14/06/2025
1. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟏% 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐒 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭?
We’re not the bulk of the spending—yet somehow, we’re the ones being scrutinised and pressured to reduce services?
2. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐒 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬’ 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬—𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬?
Travel is being limited—even when working in preschools, homes, and community settings has always been considered best practice for generalisation and real-life learning.
3. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐒 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 “𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐲” 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦?
Most of us earn no more than the average wage once you account for unpaid admin time, ongoing training, insurance, tax, and running costs. Many small providers are running at a loss—especially those who employ others—because there’s been no hourly increase in the therapy rate for 6 years.
4. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 “𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲”?
Capacity building is the bulk of most participant plans—and rightly so. It’s insulting to reduce our profession to “play” when we’re delivering evidence-based early intervention and life-changing support.
5. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
Supporting communication, regulation, independence, and relationships now prevents much greater future costs—from mental health to education, justice, and disability pension dependency. Or does the NDIS no longer believe that?
6. 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏% 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝—𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝.
Meanwhile, $500 million a year is being saved by removing children from the scheme—often with lifelong conditions and no other pathways to support.
7. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐭, 𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.
For example, the NDIA CEO now earns more than the Prime Minister, while frontline therapists remain capped and are being publicly smeared as overcharging.
📷 Source
🧠 Want to know where this rhetoric came from? It wasn’t random.
The Labor-aligned research firm Redbridge was paid to test messages and found that Australians would tolerate cost-cutting if the reforms were framed as “cracking down on rorts.” That’s the campaign we’re now seeing.
🎧 Hear it for yourself in this 7am podcast episode:
🔗 NDIS Cuts and the Real Target of the Crackdown
https://7ampodcast.com.au/.../why-children-are-being...
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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 — 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲.
In the 2024–25 Price Review, they question whether what we do is truly “capacity building” or just “play.” They imply there are too many of us in the sector. They frame therapy as a cost problem to be trimmed — not an essential service that prevents bigger issues later.
Is undermining our work and funding marketing firms to damage the trust between providers and families really in the best interests of NDIS participants?
Families deserve transparency. They deserve access to the support the NDIS was created to deliver — through our services.
If you’re working on advocacy efforts and want to coordinate or share tools — please reach out.
𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲.
