Introduction
Hello everyone, today we will be discussing the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which aims to deliver services and supports to the Australian population, especially people with certain disabilities (NDIS, 2024). It also promotes autonomy and independence by maintaining social inclusion. In this session, we will reflect on both positive as well as negative aspects regarding the scheme.
Speaker 2: Negative Argument
While the scheme has improved the quality of lives, certain limitations remain becomes concern (Hewitt, 2018).54,800 people did not receive proper support using the scheme from the government. As per Hummell et al. (2025), the scheme is often criticized due to the bureaucracy and complexity, which further hinders the ultimate goal of delivering personalized care support. Henriques-Gomes (2020) confirmed that the scheme was literally confusing due to the delayed operations.
Speaker 3: Affirmative Argument
Aside from challenges, the scheme has evolved its support services for the sake of the Australian cohort with disabilities. It not only focuses on providing person-centred care, but also empowers vulnerable patients to gain control over their lives (NDIS, 2019). It also created many employment opportunities based on social inclusion while reducing the rate of poverty.
The NDIS in Australia has further improved the satisfaction level of patients by improving health outcomes. The report of AIHW confirmed that patients expressed their satisfaction and gratitude for this scheme. In 2023, approximately 610,500 people participated actively in the scheme, and 43% of them were under 30 years old (AIHW, 2024). Therefore, it reveals that it actually helps people to gain positive experiences.
The scheme further reforms its structure based on the accessibility available to individual people. It further clears the path from the aspect of the block funding of the system towards service providers (NDIS, 2021). The older system focused on allocating money to them, but with new evolved system provides an amount directly to the participants rather than focusing on service providers. 79% of participants further confirmed that the scheme helped them significantly (AIHW, 2024a). The ultimate aim of the scheme is to allow individuals to gain more control. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the scheme is specifically tailored to patients’ needs.
Speaker 4: Conclusion
Based on the above aspect of speaker three about highlighting the positive aspects, I argue that the entire approach can be problematic too. The scheme only relied on people below 65 years, therefore the older population can be affected by the negative situations, revealing unequal accessibilities (Dreyfus et al., 2023). Besides that, I want to raise my concern about the impact of the scheme on the disability workplace. Due to individual finding systems, it might lead to the fragmentation of the workforce. Nevertheless, both positive and negative debates have highlighted important aspects. But, more aspects need to be prioritized by the system to fulfill the needs of the overall Australian population.
References
AIHW. (2024a, April 4). NDIS participants choice and control – Personal and community support. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.[Accessed on: 7/7/25] Retrieved From: https://www.aihw.gov.au/australias-disability-strategy/outcomes/personal-and-community-support/ndis-participants-choice-and-control
AIHW. (2024b, April 23). People with disability in Australia, Specialist disability support services. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. [Accessed on: 7/7/25] Retrieved From: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia/contents/social-support/specialist-disability-support-services
Dreyfus, S., Nolan, A., & Randle, M. (2023). Challenges to accessing behaviour support services for people with intellectual disability before and after the NDIS. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 49(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3109/13668250.2023.2289682
Henriques-Gomes, L. (2020, January 20). National disability insurance scheme confusing and causing some to miss out on support, review finds. The Guardian. [Accessed on: 7/7/25] Retrieved From: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/20/national-disability-insurance-scheme-confusing-and-causing-some-to-miss-out-on-support-review-finds
Hewitt, J. (2018, August 21). CEDA – The challenges and opportunities of the NDIS. Kentico. [Accessed on: 7/7/25] Retrieved From: https://www.ceda.com.au/NewsAndResources/Opinion/Health-Ageing/The-challenges-and-opportunities-of-the-NDIS
Hummell, E., Foster, M., Burns, K., & Rimmer, S. H. (2025). Policy shifts and drifts: From intention to implementation of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme. Australian Journal of Public Administration. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12689
NDIS. (2019, September 24). Reasonable and necessary supports | NDIS. Ndis.gov.au. [Accessed on: 7/7/25] Retrieved From: https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/supports-funded-ndis/reasonable-and-necessary-supports
NDIS. (2021). New survey results show how the NDIS is improving the lives of Australians | NDIS. Www.ndis.gov.au. [Accessed on: 7/7/25] Retrieved From: https://www.ndis.gov.au/news/7231-new-survey-results-show-how-ndis-improving-lives-australians
NDIS. (2024). National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).[Accessed on: 7/7/25] Retrieved From: https://www.ndis.gov.au/
