Less than a week after announcing that Australia’s defence budget will increase by $53 billion over the next decade, the Albanese government announced $35 billion of cuts to the NDIS over the next four years.
These cuts are going to put some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people at risk.
At least 160,000 people will be taken off the scheme within the next four years and ultimately 300,000 people forecast to be on the scheme by 2030 will be removed. Autistic people, including children, will be particularly targeted.
The government claims there will be other support available but many people fear that they will be cut from the NDIS before there is an adequate alternative.
Cost-cutting measures will see major changes to the scheme that have caused deep concern for disability advocacy groups.
From October, everyone on the scheme will lose $7000 in social and community participation funding. This makes out that support needs such as participation in the community are an unaffordable luxury rather than essential to a person’s wellbeing.
Health Minister Mark Butler claims the federal government will establish an “Inclusive Communities Fund” to replace this but has allocated it only $200 million.
Labor has proposed a new eligibility test to determine whether someone is able to access the NDIS. Every person on the NDIS will be reassessed. The aim of this is to kick people off who supposedly have “low and moderate support needs”.
From July, NDIS plans that determine how much and what type of funding people get will be decided based on an interview with a government assessor, who will put results into a computer program that sets a person’s funding levels. This could result in automated “robo-planning” instead of properly accounting for a person’s needs.
It will also become harder to appeal decisions on funding. More than 7000 applications for reviews of NDIS decisions were lodged in 2024-25 and the government spent over $60 million on private law firms fighting them. Many of these participants were asking for reasonable requests such as basic supports they need in day-to-day life.
The case to cut money from the NDIS has been fuelled by claims that the scheme is full of fraud and rorters. The government and media routinely allege fraud to justify drastic cuts in disability related benefits and services.
The main reason for fraud is that the NDIS was set up as an unregulated free market. Most cases involve providers taking advantage of disabled people.
Marketised care
The NDIS is currently the main source of essential support to about 760,000 participants. It has provided a massive increase in disability funding that has been life-changing for many people. It’s estimated about half of those on the scheme had never received support before.
Participants, however, represent only a fraction of the estimated 5.5 million Australians with disability.
The NDIS is also a marketised system where participants can choose to hire private companies or individuals to provide disability support. Its introduction in 2013 was used to privatise disability services and force them to compete with each other for clients’ money.
This is promoted as bringing choice, control and empowerment but undermines the quality of services. Some private operators cherry-pick clients whose needs are cheapest and easiest to meet.
The disability workforce is now highly casualised and insecure. There are Uber-style internet-based businesses that link participants with support workers.
We need a fully public and properly resourced disability support system. Governments need to properly fund public housing, universal healthcare, liveable welfare payments and education.
Disabled people can be and have been agents of their own change and liberation. In October last year, 40 protesters gathered in front of Parliament House in response to the NDIS cuts in essential allied health funding, travel subsidies and support coordination.
A national day of action has been called for Saturday 9 May against the cuts with rallies planned in
cities around the country.
We should fight hard against the cuts and to demand reforms to the NDIS. But we should be very clear that to win real equality for people with disabilities, we need to fight for a world that values human need not profits.
By an NDIS participant
