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The Minister for Disability and the NDIS, Mark Butler used his National Press Club address today to announce the development of a new ‘Thriving Kids’ program, that will particularly target children with mild-to-moderate developmental delays and autism. The Federal government will commit $2 billion to the new program, which the Minister expects to roll out 1st July 2026.
Minister Butler said that after Thriving Kids is operating, the NDIS eligibility criteria for children will change. Children currently on the NDIS, or who join the NDIS before Thriving Kids rolls out, will not be automatically removed from the Scheme. However, they will be ‘subject to its usual arrangements, including reassessments.’
What do we know about Thriving Kids?
Minister Butler said that Thriving Kids will still be designed in consultation with the disability community. He announced that paediatrician and childhood development expert Frank Oberklaid will lead the consultation efforts. However, the Minister did list some initiatives that the government has already been considering, including:
- A National version of the Inklings program that is currently being piloted in WA. The Inklings program aims to help parents recognise and engage with their baby’s unique communication style.
- Workforce training for GPs to help them recognise child development delays and a new Medicare item for bulk billed child development assessments
- A new Medicare line item for allied health supports for children.
- Scaling up state-based community centres where families can drop-in to receive support.
- Nationally consistent online information services.
- More services that are provided through the early childhood education centres. The Minister said that the government’s $1bn Building Early Education Fund will play a critical role.
The Minister dropped a lot of not-so-subtle hints that States and Territories will have to play a key role in funding and delivering Thriving Kids. However, he said it would be a nationally consistent program delivered under Federal leadership.
The Minister said that programs that already support young children and their families ‘are ripe for a greater focus,’ including early childhood education centres, schools and health services.
Why is Thriving Kids being set up?
It comes down to Scheme sustainability (surprising, I know!). The Minister said that the Scheme is growing too fast, and one of the key drivers of growth is the number of children with mild-to-moderate developmental delays and autism. The government is particularly concerned that 1 in 10 of children in Australia are on the NDIS, including 1 in 6 of boys. Around half of all new Scheme entrants are under 9.
Because the NDIS is the only ‘port in the storm’, Minister Butler said that the children who need support have no choice but to apply for the NDIS. And, this isn’t the most important issue, but why does every NDIS Minister feel the need to come up with their own foundational supports metaphor? How about some national consistency in the metaphor department?
The Minister argued that children are being over-serviced, with children with moderate needs getting an average of 70 hours of therapy a year. Strangely, he also said that the NDIS doesn’t require any evidence to justify that level of support. Dude has clearly never had to have a plan assessment..
The Minister said that the aim was to get the NDIS back to its ‘North Star’- supporting people with permanent and significant disabilities. He also said that given the NDIS only directly supports 1 in 40 Australians, its social license isn’t guaranteed.
Other changes foreshadowed
While Thriving Kids was the headline of today’s speech, the Minister also indicated there will be other changes coming soon.
- NDIS growth target: Minister Butler noted that National Cabinet’s 2023 target of limiting NDIS growth to 8% was an interim measure. Long term, he speculated that NDIS growth should be between 5-6%, but said the final figure would require more detailed modelling and would be a decision for National Cabinet.
- Provider registration: The Minister said that the Scheme needed ‘more robust market stewardship, including a well-calibrated system of provider registration.’ He made it clear that he didn’t love the fact that of the 260,000 NDIS service providers, only 16,000 are registered. However, no more definite changes to registration were announced today.
- Foundational supports: The Minister rejected the suggestion that Thriving Kids was a move away from the NDIS Review’s recommendation to implement foundational supports. He said that Thriving Kids will be the foundational supports program for kids, but there will be other systems that target different cohorts.
- NDIS Reform Advisory Committee: The new appointments to the government’s NDIS Reform Advisory Committee were also announced today. It’s likely they’ll play an important role in helping design Thriving Kids.
Minister Butler started his speech by saying that the NDIS was in its adolescent years, a period that required ‘judicious dose of supervision and management.’ That made me bristle- but maybe that’s just my inner adolescent rearing its head. Regardless, it looks like we can expect more NDIS reforms in the future.
You can find the full transcript of Minister Butler’s speech here: Speech from Minister Butler, National Press Club
