In a decisive move, the Senate has pushed forward significant reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), gaining approval from the Coalition and forwarding the legislation to the Labor-led lower house for final approval.
Evaluations conducted by the Grattan Institute highlight an impending shift that may see hundreds of thousands either exiting the program or facing barriers to access due to these amendments.
Under the revamped assessment criteria, applicants will undergo a phased evaluation process to examine their functional capabilities.
Currently a work in progress, this new evaluation method is set to supplant the existing model, which bases eligibility primarily on diagnoses.
Megan Spindler-Smith, acting CEO of People With Disability Australia, expressed profound concern, stating that the community is experiencing a sense of loss amid these changes.
“There will be harm, there will be injuries. What we’re talking about here is that when you reduce people’s access to the supports that they need to be able to get out of bed, access the community, go to work, you ostensibly isolate people.”
She says many lives will be made smaller by the reforms — which will slash social and community participation supports in half.
“The support needs don’t go away when the funding is cut or when the supports are removed. They just get pushed onto either systems or other people, and that means isolation.”
Since it started in 2013, the cost of the scheme has ballooned, rising to $50 billion dollars this year, and projected to hit $100 billion within a decade.
The government says its overhaul will slow the scheme’s growth and save almost $38 billion over the next four years.
Greens MPs like Jordon Steele-John say the focus on financial cost has made many disabled people feel like a burden.
“Many people, during the course of this debate, while the government has been trying to push this legislation through, have shared with me that they have felt as though they are being talked about in a way that leaves them feeling like a burden, and that is just not okay.”
Health Minister Mark Butler says reining in spending growth was necessary to safeguard the scheme’s financial sustainability and social license.
“This plan puts the scheme back on track, and I’m confident, secures it for decades to come,” Butler said.
“It genuinely has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and I want to continue to see that happen for decades to come. But we know also that we need to build supports for people who were never intended to be covered by the NDIS, people with more low to moderate support needs, those sorts of second-tier supports that were envisaged by the designers of this amazing reform.”
After a snap Senate inquiry that received more than 4,500 submissions, amid sustained campaigning from advocates, the government cut a deal with the Coalition to pass the bill.
A total of 63 amendments were tabled across both houses, but Disability Program Director at the Grattan Institute Sam Bennett says those that passed are only minor in scope.
“I wouldn’t say any of them are particularly significant, in all honesty. I think mostly they’re pretty minor tweaks to the existing provisions within the Act. Many of them probably done by government to try and clarify their existing drafting.”
The Coalition secured amendments to create new fraud offences, including penalties for NDIS providers that offer inducements or kickbacks.
The legislation also includes clearer guidance on what supports parents are expected to provide, clarifies rights to request re-assessment, and boosts whistleblower protections.
After pressure from the Greens, the government added to explanatory material clarifying a requirement for applicants to seek all appropriate treatment before being eligible for the NDIS.
Spindler-Smith says it was a significant win.
“What we now have is some really strong clarification that things like restrictive practices, and that’s anything that limits the rights and freedom of movement for people with disability — and that could include seclusion, chemical restraint, mechanical restraint, physical restraint, or environmental restraint — those things are being clarified that they are not part of that because in theory, they could fit under all appropriate treatment.”
“And the requirements for someone to access the NDIS would have been really problematic if they had been one of the requirements under the all appropriate treatment.”
Another amendment clarifies the scope of ministerial powers that will allow social and community supports to be cut, while safeguarding other supports for participants with the highest needs.
“We see that as something that will make sure that people who do require 24-hour support and care are not going to be impacted in the same way, because there were some real concerns,” Spindler-Smith said.
The focus will now shift to programs being created by the states and territories, which will be responsible for providing alternative supports from January 2028.
They’ll be funded through a five-year, $10 billion commitment, split evenly between state and territory governments and the Commonwealth.
Most advanced at this stage is Thriving Kids, a $4 billion program for children with mild to moderate autism and developmental delays.
It’s meant to start in six weeks, and preparedness varies by jurisdiction, but despite agreeing in principle, Queensland is yet to sign up.
Butler says he remains confident alternative supports will be put in place.
“That’s the deal that we’ve struck with states and territories,” Butler said. “Thriving Kids is well underway. Implementation plans have been agreed with all states and territories except Queensland, which frankly needs to get its act together. But all other states and territories have implementation plans in place to build them. They’ll be in place before the before the first of January, I’m very confident.”
But he acknowledges much of the design and delivery of this overhaul is yet to come.
“We have a ton of work to do on other population groups, so kids over the age of nine, adults with more low to moderate support needs. We’ve got a lot of work to do with states and territories, but we’ve got time to do that. We’ve got the commitment of all states, premiers and chief ministers signed that deal with the prime minister earlier this year. We’ve got money allocated. We now just have to get on with the job.”
A technical working group will provide advice to government on the new assessment tool this year and into next.
The new legislation is due to undergo statutory review within five years.
