Minister Butler doorstop, Canberra – 19 August 2026

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: This week is a huge week of delivery by the government. Obviously, we've delivered last night through the Senate a comprehensive plan to get the NDIS back on track and secure its future for the long term. But over the next day or two we'll also make sure that we put in place the landmark reforms to deal with the problem gambling, and gambling advertising as well.
 
But importantly as well, we're going to put in place protections for precious Australian journalism to make sure that Australian services and networks get a fair deal when the big tech giants copy their product and put them online. It really is a huge week of delivering real change for Australians at a challenging time.
 
JOURNALIST: What is your message to the thousands of people on the NDIS who see in the news that this bill has passed and they're still concerned about what it could mean for their plan? We’re still waiting for those eligibility requirements.
 
BUTLER: What this plan delivers is security for the scheme. We know that it's got too big, it was growing too fast, it had become a soft target for shonks and fraudsters, and people were concerned that something was going to have to give at some stage unless the scheme was put back on track. This plan puts the scheme back on track, and I'm confident secures it for decades to come. It genuinely has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and I want to continue to see that happen for decades to come.
 
But we know also that we need to build supports for people who were never intended to be covered by the NDIS, people with more low to moderate support needs. Those sorts of second tier situations that were envisaged by the designers of this amazing reform. We'll work now with states and territories. There's $10 billion allocated to this task, 50 per cent allocated by the Commonwealth, 50 per cent by states and territories. But that will mean we have a comprehensive system of supports for people with disability that is tailored to their needs, whether they are relatively low to moderate, or whether they are significant and permanent.
 
This is a scheme that will continue to grow, the NDIS in and of itself. It will continue to be the second biggest social program we have outside the aged pension, bigger than Medicare. several times bigger than the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and the centrepiece, it's important to say, of the most comprehensive system of supports for people with disability you'll find anywhere on the planet.
 
JOURNALIST: Can you guarantee that these alternative support arrangements will be ready by 2028?
 
BUTLER: That’s the deal that we've struck with states and territories. Thriving Kids is well underway. Implementation plans have been agreed with all states and territories except Queensland, which frankly needs to get its act together. But all other states and territories have implementation plans in place to build them. They'll be in place before 1 January, I'm very confident. But I've also been honest, we have a tonne of work do on other population groups. Like kids over the age of nine, adults with more low to moderate support needs, we've got a lot of work to do with states and territories, but we've got time to do that. We've got the commitment of all states. Premiers and chief ministers signed that deal with the Prime Minister earlier this year. We've got money allocated. We now just have to get on with the job.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, Anne Ruston and many others have expressed concerns around the mistakes identified in the aged care independent assessment algorithm being repeated with NDIS. What assurances can you give that the mistakes identified have been cleaned up, that we won't see the same problems with NDIS automated assessments?
 
BUTLER: On aged care, the Aged Care Minister, Sam Rae, has said that we'll be moving to put in place an escalation pathway for people whose particularly complex needs aren't dealt with by this new assessment tool. It's important to remember that assessment system was a clear recommendation of the Aged Care Royal Commission. Before the new system, frankly, outcomes of assessments varied wildly across the country depending on who the assessor or the assessor organisation was. Having a system that delivers fairer, more consistent outcomes was a recommendation of the Royal Commission and I'm convinced is the right thing to do.
 
But we also said that we'd monitor the progress of that new tool since it began in November last year, so we will be putting in place that escalation pathway. I get that Anne Ruston will make political points about this, but it's important to point out that less than half a per cent of people who have gone through this system have requested a review and I think that indicates that in the overwhelming bulk of cases it is working.
 
As to the NDIS, we've got a technical advisory group of very highly qualified experts who are already working on developing the system of assessment that we need for this scheme. It was always intended that there would be an assessment system based on substantially reduced functional capacity. That would be the hallmark of eligibility. Instead, for over a decade, we've had a diagnosis list system. If you can afford the diagnosis, if you can find a paediatrician for example, you can get onto the scheme. That's not the hallmark of a properly functioning game. I've met with this technical advisory group twice. They're doing terrific work and I'm convinced it will transform the integrity of the scheme.
 
JOURNALIST: You said Queensland needs to get its act together. Those are pretty strong words. What are the consequences if they don't sign up to Thriving Kids or their state support systems? Will they have their extra funding pulled out?
 
BUTLER: They're getting extra funding now. We're not going to hold the hospital hostage obviously to any decision by any state government to welch on a deal that they signed earlier this year. I think the consequences are for the Queensland Government to explain to the people of Queensland. They've indicated in an agreement they signed earlier this year that they would work with us to ensure there was a system of supports in place for children under the age of nine called Thriving Kids. Every other state and territory, Liberal or Labor, is getting on with the job of making sure parents have confidence that will be put in place. The Queensland Government hasn't yet done that. It signed the agreements, the foundational supports agreements, it’s taken the additional money into their hospital system, which started to flow last month. It now frankly needs to honour the agreement that it signed. It's a question of honour.
 
And I'm confident the Queensland Government will come to the party on this. It's too important not to. But time is ticking. We need them to do that sooner rather than later.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, you say that no one will be leaving the NDIS before January 2028, and so we do have time to develop Thriving Kids. But do you acknowledge that this is now about to pass without an alternative scheme in place and that is causing deep anxiety among some segments of the community?
 
BUTLER: Yeah, I've recognised this is hard reform. Significant reform to these social programmes is always hard. They almost always cause anxiety in parts of the community. I've heard that articulated to me, I've read evidence to the Senate inquiry. I know that this is a hard period for people associated with the NDIS whether they're participants themselves or whether they're parents or loved ones of participants, or providers who work hard to deliver these services. And I want to acknowledge that. I've wanted to acknowledge that from the time I announced this plan. But we're doing this because it's essential reform. We're doing this because, particularly as a Labor government, I was a Minister involved in setting this scheme up, I want to make sure it's secure. I want to make sure it's sustainable. I want to make sure that it retains the social licence that it had for the first several years of its existence, but I see starting to ebb away as people see the cost blow out, people see it get too big, and people see it be a soft target for fraud and shonks.
 
Thanks everyone.