Autism news

The 2025 Australian of the Year Awards recipients for Queensland have been announced at a ceremony in Brisbane this evening.

The Queensland recipients will join those from the other states and territories for the national awards to be announced on 25 January 2025.

The 2025 Australian of the Year for Queensland is Geoffrey Smith, co-founder, Australian Spatial Analytics.

Read more about 2025 Australian of the Year for Queensland - Geoffrey Smith (Yeronga)

Executive Summary

The South West Autism Network (SWAN) supports the introduction of General Foundational Supports but expresses significant concerns about the proposed rollout's practicality, pace, and potential risks. This submission highlights the importance of a co-designed, inclusive, and equitable approach that places people with disability and their families at the centre of all planning and implementation.

Key concerns include:

Read more about SWAN: Submission on Foundational Supports

Whether you’re preparing your child for their first day of school or helping them navigate the challenges of adolescence, our platform is here to support you.

Read more about go to hub for autism support in the school years

The letter below says there are 134K autistic children getting CA(child) and 148.5K autistic NDIS participants in the relevant age group. In 2022, the ABS SDAC estimates there are 161K autistic Australians most of whom would be eligible for CA(child). At 9% growth per years, the ABS estimate would be around 191K in 2024. These data suggest that it is likely that in 2024 around 30% of eligible autistic children did not get CA(child). A4 suspects that those missing out are likely to be children who most need this Foundational Support.

Read more about no confidence in DSS and Foundational Supports

child pointing to a stylised map of Australia

David Crowe and Natassia Chrysanthos

The federal government will spend $1 billion as it reboots assessments for the National Disability Insurance Scheme after years of argument about who should qualify for support, scaling up the key agencies charged with bringing its spiralling costs under control.

Read more about NDIS gets $1b injection to slow growth even as budget slides into deficit

Bill Shorten says changes to the NDIS will save taxpayers money. Alex Ellinghausen

Phillip Coorey

The government is on track to rein in the growth of the runaway National Disability Insurance Scheme to 8 per cent a year earlier than expected, but the cost of the scheme will continue to rise as a proportion of GDP, and could still outstrip the age pension within a decade.

Read more about NDIS growth curb ahead of schedule, but budget burden grows

Peter Thorn and his father John standing side-by-side and smiling. Peter looks like he's ready to go swimming. John's top says "Special Olympics Australia, Greater Canberra".

For the past seven years, Peter Thorn has thrived under his National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan.

As someone who is non-verbal with autism, the support he receives allows him to live alone, volunteer regularly, go to the gym and be part of a Special Olympic swimming squad.

He has also been receiving overnight support — a time where he is most vulnerable.

But 10 months ago, he was told there was an "error" in his plan, turning his seven days of overnight support per week into seven days a year, without explanation.

Read more about NDIS providers struggling to remain viable amid funding issues as people with disability lose access to support and employment

A4, with many other disability advocates, wrote to the Prime Minister explaining why Australia needs a dedicated Minister for Disability and a dedicated Department of Disability Equality & Inclusion that is staffed by and for people with disability. The letter says:

Read more about Dear PM, Australian needs a dedicated Minister for Disability ... and more

The proportion of young children (age 0 to 6 years) diagnosed with autism in the NDIS has declined significantly since the full roll-out of the NDIS. The number of autistic NDIS participants aged 0-6 years old in the NDIS decreased 32% in the 2 years from 30/9/2022 to 30/9/2024.

The following chart shows the number of children in the NDIS with different types of "primary disability" according to data published by the NDIS on their website.

Updated data ... Dec 2024