16-05-2026: Australian Labor Party (ALP) “Health” Minister Mark Butler announced in April that 160 000 people will be cut from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as part of a supposed plan to preserve the long-term viability of the NDIS. In reality, the funding cuts – at the moment worth around $15 billion – represent the largest reduction to any government program in Australia’s history. Many of those thrown off the scheme will be children with “mild to moderate” autism or developmental delay, and will allegedly be pushed onto a state based scheme called “Thriving Kids”.[1] One problem is that this program does not yet exist, and another problem is that the state governments are unlikely to have the funding for such a program in any case. Another hurdle is that schools and community groups that may possibly assist neurodivergent children are already strapped for funding themselves.

“Functional Assessments”

The NDIS funding cuts come with a change to functional assessments rather than a medical diagnosis. In effect this will mean a diagnosis from a trained professional doctor, clinical psychologist or psychiatrist will be thrown out of the window in favour of a review of what the disabled person is able to do from day to day. This is likely to be a mechanism for the cold bureaucrats of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to rule disabled people as “not disabled enough” for funded support, and thus to reduce or eliminate their supports altogether. It will almost certainly lead to less or no options for those with psychosocial disabilities – impairments caused by mental health conditions such as bipolar, schizophrenia or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).[2] Young people with such conditions are likely to be thrown off supports altogether and left to fend for themselves, and the costs born by families or local communities. So-called functional assessments disregard how those with neurodivergent and/or mental health conditions cope in society, with many having good days and bad days in dealing with their condition.

Politicians bleating on about how the NDIS was blowing out costs, and how some providers were rorting the system are not an excuse to remove those in need from a support system. The NDIS, since its introduction in 2013, has transformed some lives and provided much needed support for some living with disabilities. However, privatisation and provider profiteering is distorting its purpose. The NDIS began as an attempt to privatise disability services, and so rorting is somewhat of a natural consequence of an uncontrolled for-profit system.[3] Only a mere 10% of disability service providers are actually registered with the NDIS,[4] meaning 90% of providers are basically unregulated. This has led to cases of multi-million dollar fraud, but these cases are not at all the fault of the users of the system, i.e., people with a disability. Rather, it is the fault of unscrupulous entrepreneurs who have taken advantage of a government system set up to advantage providers, many of whom are owned by huge “health” corporations.

Money for war

Many parents of neurodivergent children are reporting that they are being removed from the NDIS even before the Thriving Kids program begins. “Mild autism” is a political term, not a medical one. It is being used by politicians to deny the difficulties that those on the autistic spectrum experience and therefore block their access to supports which help them take part in society. Those with invisible disabilities also require support to access vital parts of society. A support worker assisting a disabled person to go outside, go shopping for groceries, take part in a group or a social engagement is a vital need, as much as direct medical attention. It breaks the isolation and can allow a disabled person to feel a part of society rather than being restricted to their living quarters. Yet these are the supports that are most likely going to be rationalised away under the $15 billion cuts to the NDIS. Even some support person assistance for those who need assistance with showering and toileting could also be under threat of removal. A funded NDIS support worker in many cases had allowed disabled people to choose when they needed this back up. Despite the deep flaws in the NDIS, it had allowed users some choice for the first time.

Despite all the claims about the NDIS cost “blow-out”, the NDIS currently costs around $50 billion per year. This is less than what the Australian government spends on the military each year, and the federal government is ramping up military spending over the next 10 years, to well over $100 billion each year.[5] Yet there is no comparable concern about this spending from politicians and the mainstream media. Hanging over Australia is the outrageous $368 billion allocated for nuclear powered submarines under the AUKUS alliance, which are implicitly intended for war on the People’s Republic of China (PRC). What is more, there is currently a popular drive for a 25% royalty tax on Australia’s gas corporations, which are notoriously giving away millions of tonnes of natural gas to multinational gas corporations for free. Then there are the privately owned banks and giant supermarket monopolies which currently pay very little tax, if at all. There is no question that the Australian economy can more than afford to fully fund all disability services for everyone that requires support, as part of a fully funded health system.

There is little doubt that the cuts to the NDIS will lead to despair, difficulties and even death. If the measure of a society is the way it treats its most vulnerable, then Australian capitalism stands condemned. At the same time, the ALP government is shoulder to shoulder with Washington in waging un unprovoked imperialist war on the supposedly “authoritarian” Islamic Republic of Iran. Yet Iran, with the assistance of its ally China, actually makes an effort to provide effective disability services for all those who require it.[6] What is required in Australia is a fully publicly funded health system, of which all disability services are a component part. Working people need to fight for this within their Unions, as part of a struggle to overturn the aging and decrepit system of private profit, which serves but a tiny elite. Marxist leadership will be required to guide the masses to a destiny of a classless socialist society.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/27/ndis-changes-cuts-state-government-support-autism (13-05-2026)

[2] https://theconversation.com/ndis-eligibility-will-be-based-on-functional-capacity-not-diagnostic-labels-but-what-does-that-mean-281319 (13-05-2026)

[3] www.johnmenadue.com/post/2026/05/the-ndis-has-transformed-lives-but-profit-is-distorting-its-purpose/ (13-05-2026)

[4] www.ndiswise.com.au/blog/registered-vs-unregistered-ndis-provider (13-05-2026)

[5] www.greenleft.org.au/2026/1453/analysis/ndis-cuts-will-have-catastrophic-impact-people-disabilities- (13-05-2026)

[6] www.iran.unfpa.org/en/news/launch-new-unfpas-china-supported-project-health-assistance-people- (13-05-2026)