ello (@piers)

Update: "More than 160,000 people would be kicked off the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) under a government overhaul of eligibility requirements aimed at stemming the growth of the $50 billion program. Health and NDIS Minister #MarkButler **unveiled a list of cost-saving measures designed to return the scheme to sustainable levels in a major speech to the National Press Club today, three weeks before the federal budget is due to be handed down**. "**The changes are projected to save the budget $22 billion over the forward estimates while avoiding a $13 billion projected blow-out over the same period**. "Under the proposal, standardised assessments of functional capacity would determine eligibility for the scheme rather than diagnosis alone, with the minister declaring that a 'diagnosis gateway has funnelled people onto a scheme that was never designed for them'. "'There's no particular area of diagnosis that will be treated differently to others,' he said. 'What it will mean is that Australians with lower support needs or higher functional capacity, depending on your perspective, will be moved out of the scheme.' "**The new eligibility rules are yet to be determined**, Mr Butler said, but initial modelling projected the new approach would reduce the number of people who use the NDIS from 760,000 currently to 600,000 by the end of the decade. **This is 300,000 fewer people than the current projections for the same period**. "Mr Butler said he expected an assessment tool for new applicants would be up and running by the start of 2028, while existing participants will be reassessed against the new test as their plans come up for renewal. "**People who no longer meet the criteria for the national scheme will be redirected into so-called foundational support programs run by the states and territories**, he said, like the previously announced Thriving Kids program. "The overhaul was necessary because **the scheme "costs too much and is growing too fast"**, Mr Butler said. "He warned that its survival was at risk if action was not taken to halt spending growth at the government's target of 5 to 6%. Under the current settings the scheme is forecast to cost $70 billion by the end of the decade. **With the changes that figure will drop to about $55 billion**, the minister said. "Spending growth is also expected to drop below inflation to around 2% a year over the forward estimates as a result of the cuts, before returning to 5% over the medium term from 2030 [...]." Maani Truu, ABC #NDIS https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-22/mark-butler-ndis-overhaul-eligibility-test/106592186