Officials have been probed on whether Labor’s overhaul of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) could force disabled individuals to exhaust all possible treatment avenues to the point of trying to “cure” their condition.
At the crux of the discussion is the amendment to the “permanence” test, which predicates NDIS funding on a patient first trying to exhaust other treatments avenues likely to “materially improve, reverse, or alleviate the impact” of an impairment.
On June 11, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing officials and NDIS representatives appeared before the Community Affairs Legislation Committee to discuss Labor’s National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
The Bill is aimed at trying to control the ballooning near-$50 billion (US$35.2 billion) a year cost of the taxpayer scheme.
During the inquiry, Labor Senator Karen Grogan said a number of witnesses had stated the amendment was causing “an enormous amount of concern and anxiety” among NDIS participants and their families.
“It is unconscionable and irresponsible to overtly try and frighten people out there in the community,” she said.
“I am actually just being really quite direct here, you and I know it’s about the whole issue of permanence, but it has been asserted in public hearings that the department and the NDIS are seeking to assert the idea of a ‘cure’ for disability, so that is my question.
“I just need us to get through a process of allaying the fears and dealing with some of the assertions that have been made throughout these years.”
Acting First Assistant Secretary Erin Rule rejected suggestions the changes to the “permanence” test was about forcing patients to cure their condition.
“The new test of permanence is not about asserting that there’s a cure for people with disability,” Rule said.
Push Back Against Fears of Having to Keep Proving Disability
Officials also disputed claims that people with lifelong conditions would be required to repeatedly prove their disability was ongoing, that participants could be forced to undergo treatments such as cochlear implants, or that doctors would be excluded from assessment processes.“The bill does not prescribe any treatments that a participant or a prospective participant must undertake,” Rule said.
A key focus of the hearing was the government’s proposal to move toward a standardised assessment of functional capacity, rather than relying heavily on diagnosis-based access pathways.
Department of Health Assistant Secretary Sarah Hawke said the reforms would establish a clearer test of “substantially reduced functional capacity” while remaining consistent with the principles underpinning the scheme as it exists now.
However, questions remained about the potential impact of the changes.
Officials confirmed modelling suggested around 240,000 people could be affected by the reforms by June 2031 through a combination of existing participants leaving the scheme and future applicants being diverted elsewhere.
But Rule stressed the figure was based on assumptions because the final details were yet to be determined.
“We need to do much more work to understand how this will be applied,” she said.
