continue operating and continue the employment of the 1,500 or so South Australians who are employed by Bedford, many of them with a disability, to allow that to continue while the sales process winds its way through, which we understand will happen over the course of this month.
 
FELDHOFF: When we spoke with the chair, Janet Miller, early in the piece, she was hopeful that with some help they could continue on, but that sounds like that's not possible. Things are even worse than what was thought of in the beginning?
 
BUTLER: The more we've got across the detail of Bedford's financial position, the worse it's looked. They really have got themselves into a very difficult position financially, which is deeply distressing to all of those families who for so long have relied upon Bedford for employment and for other services more recently, like the NDIS. I've got to say, I'm pretty unhappy that taxpayers are now going to have to put another $4 million on the table just to continue the operation of this service while we try to find a way to guarantee a future for Bedford. It won't be under the existing arrangements, but we've got to make sure that there are services in the future for the many, many hundreds of South Australians living with a disability who rely on it day in and day out. For those employees, they've been working really hard. They've done nothing to create this situation. Obviously, I and Premier Malinauskas want to do everything we reasonably can to ensure there's a strong future for the next 80 years for this South Australian icon.
 
FELDHOFF: Given the scale and the size of it, is there a market for someone to take over this operation?
 
BUTLER: Our job as the Commonwealth, as we've seen it, is to give every possible chance of this being picked up. It's a good business, as I said, it's the second biggest employment provider of people with a disability in the country, by far the biggest here in South Australia. It's a substantial undertaking for someone to take on, another organisation to take on. But we're very hopeful that they'll see, in spite of all of the immediate financial difficulty it's got itself into with some decisions that frankly haven't come off about investments, that the core of this business is sound. It's obviously important for our state and our community, and that someone will pick it up. But my job is to give that every possible chance, and that's what we're doing with the $4.4 million commitment that we're today.
 
FELDHOFF: Will that sale or the sales process get underway straight away?
 
BUTLER: It's underway now. But really it just gives you a sense of the difficult financial position Bedford got itself into that it can't operate while that sales process is going underway. For buyers who are expressing interest while those bids are being considered, that's how deep the financial crisis is. They can't continue operating for those several weeks without taxpayers kicking more money in.
 
FELDHOFF: But for those who go along, for those clients who head along and work at Bedford, that will continue, their jobs will be protected this process?
 
BUTLER: That's right. That's what this funding does, is allow Bedford to continue operating while the sales process is undertaken and the market's effectively tested. Now, if there's not a buyer, then there will be some difficult decisions. But we're desperately hopeful there will be a buyer that recognises the quality of these services and is determined to give them a long-term future in South Australia.
 
FELDHOFF: Alright. Minister, look, thank you for your time. The Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing here in Australia, Mark Butler.