NDIS Reforms Aim to Save $6B, Target Unregistered Providers

0:00It's April 18th, this is Sydney News Today, your AI-powered local news. Australia's national disability insurance scheme is gearing up for a second wave of big reforms to slash costs. NDIS Minister Mark Butler plans to outline moves that could save over $6 billion a year by 2036. Top targets are the huge number of unregistered providers and fixes to pricing rules. Right now, 15 out of every 16 providers skip registration, which means less oversight on quality and fair charges. Butler heads to the National Press Club this Wednesday to lay it all out. The government is skipping fresh long reviews and building straight off past once, like the big NDIS review from a couple years back. They're eyeing a tiered registration system from light touch for low-risk services up to strict checks for high-risk ones while keeping mainstream. Shops exempt. Folks in the disability sector are fired up about the gaps. Union leaders call the unregistered setup a failed experiment that hasn't boosted safety or quality.

1:04The opposition agrees it's wild, pointing out no basic checks like working with vulnerable people clearances. Stuff we demand in aged care or schools. Both sides want safeguards for the most vulnerable. On pricing, reforms aim to hand controls to an independent authority, matching rules across health, aged care, and disability to cut distortions. Unregistered providers charge the same max rates without handling extra compliance work, so tweaks could make things fairer and more efficient. Actuaries say the real growth killer is ballooning individual budgets, not new entrants, especially in supported living where costs run nearly 10. Times higher. Butler's team is weighing options to tame that without slashing access, keeping the $50 billion scheme sustainable long term.