States sidelined as Butler reassures families children won't be booted from NDIS before reforms are ready
In a major address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Butler revealed the government would make further changes to the ballooning $46 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme to bring its annual growth rate down to 5 or 6 per cent over the next four years.
A significant part of that will involve directing thousands of children with mild to moderate developmental delays and autism into a new disability support system, called 'Thriving Kids', which will deliver support through Medicare, schools, childcare, community centres and playgroups, starting from July 2027.
But the two-year turnaround for the new scheme has panicked many parents and disability groups, while state governments indicated they were unaware of Butler's announcement.
The chief executive of Children and Young People with a Disability, Skye Kakoschke-Moore, said Thriving Kids had huge potential. 'But the government can't seriously expect to set up a fully functional system to replace NDIS supports in under a year,' she said.
'The real families impacted by this announcement deserve to be heard, to see transparent decision-making, and to have certainty they won't be left without support while the system is being cobbled together.'
Butler promised that children would not be diverted from the NDIS, which is on track to become the federal budget's third-biggest expense, until there was a strong and robust new system in place to support them.
'I get that parents are feeling unsure after the announcement I had made yesterday. I want to reassure them that we're not going to leave them high and dry,' he told Nine's Today on Thursday morning, in one of several media appearances.
'We're going to make sure that there is a scheme well-designed that gives them confidence that we're going to do everything we can to support their kids to thrive, and there'll be no gap between the stools.
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