Professor calls for time limit on NDIS for people with mild intellectual disabilities

Australians with a mild intellectual disability should have a time limit placed on claiming NDIS payments to prune ballooning costs that are worsening the national productivity crisis, an economist says.

University of New South Wales economics professor Gigi Foster, who has co-written a paper on intellectual disability, said such a limit on benefits might encourage recipients to get jobs.

“If you have a disability, we want to help to support that for a temporary time, but we are looking for re-integration into markets,” she told The Nightly.

“I think that’s very reasonable and you could still potentially reapply, but the expectation should be built into the design of the system and time limits are a good way to start doing that.”

Her idea is modelled on the American Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, signed into law by former US president Bill Clinton, that placed a five-year lifetime cap on welfare with a requirement that recipients would have to work after two years of getting benefits. She argued it was about the principle that “everyone is to contribute” to society.

“I don’t know whether we want necessarily time limits for all disabilities,” Professor Foster said.

Professor Foster didn’t specify a particular time limit but described the $52 billion annual cost during a time of high public spending as an “unsustainable expense” that was worsening Australia’s weak productivity by drawing NDIS providers from other parts of the economy and “crowding out” the Federal Government’s ability to spend on other things.

“In the current zeitgeist, you’re not supposed to do anything or say anything that makes you seem that you don’t love people with disabilities,” she said.

“That’s a real problem in our society - you can’t talk logically about programs like this because they’re littered with trigger words.”

Inclusion Australia said penalising Centrelink recipients with a disability was a threat to their well-being.

“Every penalty can push someone into financial crisis, making it harder to buy food, pay bills and stay safe,” a spokesperson said.

The number of Australians with a psycho-social disability grew to 1.7 million people in 2022, up from 1.1 million people in 2018. Of this group, 39 per cent were employed.

Those with a psycho-social disability are eligible for NDIS, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics definition including mental illness, a brain injury and social and behavioural issues that restrict everyday life.

The NDIS is Australia’s third most expensive Budget item after grants to the States and Territories and support for seniors.

Treasury projects the cost of the NDIS to grow by 8 per cent in 2025-26, ahead of the growth in defence, hospital, medical benefits, aged care and child care subsidies.

Despite that expense, the Grattan Institute think tank found those with psycho-social disabilities were missing out on support as the NDIS continued to provide help for cleaning, cooking and transport services.

The Federal Government has been tightening NDIS criteria, last year removing therapies such as yoga and meditation.

An NDIS recipient, however, can still claim the cost of attending a yoga class if a support worker took them there.

“It is important to note the NDIS would not pay for any of the costs associated with attendance at yoga class as this is not a NDIS support, however a participant could claim the cost of a support worker to assist them to participate in a class as required,” a spokeswoman for the National Disability Insurance Agency told The Nightly.

Taxpayers are still also funding approved evidence-based therapies for NDIS recipients.

Since November 24, NDIS recipients have been able to claim $156.16 an hour on art and music therapies.

Former NDIS minister Bill Shorten last year banned sex work from being claimed.