Shorten considers adding ADHD to the national disability insurance scheme

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has opened the door to a potential expansion of the national disability insurance scheme to support more people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is believed to affect one in 20 children.

Shorten has asked the National Disability Insurance Agency, which implements the scheme, to give him advice about ADHD diagnoses “in terms of eligibility for NDIS”, saying neurodivergence was an area where the eligibility requirements were not always clear.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten is seeking advice on a potential expansion of the scheme’s eligibility.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Advocates are pushing for the neurodevelopmental disorder, which results in poor concentration and impulse control, to be added to the list of primary conditions eligible for NDIS support.

“There are tens of thousands of people [with ADHD] who are on the scheme who are diagnosed with autism as their primary condition,” the minister told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

Any expansion of NDIS eligibility is likely to expose the federal government to criticism from the opposition about the sustainability of the scheme, whose cost is already expected to blow out by $8.8 billion to $40.7 billion in 2024-25.

According to the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, an estimated one in 20 children in Australia have ADHD, which is more commonly diagnosed in boys. It often persists into adulthood and there has been an increase in adults being diagnosed.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who during the election campaign accused the Coalition of hanging its projected budget surplus on a $1.6 billion NDIS underspend, says the scheme is one of five major costs weighing on the budget and a “national conversation” is needed about how to pay for it.

Comedian and author Em Rusciano, who has a son with autism, a daughter with ADHD and was herself diagnosed with ADHD last year, recently told the National Press Club families were struggling to access support.

“We need proper government recognition and support. ADHD needs to be included in the NDIS as a primary disability,” she said.

Rusciano said ADHD testing and therapy were “wildly expensive” – running into the thousands of dollars a year – and some GPs did not “necessarily believe in ADHD for adults”, while psychiatrists had long waiting lists.

Shorten said on Monday Rusciano’s Press Club speech was a “powerful” contribution to the national debate.

The minister, who has promised a new approach to the NDIS since taking on the portfolio, repeated his view that the scheme should not be seen as “a single line item”.

“With NDIS, I think we’ve got to change the way we view it to begin with,” he said.

“It’s not that getting value for money isn’t important. But I think that when you invest in people with disability, that’s not a burden. That’s not a line item.”

Shorten said the NDIA should take “an investment approach” that used early intervention to improve outcomes for children and young adults, leading to higher levels of participation in the workforce.

“I actually think that we can improve the long-term growth trajectory of the scheme by focusing on people with disability, the outcomes, looking for quality of investment,” he said.

He said money was being wasted in the scheme, including taxpayer funds being siphoned off by fraudsters, and he was frustrated by “double pricing” – where service providers charged a higher amount to NDIS participants.

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