Ahead of the 2024 Australian federal budget, the Albanese government is set to roll out sweeping reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), redirecting projected savings from the overhaul to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for essential aged care services for older Australians. The policy shift will be detailed by Health, Ageing and NDIS Minister Mark Butler during a highly anticipated address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, marking one of the most significant social policy changes ahead of the budget release next month.Starting October 1, core personal care supports including assistance with showering, dressing and continence care will be reclassified under the Clinical Care category of the government’s Support at Home aged care program, fully scrapping all required co-contributions that older Australians previously paid. Aged Care Minister Sam Rae emphasized that these basic daily care supports are non-negotiable for dignified ageing, noting the policy change directly responds to community feedback from older people, their families and aged care providers.
“Showering, dressing, continence care – these aren’t optional extras, they’re the basics of ageing with dignity and no older Australian should miss out because of cost,” Rae said. “Older Australians, their families and providers told us these services needed to be protected. We’ve listened and we’re acting.”
First launched by the Gillard Labor government in 2013, the taxpayer-funded NDIS was designed to deliver essential support to Australians living with permanent and severe disability. Today, the scheme carries an annual price tag of $50 billion, with independent projections showing that spending could double to $100 billion within the next decade without intervention. The rapid unsustainable growth of NDIS expenditure has placed the scheme at the center of federal government efforts to rein in public spending, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirming the scheme is a core focus of pre-budget negotiations. Chalmers has stressed the government remains fully committed to the NDIS mission, but acknowledges the urgent need for structural change to secure its long-term future.
Government officials have defended the reform push, arguing inaction is not a viable option. Labor MP Josh Burns told media that without changes, the NDIS would eventually become the single most expensive government program in Australia, a financial trajectory that is unsustainable. “The reason why we have to [reform] is because the NDIS is there for people with a severe disability, a permanent disability, and it needs to be there for the future,” Burns said. “If we don’t do anything, if we let it just grow, it’s going to be the biggest government program, the most expensive thing government does in Australia, and it’s just not sustainable, so it needs to be there for the future.”
While opposition figures have agreed that the NDIS requires structural repair, they have pushed back against what they warn could become a cost-shifting exercise, arguing the reform must address deep-rooted design flaws in the program. Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, the opposition’s spokesperson on the issue, said the NDIS’s challenges stretch beyond unsustainable spending, pointing to widespread concerns about unregistered providers, compliance gaps and systemic rorting. McKenzie noted that even NDIS internal estimates find 10 percent of claims are non-compliant, totaling $5 billion in misspending annually.
“The NDIS was suffering from a ‘design problem’ and must be addressed as more than just a ‘cost-shifting exercise’,” McKenzie said. The opposition is open to cross-party collaboration to get the scheme “under control” to guarantee its long-term sustainability for disabled Australians, she added, but warned: “It can’t just be a cost-shifting exercise from the government back onto states. It needs to fix the problem at its heart, which is around design.”
The peak body for Australia’s disability sector has already alerted providers to expect sweeping changes when the federal budget is released next month, as the government looks to lock in the savings needed to fund the aged care policy overhaul.