News
After months of uncertainty, the disability community has finally been given a glimpse of what the future of Foundational Supports could look like beyond the government’s delivery of Thriving Kids.
At a recent press conference the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Mark Butler, where announced the release of the Thriving Kids Advisory Group’s report, Powerd Media posed a question of whether the broader disability community could expect any other support programs to be rolled out under the umbrella of the much-debated Foundational Supports.
Mr Butler responded, explaining that the second cohort to be the focus of Foundational Support delivery will be adults with severe and chronic mental illness, as identified by the NDIS review released in 2023.
“We know that there is substantial unmet need in the community. We undertook analyses of unmet need with state and territory governments over the last few years which quantified that cohort,” the Minister began.
There were…as many as 230,000 mainly adults living with severe and chronic mental illness not receiving any support either through the NDIS or other psycho-social programs run by the Commonwealth or state and territory governments.
Mark Butler, Minister for the NDIS
The Minister for the NDIS also touched on the government’s commitment to cutting the growth rate of the National Disability Insurance Scheme by the end of the year.
Obviously, there’s population growth, there’s a bit of population ageing in the scheme. Growth should be something like health inflation plus a measure for population growth and population ageing, which I quantified as five to six per cent.
Mark Butler, Minister for the NDIS
“We’re confident we’re on track to do that. We’re still engaged in implementing a arrange of new measures to get to that,” he claims.
With the roll out of Thriving Kids now delayed until October, disability advocacy groups are questioning whether governments are prepared to deliver a functional, nationally consistent Foundational Supports system that works alongside the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Timelines must be readiness-based, not date-based
Jenny Karavolos, Australian Autism Alliance
Last Friday, National Cabinet committed an overall $10 billion dollar figure to foundational supports, with Thriving Kids costing $4 billion alone.
“There remains a substantial commitment to foundational supports in place by governments. Mental health ministers and health ministers will be meeting at the end of next week,” Mr Butler says.
“I don’t have any timeframes to announce about that cohort and the existing foundational supports commitments, but that really is the next important piece of work for governments.”
Several disability representative organisations released a joint statement in the wake of the announcement, calling on all governments to commit to a nationally consistent Foundational Supports framework, underpinned by minimum service standards, transparent intergovernmental agreements, and clear public implementation plans.
These reforms are required in parallel so people with disability can access support outside the NDIS and avoid growing service gaps and inequity in different jurisdictions.
DRO Statement
“Without these commitments, people with disability and families risk facing fragmented systems, inconsistent access and widening service gaps,” the statement claims.
Powerd Media will you updated as this story progresses.