Albo FINALLY swings the axe on the NDIS: 160,000 people to lose access

More than 160,000 people will lose access to the NDIS by 2030 as the government swings the axe on the program, with Australians who have lower support needs set to be moved off the scheme. 

Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, NDIS and Health Minister Mark Butler said the scheme’s original promise of inclusion was being undermined by poor-quality care and rapidly rising budgets.

‘The NDIS was originally intended to support around 410,000 people with a disability. Today, there are 760,000 people on the scheme,’ Butler said.

‘While new eligibility rules need to be worked through, our initial modelling will see the number of people on the scheme reduce to around 600,000 by the end of the decade, instead of growing to well over 900,000.’

A central target of the reforms is the scheme’s social and community participation budget, which Butler said has surged from $4 billion a year five years ago to $12 billion this year.

‘Today, that one stream of NDIS is costing about the same as what we spend in net terms on the entire Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme,’ he said.

He said average participant spending on social and community participation had risen sharply, from $14,000 five years ago to about $31,000 today.

‘Over the next two years, our changes will bring that figure down to about $26,000 per participant, back to where it was in 2023,’ he said.

‘Without these changes, that figure would have been closer to $33,000.’

The government will also establish a $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund to help community organisations provide alternatives outside costly NDIS-funded supports.

Another major reform will slash spending on plan managers and third-party intermediaries by 30 per cent.

‘Many of these people provide valuable support to participants. But others have no qualifications or background in disability services and seem more interested, too often, in clipping the ticket,’ he said.

Butler unleashed on providers rorting the system.

‘When we talk about fraud in the NDIS, we are not talking about people with disability, we are not talking about families who have been put on a plan or offered support,’ Butler said. 

‘The fraud in the NDIS is being perpetrated by lowlifes who are scamming both the taxpayer and people with disability.’

Butler cited research which revealed that 60 per cent of Australians had negative views of the NDIS, driven by concerns about spending and fraud.