Television interview with Minister Butler, Sky News – 21 August 2025

PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Well, the Federal Government is using some of its massive majority and political capital to make the call to cut the NDIS. Joining us now is the Health Minister, the NDIS Minister as well, Mark Butler. Minister, thank you for your time this morning. How much money do you expect this decision to shave off the NDIS budget?

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: What I said yesterday, Pete, is we're on track to get to the 8 per cent growth target the National Cabinet set back in 2023. That compares to 22 per cent growth that we inherited when we came to government three years ago. That's been a lot of work. We're on track, but there's still a bit of work to do to make sure we get there next year. But what I said yesterday was 8 per cent going forward is an unsustainable level of growth in what is already a very big social programme We have to get it down further, probably to something in the order of 4, 5, 6 per cent is what I've said. I said we'd start that work next year, but ultimately National Cabinet, the premiers, the chief ministers and the Prime Minister need to adopt a timeframe for that, but I think that can happen over the course of the budget forward estimates.

STEFANOVIC: My maths was never any good, Minister, but what's the dollar estimate on that percentage?

BUTLER: I don't want to set a dollar estimate. This ultimately is a job for National Cabinet to give me and my fellow ministers, but I want to start it next year. I want to make sure that we secure this scheme for the long term. It has transformed the lives of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people with disability, but we need to make sure it's sustainable. We need to make sure that it maintains the level of broad community support that it has had for the last decade, but I think it is starting to come under pressure. I've talked about research yesterday that said that big numbers of Australians are concerned that this has got too big, it's costing too much, there are too many dodgy providers. There is a lot of work for us to do to maintain that broad community support as well as make it budget sustainable.
 
STEFANOVIC: Well, if it's about costs and you're moving some participants to another program, isn't the cost to the taxpayer then just the same?
 
BUTLER: No, we know that the first challenge around cost is to frankly introduce more discipline and integrity into a scheme that doesn't have enough of it. I talked yesterday about pricing discipline that we see in hospitals and aged care and sectors like that. We have to introduce that into the scheme. I talked about the lack of registration of providers to ensure that money isn't being wasted and put into the pockets of dodgy providers and rip-off merchants. That's one of the really significant concerns I think the broader community has about this scheme right now. There is more work we can do to get those costs coming down. What we're doing with kids with mild to moderate levels of developmental delay and autism is really a second challenge that I talked about yesterday.
 
STEFANOVIC: Alright, so it's not just about moving them, it's cutting and moving?
 
BUTLER: It's about getting more efficiency into the scheme more broadly, in terms of those participants for whom the scheme was designed. But also, I'm concerned that there are too many young children, particularly young boys with mild to moderate levels of a developmental delay in autism, on a scheme that was not built for them. It was built for people with permanent significant disability and that's really because parents have had no choice. A lot of those broad-based systems of support for those kids have largely been withdrawn. I heard Hollie Hughes talking about that earlier on your program, largely been withdrawn so the money could be put in to fund the NDIS. Yesterday I committed to rebuilding those programs to ensure that parents get the support they need to ensure their kids thrive.
 
STEFANOVIC: That's an interesting point on that too because if state funded services have been withdrawn how much fault lies with the states for cutting those services that are now picked up by the feds?
 
BUTLER: Look this isn't about attributing fault or blame. I think all governments including the Commonwealth Government at the time withdrew programs to fund the NDIS. I know that happened at all levels of government. Now 10 years on we have to make sure that we've undertaken a rigorous analysis of that and that's what the NDIS review by Bruce Bonyhady and Lisa Paul did back in 2023 and they said that we should move as a collection of governments to rebuild that system of supports for kids who aren't permanently significantly disabled but do need the supports to help them thrive at those crucial ages.
 
STEFANOVIC: So you just heard from Hollie Hughes, she's applauding your move as a mother of an autistic son, but she's urged you to hold the line against backyard advocacy groups who don't speak with any authority. Are you going to back up your talk with action?
 
BUTLER: What I do know is this has been a hard message for many parents to hear, I know that because the NDIS has been the only port in the storm for them. They desperately want to get any support they can to help their kids thrive. And frankly, governments withdrew those broad-based systems that parents had relied upon for years and years before the NDIS was created. Wat I'm trying to do is to give them a really strong reassurance that governments are going to be there for them. We are going to build a system of thriving kids that gives them that support in infant maternal health systems, in primary care, in childcare centres, in community centres of the type that Hollie talked about. Things that frankly have not been there for them over the last 10 or 12 years.
 
STEFANOVIC: A complete change of topic here just to wrap up, Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu, he's doubled down on his accusation that Anthony Albanese is a weak leader in an interview with Sky News. What’s your response to that?
 
BUTLER: I haven't seen the interview from the Israeli Prime Minister. I'll just say that our government, particularly our Prime Minister, treats all other world leaders with respect, even when there's a deep level of disagreement about a particular policy issue or a particular strategic issue. We're not going to change our posture, our approach to international relations because of a particular position taken by any other world leader.
 
STEFANOVIC: Are you disappointed by these comments? I mean basically you'd be aware of the comments that he said online yesterday. He said more of the same overnight. Are you disappointed by those? And how do you get things on the right track by the way?
 
BUTLER: Of course I am, and I think much of what the Israeli Prime Minister said in the comments I had seen were frankly ridiculous. But we're not going to focus on those. We're going to focus on prosecuting a position that we think reflects Australia's national interest. We've been very, very determined to make sure as far as possible that the division and the conflict that is happening over in the Middle East is not brought to our own country, that we focus on maintaining social cohesion. I'm not sure those comments have contributed to that, so we're not going to respond to them.
 
STEFANOVIC: Okay, we'll leave it there. Mark Butler, appreciate your time. Thanks again. We'll chat to you again soon.
 
BUTLER: Thanks Pete.