The NDIS has grown too big, too fast. The government is right to be reining in cost growth. And it is right to be focusing on fixing flaws in the scheme’s design, including inconsistency in eligibility and budget-setting, over-reliance on markets, and inadequate governance.
But the 2026 Budget reform package also proposes a 50 per cent reduction to budgets for Social and Community Participation Supports and 10 per cent reductions to Capacity Building Daily Activities budgets.
Social and community participation is central to the purpose of the NDIS. An across-the-board cut of this magnitude to these budgets will have a devastating impact on many people on the scheme, particularly those with higher support needs.
The case for such deep, early cuts has not been sufficiently made and is underpinned by dubious policy logic. The scheme can be put on a sustainable footing for the long term without resorting to blunt cuts to add to budget savings in the short term.
And, as Grattan’s disability policy team shows in this submission, even if early savings were necessary, such a deep cut to Social and Community Participation Supports is far from the best way to achieve them.
There is a real risk that the government will hit the growth-reduction target while missing the point: relying on blunt cost reductions that worsen outcomes for people on the NDIS while underlying design issues take more time to resolve.