NDIS autism changes delayed as funding deal struck
An autism early intervention services program will be postponed as part of efforts to secure emergency hospital funding.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with premiers and chief ministers in Sydney on Friday for a “landmark” national cabinet meeting where a deal was struck to provide an extra $25 billion in funding over the next five years.
He said the deal would provide access to world-class health care and secure the future of the $52 billion National Disability Insurance Program.
The federal government has proposed delaying the $2 billion Successful Kids programme, which was due to start on July 1, until October in a bid to ease pressure on the NDIS.
The program aims to direct children with mild to moderate autism and developmental delays off the NDIS and into government-run early intervention services.
State governments had warned that they were not ready to take responsibility for basic support through schools, health clinics and social facilities.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said changes were necessary to ensure the sustainability of the NDIS.
“All jurisdictions recognize the need to get the NDIS back on track and ensure it achieves its original objectives: providing care for people with significant and permanent disabilities,” Mr Butler told ABC Radio ahead of the cabinet meeting.
When asked if the start date for the program would be July 1, Mr Butler said the program would be fully implemented from then on.
“I’m really talking about something significant beyond just a few months,” Mr. Butler said.
“We have committed to just launching the services and said we expect the program to be fully available sometime after that.”
Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls suggested the states were caught off guard by the program and learned of it when Mr Butler announced it in a speech to the National Press Club in August.
“We’re working on what that might look like for Queensland,” he told ABC Radio.
Describing it as a “landmark” national cabinet meeting, Mr Albanese said Thriving Kids would “start from this year” and its full implementation would be completed by January 1, 2028.
“The states have put forward to us the possibility of a short delay in the full implementation of Growing Up Kids,” the Prime Minister said.
“We agreed that the proposal is reasonable… and therefore a positive move when it comes to government investment and spending.”
Mr Butler said there would be no changes to existing access arrangements for children in the NDIS until Thriving Kids was introduced.
According to May 2025 figures, while participants with autism or other developmental delays as their primary disability made up half of those in the NDIS, they accounted for just 23 per cent of total payments.
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