Australia news and politics live: Coalition slams lack of detail in NDIS overhaul, removing kids with autism
Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston isn't happy with the lack of detail in Health Minister Mark Butler's recent NDIS announcement, which included removing kids with autism from the system and instead moved into a new initiative.
Ms Ruston has emphasised that the Coalition wants to ensure children who need foundational support receive the help they require.
However, she criticized Mr Butler's announcement for lacking sufficient detail, leaving parents of children with mild to moderate developmental delays uncertain about what to expect.
'Whilst there was a lot of headline in yesterday, there wasn't a lot of detail about how this will impact parents going forward, parents with children with mild to moderate developmental challenges,' Ms Ruston told ABC Radio National on Thursday morning.
'I think the thing that concerns me most is the lack of detail and the impact that's likely to have on many parents, many families this morning,' she added.
Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler has been asked about the timeframe for fixing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) before its social licence runs out.
It comes as yesterday, Mr Butler announced the government would invest $2 billion in 'Thriving Kids,' a new initiative outside the NDIS designed to assist children with mild to moderate developmental delays and autism. This move aims to remove children with less severe disabilities from the NDIS to help control the scheme's rapidly increasing costs.
Mr Butler emphasised the need for reform to maintain public support, saying, 'I think what the community is saying is they want a sense from their government that we get the need to make change. They overwhelmingly think that this is a scheme they should be proud of that has transformed the lives of people with disabilities,' Mr Butler told ABC Radio National.
'But they're concerned it's costing too much and has too many inefficiencies and too many dodgy providers,' he says.
Bruce Lehrmann will return to a Sydney court on Thursday as his lawyer attempts to argue that he was 'surprised' by the findings made against him in his damaging defamation suit loss to Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson.
Lehrmann has appealed to the Full Court of the Federal Court following his multimillion dollar loss to Ten and Ms Wilkinson last year.
Justice Michael Lee found that Lehrmann – on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities – had raped his colleague Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House in 2019.
Lehrmann sued over Ms Wilkinson's interview with Ms Higgins on The Project but Justice Lee made damning findings against him and he was subsequently ordered to pay $2m in Ten's legal costs.
Read the full story.
Israel's military has announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City and called up tens of thousands of reservists while the Government considered a new ceasefire proposal to pause nearly two years of war.
'We have begun the preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City, and already now IDF forces are holding the outskirts of Gaza City,' Brigadier General Effie Defrin, Israel's military spokesman, told reporters.
The IDF confirmed it would call up 60,000 reservists as part of the preparations for the 'next phase of Operation Gideon's Chariots', the ground offensive that it launched in May that has seen it take control of 75 per cent of Gaza.
Read more.
An overhaul of how Australians could be taxed will be put in the spotlight as a productivity roundtable draws to a close.
The third and final day of the federal government's economic reform summit in Canberra will focus on tax reform and budget sustainability on Thursday.
The government went into the federal election in May promising not to make changes to negative gearing and the capital gains benefit, but forum attendees are still expected to make the case for the reforms.
Unions are set to argue for a full suite of tax measures including limiting negative gearing to one investment property, with existing laws allowed to stay in place for the next five years.
A minimum tax rate of 25 per cent for people earning more than $1 million per year has been pitched by union attendees.
Read more.
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AU Financial Review
3 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
Mental health conditions could also face cuts under NDIS overhaul
Federal Labor's plan to reduce the cost of the NDIS by removing children with mild autism and developmental delays is also expected to strip away some participants with mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, which add almost $6 billion a year in spending to the scheme. Former NDIS directors and executives said the second phase of Health Minister Mark Butler's proposal to cut the scheme's growth rate must tackle the significant number of participants with psychosocial disabilities; conditions the scheme was not intended to fund when it was set up.
