The newly announced Thriving Kids program is aimed at redirecting the NDIS stream to reduce NDIS growth rates.
At the National Press Club on Wednesday, Health Minister Mark Butler announced the development of a new disability service called Thriving Kids, targeted at redirecting children with autism and related development delays away from the NDIS.
Just under half of the current NDIS participants are under 15 years old, a proportion set to increase given that around half of new NDIS entrants are under the age of 9.
The majority of this cohort exhibit developmental delays or autism.
“I think most Australians would be alarmed to know that one out of every ten 6-year-olds are in the NDIS, including 16 per cent of 6-year-old boys,” Mr Butler told the National Press Club.
“That’s one in every six boys in a grade 2 classroom.
“The Hunter, one of the NDIS pilot sites, has one of the most bedded down NDIS systems, and trends suggest that what is happening there is likely to happen elsewhere unless a better way is found.”
This program has been accounted for in the current budget with $2 million set aside with the expectation for the initiative to be fully active by July 2026.
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This “refocusing” has been promoted as a potential method to wrangle the projected NDIS growth from the 2022 report of 22% per year down to 8%.
“Diverting this group of kids over time from the NDIS is an important element of making the scheme sustainable and returning it to its original intent,” Mr Butler said.
“Access and eligibility changes will be made to do that once the Thriving Kids Program is fully rolled out.
“Children enrolled in the NDIS now – or who become enrolled before that time – will remain on the Scheme, subject to its usual arrangements, including reassessments.”
Mr Butler cited the Inklings program from the Kids Institute in Perth as one of the potential features to run as part of the program.
Parental support and engagement were also mentioned as an area of focus for the program.
“We must always remember parents are better placed than anyone to support their own kids,” Mr Butler said.
“Parents obviously want to do everything possible to help their kids thrive, but they need consistent information they can trust to fully understand how to help their children by actively building skill development into daily routines, develop better parenting skills, and navigate the wide range of supports available to help them.
“At present this isn’t as easy as it should be.”
The Thriving Kids program is expected to be delivered with state governments as key partners along with service providers and parents.
Australia’s pre-eminent paediatrician and childhood development expert Frank Oberklaid has also been signed on to co-chair the program.
“We need to leverage those existing systems,” Mark Butler told 7:30.
“Supports in community health centres that used to exist long before the NDIS had been defunded to a degree in order to pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
“So rebuilding, refocusing those mainstream broad-based supports that have existed for long before the NDIS.
“That’s the response that you should have for a mainstream, broad-based issue.”
