Health Minister Mark Butler announced the changes, which include slashing spending on some support categories, reducing third-party management costs, and introducing new provider standards. According to Butler, core supports essential for daily living, such as accommodation, personal care, transport, hygiene, continence supports, and medication management, will not be affected by the changes. The government is targeting areas where NDIS spending growth has accelerated rapidly, particularly unscheduled plan reassessments, which Butler said will now only happen in exceptional circumstances.
Changes to social and community participation funding will reduce the number of hours participants can spend on that, impacting some participants. The government declared it would be negligent to allow the NDIS to continue growing at about 10% a year. NDIS spending is the Commonwealth's second-fastest growing expense at about $50 billion a year, behind only interest on government debt.
Disability advocates have warned that cuts to NDIS services would leave participants worse off. Dr. Nick Coatsworth warned that many people have lost faith in the NDIS as its growing cost takes resources from other essential services like health and aged care.
NDIS spending is now more than Medicare and more than aged care. The scheme benefits 800,000 people, while other major budget items like health, aged care, defense, and interest payments are for 26 million Australians. The specific new eligibility tests and the timeline for implementing the overhaul remain unclear.
It is also unknown how many participants will be directly affected by the reduction in social and community participation funding hours.