{"id":625292,"date":"2026-04-23T08:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625292\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T08:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:06:10","slug":"australians-uneasy-about-ndis-cuts-amid-53bn-in-new-defence-spending-mark-butler-concedes-national-disability-insurance-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625292\/","title":{"rendered":"Australians \u2018uneasy\u2019 about NDIS cuts amid $53bn in new defence spending, Mark Butler concedes | National disability insurance scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Butler has defended the government\u2019s decision to trim the NDIS just days after announcing $53bn in new defence spending, with the health minister conceding Australians may be \u201cuneasy\u201d<\/a> but insisting it would remain one of the best support services \u201canywhere in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Coalition looks likely to back the proposed changes, despite alarm from the Greens and some in the disability sector about the 160,000 participants expected to be removed<\/a> by 2030 and changes to who can access the scheme.<\/p>\n

Chris Minns also warned changes made to the program could have major flow-on effects to state health systems, with the New South Wales premier saying \u201cwe can\u2019t provide equivalent care in the state system\u201d to people removed from the NDIS.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Butler said specifics \u2013 including new assessments for every NDIS participant and whether there will be appeal rights \u2013 would be finalised with the disability community, saying there were major \u201cflaws\u201d in the support program.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are concerned that this scheme, which used to be a source of real national pride because people understand the degree to which it\u2019s transformed hundreds of thousands of lives, is becoming a cause of national concern because people think it\u2019s costing too much,\u201d Butler told the Australian Politics podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think it\u2019s riddled with dodgy providers and they want a plan to bring it on track that will secure its future for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Butler announced a dramatic overhaul of the NDIS <\/a>on Wednesday, including plans to reduce the annual growth rate to just 2% \u2013 below inflation, representing a cut in real terms \u2013 and new compliance to dramatically increasethe number of service provider categories required to register on government lists.<\/p>\n

The scheme now caters for 760,000 people, with projections by 2030 it could have 900,000 participants, but that number will be cut to 600,000 instead. The remaining people will be shifted on to alternate supports, such as state-based schemes yet to be finalised.<\/p>\n

Butler has long warned that the NDIS\u2019s ballooning costs threatened the entire program\u2019s survival, with the reforms expected to save billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese endorsed the changes, saying the NDIS had grown too large.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great Labor reform that was put in place for people with permanent and serious disability to provide support for them so they can fully participate in society,\u201d the prime minister said at a press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has helped and will continue to help so many Australians who are in need of that care\u2026 but the NDIS was never intended to have classrooms where four in every ten children were on the NDIS. And the original purpose is what we are aimed at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six days before Butler\u2019s National Press Club address, the defence minister, Richard Marles, appeared at the same venue to announce $53bn in new military spending<\/a> over the next decade.<\/p>\n

Asked on the podcast about the contrast between cutting the NDIS at the same time as boosting defence, Butler said: \u201cI get that there\u2019s always a bit of compare and contrast that happens as people look at these choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what I will say \u2013 with responsibility for the biggest portfolio in spending terms in the government across health, across aged care, across disabilities \u2013 is that even with the changes I announced yesterday, which I acknowledge are very significant changes, this will still be the biggest social program the government has outside of the aged pension,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill bigger than Medicare and the PBS combined, and still the centrepiece of the most comprehensive suite of supports for people with disability you will find anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Greens called the changes \u201ccynical and cruel\u201d, pledging to fight the plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisabled people are now left dreading whether they will be one of the 160,000 people Labor plan to kick off the NDIS \u2013 because their disability is too invisible, or because a computer predicts they will be fine without supports,\u201d the senator Jordon Steele-John said.<\/p>\n

Minns was critical of the government\u2019s changes to private health rebates for older Australians, warning \u201clittle changes at the federal level made by somebody in a darkened room in Canberra can have a big impact on an emergency department in Mount Druitt\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that he wasn\u2019t as critical as some other state premiers about the NDIS changes, but cautioned that people who would no longer be on the disability scheme may not receive as high a level of care.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re not going to be provided with NDIS support, we can\u2019t provide equivalent care in the state system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Opposition health spokesperson, Anne Ruston, told the ABC the Coalition<\/a> had long-supported \u201csensible reforms\u201d to ensure NDIS sustainability, indicating the government will get its support to pass the changes through parliament. But she said participants needed more information about how the scheme would change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the distress and uncertainty that this is causing those people that are on the NDIS and their families today is something that the minister needs to clear up very, very quickly, because that is probably the most important decision that the government will make now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Butler said access to the NDIS would be based on a person\u2019s \u201cfunctional capacity\u201d, not simply a diagnosis of a disability, which he described as a flaw in the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was never the intention. Long term, the intention was to have a much more objective assessment system that will look at a person\u2019s functional capacity, not whether they had a diagnosis of schizophrenia or autism or they had Down\u2019s syndrome.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this functional capacity was substantially reduced, impacting their day to day living needs, they would be on the scheme,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve got hundreds of thousands of people on the scheme who were not intended originally to be on it \u2026 It really is a big change. And I get that people are feeling uneasy about how that change will roll out, but it\u2019s a necessary change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Butler has defended the government\u2019s decision to trim the NDIS just days after announcing $53bn in new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-625292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}