NDIS reform leaves disabled Australians fearing what comes next

For people with disability, the end of 2024 was a rollercoaster.

New legislation for the National Disability Insurance Scheme started coming into effect in October, with new lists of what can and cannot be funded, changes to early intervention requirements and more, already altering the way 646,000 people receive support from the $35bn program.

The reforms are not yet complete, though, and March is shaping up to be crunch time: that’s when consultation is expected on things such as the support-needs assessment tool – a framework for determining a person’s impairments and how much public money should be allocated to them. But the timelines are so tight, and the space for consultation so narrow, that advocates say the promised co-design on critical parts of the new system is all but impossible.

So-called “foundational supports”, to be provided by the states and territories and agreed upon by national cabinet more than a year ago, are supposed to be in place by 1 July. But despite the new legislation already restricting access and support to the NDIS, there is very little agreement on what those foundational supports actually are, let alone the architecture in place to provide them.

Throw in a new NDIS minister and a looming federal election, and anxieties in the sector are high.

Making it worse is the undercurrent of palpable fear from people with a disability that they will receive a letter from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) telling them they may no longer be eligible for the scheme that has been a salvation for many – and which they were told would be for life.

Read the full story here: ‘Comedy of errors’: NDIS reform leaves disabled Australians fearing what comes next