Contentious NDIS bill passed: is it reforms or rubbish?

The outgoing NDIS Minister, Bill Shorten MP, announced that the budget for the $35bn National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) would be reformed, and was met with heavy criticism from the disability community.

The NDIS is a comprehensive scheme that provides a funded plan to eligible people with disability. The plan’s allocated funding is informed by specific goals and expectations for the participants based on their support needs. The scheme currently supports more than 600,000 Australians with disabilities with various aspects of health and wellbeing. Some of these goals include greater time with family and friends, increased independence, support in employment or skill development and an overall improved quality of life.

The data in the 2024-25 federal Budget indicates that the funding for the NDIS was at $44.3bn and estimated to increase to upwards of $60.7bn by 2027-28. The reforms are aimed at ensuring the financial sustainability of the scheme and claim to improve the quality of support for participants. The phased implementation of changes will occur over 2025-26, with continued review across this time.

The reforms will include an update to the foundational supports category, now categorised as Foundational supports: general and targeted. This will allegedly look like faster timeframes for approving rules, a new dispute resolution approach, new types of funded services/products and the reallocation of funding. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) CEO Rebecca Falkingham has stated that the data shows that these reforms are necessary to create, “A future where the Scheme is delivering the best outcome for participants while becoming more sustainable”.

Findings from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability created the basis for the reforms. Interim progress consultations from the NDIS Minister and the Royal Commission occurred prior to the implementation to find a middle ground between the findings and the current state of the NDIS.

Even with Shorten claiming that these reforms will improve the NDIS, disability advocates, NDIS participants and organisations have heavily opposed the reforms. Australian Federation of Disability Organisations CEO Ross Joyce and disability advocates online have both been vocal about their dissatisfaction of governments engagement with the disability community in the creation of these reforms.

The President of People with Disability Australia, Marayke Jonkers spoke about her feelings surrounding the reforms, “We are deeply disappointed with the outcome. These reforms will make it harder for people with disability to participate in our schools, workplaces, and communities”.

The Department of Social Services’ roadmap has indicated that one of the key elements of the roadmap is ‘ongoing implementation of joint Disability Royal Commission (DRC) recommendations across governments in partnership with the disability community’. This shows that they have considered some level of community access, but their previous community partnership has left many with concerns.

Many people, on the scheme or trying to access it, are concerned they will lose access to support before the new ‘foundational supports’ are trialled, tested and implemented. The future looks very uncertain for many people with a disability, with this continuing the long-running debate about efficiency for participants and their ability to have autonomy even before the reforms. The Greens labelled the reforms a betrayal, as the NDIS was first established in 2013 under former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Australia’s Disability Strategy (ADS) will also undertake a targeted review of the reforms and generate practical improvements with a report due in 2026. These reforms continue the same concerns amongst disability advocates and politicians. Full evaluation of the ADS is said to commence within 12 months of the first implementation, with reporting due in 2026.

Since the implementation of these reforms, Bill Shorten has announced he will retire to take on a position as Vice Chancellor of the University of Canberra. This has sparked rumours about poor consultation and implementation of these reforms.