Leading Through Change: How the “Thriving Kids” Shift Offers Strategic Opportunity for Disability and Aged Care Leaders
Australia’s disability sector is experiencing major reform. The federal government has announced a new $2 billion initiative called Thriving Kids, aimed at offering early intervention support for children with mild to moderate autism and developmental delay outside the NDIS by mid‑2027 (The Guardian, 2025). This strategic shift is accompanied by a shift in hospital funding negotiations, driving momentum for reform (The Australian, 2025).
These changes offer leaders a moment to recalibrate services and demonstrate proactive leadership. First, Thriving Kids reflects a broader intent to refocus the NDIS toward long‑term, permanent disabilities (News.com.au, 2025). For leaders, this means reexamining your organisation’s role in the early years support space. Are you prepared to pivot programming or partner with new referral networks?
This is a time to build stronger collaboration across sectors. Health and Education departments will now play a larger role in foundational supports. Aged care and disability providers that build these bridges now will shape the implementation in their regions.
Transparency and communication will be critical during transition. Early feedback suggests families feel blindsided by the shift (Daily Telegraph, 2025). As a leader, you can reduce anxiety by providing clear timelines, support options, and direct channels for questions.
Beyond immediate operational response, the changes are an opportunity for transformation. Leaders can use this reform to advance more integrated, prevention-focused models of care. That might involve:
• Expanding outreach to primary care clinics or schools to identify children earlier
• Developing shared funding proposals that bridge early intervention and community support
• Piloting cross-provider coordination forums that share emerging best practice
This is not only a policy tweak, it is a strategic pivot for the Government. But is it a welcome one and at this particular time? Forward‑thinking organisations will use this pause to deepen capability, build new stakeholder relationships, and broaden the impact of their services.
References
News.com.au. (2025, August). Children with mild autism to be removed from NDIS under new changes. News.com.au.
Daily Telegraph. (2025, August). We found out on Facebook: Parents of autistic kids devastated by NDIS cuts. Daily Telegraph.
The Guardian. (2025, August). Children with autism to be diverted off NDIS under $2bn program announced by Albanese government. The Guardian.
The Australian. (2025, August). Support NDIS change or risk billions in hospital funding, states told by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. The Australian.