TV interview with Minister Butler, Today Show – 19 August 2026

Media event date: 19 August 2026 Date published: 19 August 2026 Media type: General public TOM STEINFORT, HOST: Labor's controversial NDIS bill passed the Senate after substantial amendments were agreed to overnight. To discuss, I'm joined by Health Minister Mark Butler in Canberra. Minister, pretty rare moment of bipartisanship, this one, to get the Coalition to join the party with you on it.

Talk us through how the overhaul is going to weed out these dodgy operators. MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: It's a really significant package of reforms delivering on our plan to get the NDIS back on track, Tom. We're going to return the scheme to its original intent, so clarify some of these eligibility rules that mean that people who need support but not the support of a scheme like the NDIS aren't on the scheme going forward.

It also really strengthens our ability to deal with fraud and integrity. Those controls have been too loose for too long. I think your viewers see that in their own community.

Also to deal with some of the cost blowouts we've seen in the NDIS, it's been growing far too fast. It costs far too much and all of that is aimed at making sure that we secure this amazing social reform for the long term. It's transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians living with disability.

We want to make sure that that is secure for decades to come. : There's a huge cohort, though, that are going to be now handballed off to the states and territories. Something like children with mild autism as well, they've been told you're not going to be helped by the NDIS anymore. There is a lot of angst in the community about people that need help that feel like they're now going to be ignored.

What do you say to them? : Tom, I know these are hard reforms and they are causing some anxiety in parts of the community, but I'm absolutely convinced, and most disability advocates back me on this, that these are essential reforms if we're going to secure this amazing scheme for the long term. It was always intended that the NDIS would be there for people with significant, permanent disability and that there would be a second tier of supports for people with more low to moderate needs, whether they were children or adults for that matter.

And that never happened. Really what we're doing is fixing that gap in the scheme that was always intended to be filled. We'll work with states and territories on that.

They've committed to doing that, signing a deal with the Prime Minister earlier this year. We'll cost share at 50/50. And people can be confident that when the new rules kick in 2028, so the year after next, those systems of support will be in place there for people. : Do you accept that some people who currently receive help will be worse off under these reforms? : They'll be different types of support.

The NDIS is designed for people with significant lifelong disability. Obviously, that is quite a unique system of supports. The systems we're thinking about, we're talking about, for example, for young kids who are experiencing some developmental delay, they're very different types of support.

They'll often be group-based, they’ll be heavily curated or organised by organisations funded by state governments. They existed in most communities well before the NDIS was in place, but too often they've been dismantled, they've been degraded. We want to put them back in place so that particularly parents are able to get their kids support where they live and they learn and they play. : Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in reality.

A lot of people, as I said, are anxious about it, but you've got it through Parliament. So, Minister, well done. Appreciate your time. : Thanks, Tom.

The Hon Mark Butler MP Disability and carers Accessibility We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to Elders both past and present. © Commonwealth of Australia