13 May 2026
The Treasurer has called this the most responsible budget in decades. Responsible to whom is a question worth asking, because the human cost of this budget’s fiscal discipline falls disproportionately on people with disability.
The $37.8 billion in projected NDIS savings is the single largest component of the government’s entire $63.8 billion savings package. At the same time, the budget provides no increase to the Disability Support Pension, no disability-specific energy relief, no accessible housing investment, and no meaningful new independent advocacy funding.
“This is not a budget that sees people with disability,” said Nicolas Lawler, Chief Executive Officer of Advocacy for Inclusion. “The cost-of-living pressures our community faces are specific, significant and growing ,higher power bills, inaccessible transport, a rental market with almost nothing that is affordable or accessible. The response is mainstream measures that were never designed with disability in mind, while the single largest saving in the entire budget comes from reforms that will substantially reduce access to supports people with disability rely on every day.”
There are measures we welcome. Investments in health, bulk billing, medicines and fraud protections in the NDIS are real and they matter to our community. The temporary fuel excise reduction will help some people with disability who rely on private vehicles. We acknowledge these.
But the defining feature of this budget for people with disability is not what it gives. It is what it takes away – and the speed at which it does so before anything credible exists to replace it. Cuts to NDIS participation supports begin as early as October 2026. The Foundational Supports meant to absorb those cuts are not yet designed, not yet funded in practice, and not yet operational. For Canberrans specifically, the Commonwealth’s entire annual contribution to that alternative system amounts to $5.2 million a year.
“For the people we work with every day, this is not abstract,” said Jo Luetjens, Acting Head of Policy. “These are the supports that help someone leave the house, get to work, connect with their community and stay safe. Cutting them before the replacement systems exist doesn’t save money – it shifts the cost onto individuals, families and carers who are already stretched. We flagged this sequencing risk before the budget. It has now been confirmed.”
This is a preliminary analysis. We will continue reviewing the budget papers and welcome feedback from members and colleagues.
Cost of Living
The budget’s cost of living package is substantial but not well targeted for people with disability.
Fuel excise was cut from 52.6 cents to 20.6 cents per litre for three months from 1 April 2026, a measure now formally confirmed in this budget. This will help people with disability who rely on private vehicles, taxis or support workers because of inaccessible public transport, but it is temporary and there are no broader disability-specific transport measures.
Worker tax cuts reduce the tax rate on incomes between $18,201 and $45,000 from 16 to 15 per cent from 1 July 2026, falling to 14 per cent from 2027. A new $250 Working Australians Tax Offset begins from 2027-28, and workers can claim a $1,000 instant tax deduction from 2026-27. These measures may assist some people with disability in paid work, particularly those on lower incomes. They provide little or no benefit to people who are unable to work or primarily reliant on income support.
There is no disability-specific energy relief in this budget. This is a significant gap. Many people with disability face substantially higher electricity costs due to medical equipment, heating and cooling needs, home-based supports and increased time at home.
Income Support
Despite the budget’s strong cost of living framing, there is no meaningful increase to income support for people with disability. The approximately $11.8 billion in increased social security payments across the system largely reflects standard indexation rather than new investment. There is no increase to the Disability Support Pension beyond indexation. People with disability on low fixed incomes receive comparatively little direct relief from this budget.
Housing
The government has described its total housing investment as a record $47 billion, but disability accessibility and inclusive housing design are largely absent from the package.
A $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund will support power, roads and drains for new housing developments, potentially supporting around 65,000 new homes over the next decade. Continued support for 5 per cent deposits and tax reforms, including limiting negative gearing to new builds and replacing the capital gains tax discount with inflation-adjusted indexation – are intended to ease pressure on first home buyers. Commonwealth Rent Assistance continues for more than 1.4 million Australians, and $59.4 million over four years will support housing for 4,000 young people at risk of homelessness, which may assist young people with disability, care leavers and those with psychosocial disability.
These measures may indirectly improve housing affordability over the medium term. But there are no explicit accessibility requirements attached to new housing investment, no accessible rental standards, and no disability housing navigation support. Accessible and affordable housing remains one of the most acute unmet needs for Canberrans with disability, and this budget does not directly address it.
Health and Mental Health
Public hospitals receive an additional $25 billion over five years. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics receive $1.8 billion over five years plus approximately $580 million per year ongoing – by July, four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of one of 137 clinics. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme receives approximately $5.9 billion for new and amended medicine listings, including treatments for cystic fibrosis. A mental health agreement extension is funded at $277.5 million in 2026-27.