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
No child should lose from changes to NDIS
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. HEALTH AND DISABILITY In looking at the issues surrounding the National Disability Insurance Scheme it is important not to lose sight of history and also to recognise how significant a reform it was when introduced. It has been swamped by pent-up demand and, in particular, demand for services for Autism Spectrum Disorders, accentuated by its private provider model, which has created a honeypot for dodgy providers. For much of my career when giving the diagnosis of a disability to parents, a significant part of the conversation had to be the warning that they would face a battle getting services, especially services which allowed integration into the mainstream. It was often a soul-destroying battle against a rigid Education Department and other bureaucracies, with arbitrary and unfair testing cut-offs for funding and great reluctance by mainstream schools to take children, as they knew full well that the Education Department would never provide enough, forcing them to share the resources one child may have obtained among three or four others. For children with 'mild to moderate' ASD and other conditions, the provision of adequate services is just as life transforming as for those with greater needs, not least because the ultimate goal of independence in the community is more easily attainable. Governments have profited for decades from the underfunding of such services. Any cuts to NDIS cannot be contemplated until there are robust and well-funded services for those excluded from NDIS. Dr Andrew Watkins, Olinda Not only the young at risk of losing NDIS I can understand Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler's concern about sustainability of the NDIS. The figures for autism and developmental problems particularly among young boys are alarming. (One out of every 10 six-year-olds are on the NDIS, including 16 per cent of six-year-old boys). In contrast, the percentage of beneficiaries who have a permanent acquired brain injury (ABI) is 3 per cent. I have a boy; he has an ABI which is the result of contracting meningitis two years ago. My boy is 66 and I am 95. He's been rejected for NDIS benefits because his 65th birthday was the arbitrary cut-off date on which a patient suddenly becomes ineligible and is packed off to a nursing home. My boy is physically healthy and eager to participate in the community – eg. voluntary work with the assistance of a private carer. Expensive stuff without NDIS finance and our resources are running low. His medical advisers think he would deteriorate in aged care. The Age gave me a half-page opinion piece space in March to write about our fears for my boy's future when I die. The ABC followed up my story and over 100 respondents all thought our family is not getting a fair go. There will probably be extensive debate about the autistic youngsters. Will the minister also remember people like my boy – those for whom the NDIS was designed? I believe there are other families like ours where older parents care for adult children and fear the future. I wish they would make their voices heard. Ros Collins, Elwood Divert private school subsidies to NDIS The federal government intends to contribute $2 billion into ″Thriving Kids″, a new program outside the NDIS aimed at supporting children with mild to moderate developmental delays and autism. Perhaps additional funds could also be diverted from federally overfunded 'private schools' to this program. Alternatively, these funds could be provided to fund government schools so they can provide the essential services that are presently not supplied to students with developmental issues. Haydn Moyle, Flemington THE FORUM Liberals don't factor State political editor Chip Le Grand overstates the problems in the Victorian Liberal Party and understates the depth of community feeling against Labor (″ For Victoria, Allan's bounce back is anything but healthy ″, 21/8). Anyone who is not a rusted-on Labor supporter pays little or no heed to the Liberals' internal problems. They only care about how the state is governed and by whom, not the back room machinations of the opposition. Most of them probably couldn't even name the Liberals' leader, but they certainly know who the premier is. She is deeply unpopular, and one poll taken immediately after the release of the populist work from home policy will not change that. Brad Battin has 12 months in the job to remind voters of the flaws of a government that passed its use-by date long ago. Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully State freefall Working from home is fuelling the 32 per cent primary support for the state Labor Party. Victorians should put aside selfish interests for the good of our state. This incompetent mob in just over 10 years has managed to bring this once vibrant and proud state to its knees. Businesses are going belly up, the crime rate is out of control, huge debt, CFMEU and childcare debacles, and to top it all off, we have become the protest capital of Australia. I know the average Victorian is fairminded and will make the right decision at the next election to stop this freefall. Steve Naumovski, Southbank Don't mention cladding If Merrick Morley (Comment, 21/8) thinks that dealing with maintenance issues in an apartment building is stressful, maybe he should try living in a 19th-century weatherboard built on clay. Along with the usual on-going issues with cracking plaster, sagging stumps and badly fitting windows, he would also have to invest in thermal underwear and extra thick woolly jumpers to see him through the winter while continuing to pay massive energy bills. He would be living alongside neighbours who might or might not be delightful, and his options for dealing with difficult neighbours would be very limited. Having downsized from such a weatherboard to a modern apartment building, I can confirm that maintenance issues, bills, and neighbourly differences of opinion do not go away. But there are ways of raising issues and ways of dealing with them that are not available to the average house owner. There are plenty of horror stories about apartments. Just mention the word ″cladding″. The solutions must include better building standards, architectural designs that bring people together as well as providing privacy and quiet for each apartment, and public discussion of what works and what doesn't. And, a decent range of apartment sizes and a substantial inclusion of social housing in every building. For my partner and I, downsizing has been partly a pre-emptive strike against the possibility of having to go into aged care some time in the future – and so far, we are very happy with our decision. Caroline Williamson, Brunswick
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘You're saving money by having children go without': Parents scared of NDIS changes
Back from the school run at Blackett, in Sydney's north-west, mother of four Cara Delarue is scared and stressed. On Wednesday afternoon, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler announced sweeping changes to the NDIS, including moving thousands of children with mild and moderate autism onto a new system, Thriving Kids, as part of a savings push for the $46 billion scheme. Butler made several media appearances on Thursday, scrambling to reassure families there would be 'no gap between the stools'. 'Kids are not going to be taken off the NDIS because of what I said yesterday,' he told ABC radio. Two of Delarue's children have been diagnosed with autism, one mild and one moderate, although she finds those descriptors misleading. 'Sometimes your children aren't displaying significant signs upon assessment,' she said. 'They might show it in every other setting, but not when they're sitting there.' Delarue's son with moderate autism sees a psychologist, behavioural support therapist, occupational therapist and physiotherapist, and previously a speech therapist. She is concerned her son will lose some of this support when Thriving Kids – which will operate through Medicare, schools, childcare, community centres and playgroups – begins in July 2027. 'Not knowing what the future looks like is nerve-racking. Is my child going to lose more support? Potentially. Is it going to all fall onto the school?' she said. 'It's scary and stressful to think that the push for this might be a way to save money. You're saving money by having children go without the assistance they need.'
