At The Age Schools Summit this week, the Victorian Liberal Party pledged $156 million to help identify neurodiverse students at the start of their schooling and guide families into early intervention through embedded occupational therapists and speech pathologists in the primary school system.
The Allan government immediately upped the ante. Children and Disability Minister Lizzie Blandthorn proposed two new development assessments for every child – one before they enter kindergarten and one before school.
All sides of politics recognise that provision for children diagnosed with autism, ADHD or similar conditions – a group whose numbers have been rising sharply in recent years – is now an inescapable political and budgetary challenge. But that, it would seem, is where the agreement ends.
In April, federal Health Minister Mark Butler fired the starting gun on an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), aimed at arresting its spiralling cost to the federal budget. One of the key measures to achieve that was taking neurodiverse children off the scheme and finding them alternative sources of support, such as the Thriving Kids program. Treasurer Jim Chalmers followed up with $2 billion for Thriving Kids in his May budget.
The Age backed Butler’s efforts to rein in the runaway growth of the NDIS and to tighten up its assessment and registration processes. But we warned that for children who did not meet the more stringent criteria of serious disability, alternative supports at the state level were still far from established. “Canberra and the states need to knock their heads together and provide answers as quickly as they can,” we concluded.
The effort to create a new architecture began in 2023, when the Albanese government struck a deal that in return for burden-sharing on costs, states would run Thriving Kids and other programs to divert families from the NDIS.
Since then, it has been a story of delays and growing uncertainty for families and those who advocate for them. In August 2025, Canberra took over the design of the Thriving Kids program after running out of patience with the states and territories, unveiling the model for service provision in February.
But even those states with Labor governments are still unhappy, and the joint submission by state and territory disability ministers released this week contains some of the strongest criticism yet of the federal government’s plans. It warned that Butler’s proposals risked “undermining the original intent of the NDIS” and that pursuit of “expenditure constraint” could mean “people with disability will end up in hospitals or other settings that are inappropriate and unable to meet their needs, or have no access to services at all”.
It is not just a question of party politics or pass the parcel between Canberra and the states. The Age has reported that both the Human Rights Commission and the government’s advisory committee on disability reform have expressed concern about rushed changes to the NDIS.
With the Albanese government increasingly dependent on the Coalition to deliver the sweeping powers Butler wants his ministry to have over spending and access in this area, and the May budget reliant on the NDIS savings forecast, it is not difficult to see how bipartisanship on the issue of provision for the nation’s children could be jettisoned for political advantage.
This week, Blandthorn said Victoria had secured a workable agreement to implement Thriving Kids and would “deliver a service for families that meets them where they’re at and makes their life easier”.
Thriving Kids applies to children aged eight and under, so its success should yield dividends in the long term. But many families have expressed concern about where all this upheaval and reconfiguring of systems will leave teenagers and children who are in late primary school.
The federal government wants its revamped NDIS and the state-based safety net for people with less serious disabilities ready to go by January 2028. In the meantime, uncertainty and anxiety over existing provision reigns.
The importance of thorough consultation with those affected cannot be overstated. We are talking about the quality of life not only of hundreds of thousands of people but the families who care for them as well. Many Australians already feel, as letters to The Age show, that privatisation of services is lining corporate pockets at the expense of those in need.
If governments only look at this problem in financial terms, we will all end up counting the cost socially. Unless federal and state governments want the unseemly spectacle of repeated public clashes with vulnerable people, those with disabilities and their carers, they need to meet families “where they’re at” not only in terms of funding but in terms of input on how services are designed and assessed. Time is of the essence, but so too is a willingness to listen.
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The Age’s View – Since The Age was first published in 1854, the editorial team has believed it important to express a considered view on the issues of the day for readers, always putting the public interest first.