These are welcome investments. People with disability rely heavily on the public health system and reduced out-of-pocket costs matter. They are broader health measures rather than disability-specific investments, but their impact will be felt by our community.
NDIS
The government is investing $1.7 billion over five years to support NDIS participants and implement reforms. Projected NDIS expenses are $56.1 billion in 2026-27, falling to $55.1 billion in 2027-28 before rising slightly to $56.2 billion in 2029-30. The reforms are projected to reduce NDIS payment growth by $37.8 billion over four years.
Key investments include $358.5 million for a new digital payment system to reduce fraud, $280 million to continue the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, $182.6 million for mandatory registration of high-risk providers from July 2027, and $49.4 million for plan management and support coordination. These fraud and compliance measures are welcome. Exploitation of NDIS participants is a genuine harm, and the system needs stronger protections.
A new planning framework rolls out from 1 April 2027, with $270 million allocated for preparation. Budgets for social and community participation supports will be reset as part of this process, with cuts expected as early as October 2026. A $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund will support group-based community participation activities for NDIS participants, but this fund remains in contingency reserve pending consultation, and group programs do not replace individually-directed support.
Eligibility changes based on functional capacity assessment, replacing the current diagnosis-based approach, will not commence until 1 January 2028. A $3.3 million Technical Advisory Group will help design the assessment tools. Treasury projections indicate these changes are expected to reduce participant numbers from around 770,000 today to approximately 600,000 by 2030.
The NDIS Appeals program receives $14.7 million over two years, a short-term extension at a moment when demand for review and appeals is almost certain to increase significantly.
Foundational Supports and Thriving Kids
The government has provisioned $3 billion over five years for Foundational Supports outside the NDIS, to be matched by states and territories. Budget Paper 3 confirms Commonwealth payments under the National Agreement on Foundational Supports total $280 million per year nationally from 2026-27, with the ACT receiving $5.2 million per year, $20.9 million over four years. No funding flows in 2025-26, confirming these supports have not yet started. Significant detail about eligibility, access pathways and what happens when people fall between systems remains unresolved.
Thriving Kids is a new program for children aged eight and under with developmental delay and/or autism with low to moderate support needs. The Commonwealth is contributing $2 billion over five years as part of a combined $4 billion program with states and territories. It includes $1.4 billion to states and territories for local services, $126.1 million for a new Medicare-funded three-year-old health assessment, $120.9 million for national information and advice lines, $99.5 million to support parents and carers, and $60.8 million for workforce development. Earlier identification and better information for families are genuinely welcome. But Thriving Kids covers only a narrow cohort: children under eight with low to moderate needs. It does not address the needs of children with high support needs, older children, or adults.
Education
The budget includes $40.4 million over four years from 2026-27, plus $5.8 million per year ongoing, for the Department of Education to strengthen compliance arrangements for students with disability loading. This sits inside a broader $472.1 million savings measure that includes tightened compliance activities across schooling investment more broadly.
Students with disability in ACT schools rely on disability loadings to fund in-class support, adjustments and resources. The framing here is about protecting integrity and ensuring funding is directed based on need – but this is a savings measure, not an investment measure. Tighter compliance arrangements may change how some students are assessed for disability loading eligibility.
Advocacy and System Navigation
No major new national disability advocacy funding has been identified. This is one of our strongest concerns.
Disability Representative Organisations receive $15.9 million over four years plus $6 million ongoing for community engagement on NDIS reform. $48.4 million over three years goes to the Department and NDIA for reform consultation and implementation, though how much of this reaches genuine community engagement is unclear. The National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline receives $0.8 million in 2026-27 to continue operating.
There is no defined co-design framework for NDIS reforms. There is no clear decision-making role for people with disability in the reform process. At the same time as the budget dramatically increases system complexity and reform activity, independent advocacy services are expected to support people through increasing system complexity without any meaningful structural investment
What’s missing
- No increase to the Disability Support Pension or JobSeeker beyond standard indexation
- No disability-specific energy relief
- No accessible housing package or accessible rental standards
- No new independent disability advocacy funding matched to the scale of NDIS reform
- No clarity on what Foundational Supports will actually look like in the ACT or when they will be available
- No explicit co-design framework for NDIS reforms with a genuine decision-making role for people with disability
- No measures specifically targeting the additional costs of disability, including transport, equipment, communication access, system navigation
What the sector is saying
A ‘fair crack’ shouldn’t exclude disabled young Australians – CYDA