As more details emerge of the government’s plan to divert autistic children from the NDIS, the agency administering the scheme is still fighting to have support cut for adult participants. By Rick Morton.

Nas Campanella

Rhiannon Shine

The $2bn Thriving Kids scheme, due to start on 1 July, would instead start in October, after states said they were not ready yet.

The Albanese government has offered to delay the start of a new program for early intervention autism services and provide budget top-ups for smaller states, part of efforts to secure an overdue deal on hospitals and disability funding.

Sarah Ison

In relation to A4's advocacy for improving essential hospital services for profoundly autistic Australians (see https://a4.org.au/node/2758), A4 received the following responses from governments and Ministers that were contacted initially. 

• NSW response
• federal response 

The NSW response is positive. We are keep to see how this develops ... both at Westmead hospital (inner-western Sydney) and in other NSW hospitals.

The Labor government announced its Thriving Kids program without saying who it was for. When disability representative organisations (DRO) met officials (4/9/2025 at Parliament House) and asked who it was for, the officials said “work to understand those numbers is yet to be started”.

Steve Robson

Health Minister Mark Butler faces a delicate balance ensuring tens of thousands of autistic children don’t lose vital support as he moves them from the NDIS to his new Thriving Kids scheme.