Ministers and Senators Behaving Badly Series 4

If you can't convince them, then confuse them …
Mable Technologies has also been backed by Scaleup Mediafund, a mediafor-equity
fund owned by News Corp and other Murdoch media
businesses. The grouping, closely associated with Lachlan Murdoch, is
made up of Fox Sports, Foxtel, digital advertising company REA Group and
Nova Entertainment (owner of metropolitan radio stations). The Ten
Network is also part of the group.
According to Mable, Scaleup has provided around $500,000 in advertising
and marketing for the company, promoting the Mable name across
Australia. It boasts that its network reaches every Australian household and
can deliver “every target demographic with brand and direct response
advertising”. In return for promoting the Mable name, Scaleup has a
minority shareholding, meaning it too stands to benefit from the
government contract awarded to Mable.
A grouping of former News Corp executives, operating under the umbrella
of Macdoch Ventures has also invested in the business.
The Mable platform functions as a marketplace catering to a growing need
for aged care as well as disability care under the National Disability
Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The platform does not employ carers. Instead a
would-be carer is a “member” of the platform. They upload their profile to
the site and the client gets to choose who they will employ, using money
from government-approved home and disability care packages.
Mable is not a registered NDIS provider. Nor is it an approved Home Care
Package provider. So how did the government come to appoint Mable to
provide the essential backup workforce for Australia’s aged care staffing
crisis?
The Health Department said Mable was “directly sourced” in line with
“procurement guidelines”. This was a limited tender with Mable being the
only supplier.
And what did it get for the near $6 million contract?
The department told Inq that Mable had “met the deliverables” in its
contract, though wouldn’t detail what the deliverables were, beyond access
to workers via the Mable platform. These workers “would then fall under
the responsibility of the aged care provider”, the department said.