Television interview with Minister Butler, Sunrise – 22 August 2025

NATALIE BARR, HOST: Well, state and territory governments say they were blindsided by the Health Minister's plan to reform the NDIS and introduce a new Thriving Kids support program for children with mild to moderate autism. Mark Butler announced the plan this week to avoid a future budget blowout of the NDIS but many state premiers claim they did not get a heads up about this plan. The Federal Government disagreed, saying they've actually been talking about this reform with the states for two years. For more, we're joined by Mark Butler and Liberal Senator Jane Hume. Good morning to both of you. Mark, were the states really blindsided like they say they were?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: As you said in your intro, Nat, we've been talking about this for two years and I got two particularly big pieces of feedback from them. Firstly, they wanted the Commonwealth to take more of a leadership role so we'd have a nationally consistent position instead of eight different systems in every state and territory. And they wanted us to commit funding on an ongoing basis rather than just for five years. And this week I've done both of those things. Now the job for all of us is to get to work, to start to build this system that will help parents ensure that their kids are able to thrive. That's what I'm committed to doing with the states, but also with the community and parents themselves, obviously.
 
BARR: So we've got New South Wales saying we won't sign a blank cheque. We've got Tassie saying they want details. Queensland saying they were left in the dark. Are the states just trying it on here?
 
BUTLER: Of course they want details. Parents want details. Service providers want details. That's what I've committed to working with them on over the coming months. This is going to roll out over the next couple of years. It's going to take a while to design. But what I've said this week on behalf of the Commonwealth is we want to play a leadership role here. We want to commit funding on an ongoing basis. It's that important to ensure the children, particularly with mild to moderate developmental delay or symptoms of autism, get support out in the community in a broad-based mainstream way. That was a recommendation that the premiers and the Prime Minister accepted the year before last from the NDIS review, but it is time to get on with the job of delivering it.
 
BARR: Yeah, so it's how do we do that that's the big question, isn't it? Jane, we had a woman, a mum, on the six o'clock Channel 7 news last night. She said, my child is on the low scale for autism but still can only go to school two hours a day. So who pays for everything else? How do we do that? Are you concerned that the money to pay for all that could be just being transferred to the states here?
 
SENATOR JANE HUME: There is no doubt that any change to a system is going to cause some disquiet in families that rely on this. But I'm going to say here, Mark is right. This is a recommendation of a review from two years ago. And the Coalition have been saying for some time that even though there is bipartisan support for the NDIS, that it's a system that we should be really proud of in Australia, it has run out of control. It was designed to take on 410,000 Australians with profound disabilities. It's now supporting 740,000 Australians. It was supposed to cost around $13 billion a year. It's now costing nearly $50 billion a year. In order to make sure that the NDIS is sustainable, something's got to give.
 
Now, the Coalition gave it a good crack when we were in government, and it wasn't Mark. I'm going to say, Mark, I'm not blaming you here, but your mate Bill Shorten put up so many obstacles to making those necessary reforms. I'm thrilled that Mark has stepped up here because something has to be done. I think that the Coalition is going to have a look at Mark's reforms but at first blush, this is something that I think that we should be able to support. I'm happy to talk about this in my party room to make sure Mark gets the support he needs.
 
BARR: Ok, so Mark, what do you say to all those parents who've got kids in that system, in the NDIS system, and they might be on the low-to-moderate scale, they're going to be moved. If you are going to save money, doesn't that mean they're going to get less?
 
BUTLER: What I say to parents who've got a kid on the NDIS now is that child will stay on the NDIS subject to all of the usual arrangements. The NDIS will still be open to new children going on it until this scheme is fully up and running, which I don't expect to happen until 2027. Obviously we're going to make sure that parents are never left high and dry, that they have the supports they need to ensure that their precious children are able to thrive in the community, at school, in childcare. We're all determined to do that, and no parent is going to be left high and dry.
 
BARR: Jane, the other thing here that, you know, you listen to talkback radio, people call in and they talk about their friends who are rorting the system, the providers who are charging huge money because it's got NDIS on it. Jane, how do we fix that?
 
HUME: There is no doubt that more needs to be done. And while we know that some of the changes that have been made, that the Coalition have supported, have seen a wind back in the pressures on the NDIS, I think it can go further. And I was really pleased to hear Mark say that he would like to see the cost of the NDIS come back even further. So keep going, Mark. We will help you where we possibly can. Australians for generations are going to be relying on making sure we have a sustainable NDIS to look after our most profoundly disabled, our most vulnerable. The Coalition wants to help you with this.
 
BARR: Ok, that's great. Bipartisan support on something that is very important. Thank you both.