POLITICAL SHOCK: Pauline Hanson DEMANDS NDIS SHAKE-UP – BUT WILL MEANS-TESTING GO TOO FAR?
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has called on the government to means test the NDIS or risk the scheme collapsing under unsustainable cost growth.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has said the NDIS “will not last” without means-testing, as the government looks to rein in forecast blowout.
New reports have strengthened belief the government will target spending growth in the National Disability Insurance Scheme at the May budget in 2026.
But the government has resisted calls from the OECD and the IMF to means test the scheme to avoid unsustainable cost growth.
Ms Hanson said she had pushed for means-testing with individual ministers since the initiative’s inception and renewed calls for the government to consider the idea.
“(The NDIS) is out-of-control and the system will not last long unless we start reining it in,” she told SkyNews.com.au on Monday.
“You’ve got people on it who are quite well-to-do … someone’s got to pull it back in.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have both suggested the government could implement income and asset checks to strengthen the NDIS scheme and reduce spending.
Both Health Minister Mark Butler and NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister refused to respond to questions from SkyNews.com.au on whether Labor would consider means-testing.
Senator Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce MP at Parliament House regarding national fuel security. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman.
Ms Hanson said previous governments and ministers had avoided means-testing as they were afraid of losing votes.
She criticised the comparison made between the NDIS and Australia’s free health system which has been used to argue against means-testing.
“The NDIS is totally different … you’ve got people on it who are quite well-to-do … if you means test the aged care pension, why not this?” she argued.
She claimed some in the system were afforded luxuries out of reach for many other Australians.
“A lot of people if … they’re not well-to-do … don’t have the ability to go for the cruises or holidays or horse riding that their neighbours get,” she claimed.
“People don’t mind helping other people if they truly are in need of help.”
In its 2026 Australian economic survey, the OECD called for the government to cap spending growth at 5 per cent annually, while urging Labor to reconsider means-testing.
“Unlike cash benefits, where Australia has a good record of cost control and efficiency, the NDIS and other in-kind benefit programs are not means-tested,” the OECD said in its January report.
“Consideration could be given to revisiting that approach, given the scale of cost pressures in the NDIS and the potential for the cost of other in-kind benefit programs to balloon.”
In a 2023 report the IMF said the NDIS’ cost escalation should be brought under control.
It suggested the government investigate incorporating “progressivity” into the program with cost-sharing or means-testing, “ensuring consistent and equitable access to the NDIS”.
Ms Hanson said the government needed to crack down on the definition of disability, echoing comments from her stablemate Barnaby Joyce earlier in the morning.
Mr Joyce claimed the scheme was “supposed to be for people with catastrophic disabilities”.
“Remember, every time we saw it, we saw someone in a wheelchair? I’ve got no problems with that,” he told Sky News on Monday.
“That’s what it’s there for – All of these expansive psychosocial depressions? No.
“We all have something a little bit wrong with us. You can’t all go on the NDIS”
NDIS signage in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short.
The government has been considering savings in the NDIS’ forward estimates and is looking to reduce the growth from 8 per cent per year to around five per cent in the next budget.
National Disability Services has now warned providers to expect changes next month when Jim Chalmers delivers his fifth budget in a challenging economic environment, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday.
The Opposition has taken the opportunity to call for the government to crack down further on insurance rorts and fraudulent operators.
However, Dan Tehan and Maria Kovacic dodged the question of means-testing, speaking with Sky News on Monday morning.
Senior Liberals said the government should look at trimming any fat from the $50 billion scheme.
Current projections from the Parliamentary Budget Office expect the scheme to reach $100 billion by 2034-35.
Fraud, above-expected demand, and untracked spending have all been blamed for the astronomical growth in recent years.
Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman.
The government passed tougher laws for dodgy and fraudulent NDIS providers at the end of March.
Ms McAllister, the NDIS Minister, said at the time that the NDIS was meant to be a “disability support scheme, not a get rich quick scheme”.
Mr Butler recently told an Australian Financial Review Healthcare Summit he believed voters wanted Labor to rein in spending as a priority.
“Our research is showing Australians cherish the NDIS. They’re proud of it, but they think it’s got way out of control, and they’re determined that their government get it back on track,” the Health Minister said in March.
Labor policy remains the NDIS should not be means tested as a social insurance
