Minister flags support for MBS-funded child health checks
20 Aug 2025
There will also be more focus on the role of primary care for many young children currently signed up to the NDIS, he revealed.
Medicare-funded child health checks could be back on the table as part of a shake-up of the way the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) works, Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler announced on Wednesday.
It was part of a National Press Club address in which he outlined plans to rein in NDIS spending, including a renewed clampdown on fraud and rogue operators to bring ballooning growth down to 8% next year.
According to Minister Butler, the scheme will have a sharper focus on permanent disability.
He signalled a shift in the approach in children found with mild to moderate developmental delay or autism, with the cohorts’ rapidly growing involvement in the NDIS described as ‘an unintended aspect’ of the scheme and one of the big drivers behind recent growth.
‘Most Australians would be alarmed to know that one out of every 10 six-year-olds are in the NDIS, including 16% of six-year-old boys,’ he said.
While he said individualised plans make sense for those with lifelong disabilities ‘families with a young child who’s missing some milestones aren’t best helped by receiving a budget of $10,000 $20,000 or $30,000 and being expected to work out how to spend it’.
‘And, frankly, many of those children are then being over-serviced.’
As part of a solution which will limit NDIS access for that cohort, Minister Butler flagged examining ‘the creation of a new Medicare item for bulk-billed three-year-old health checks to pick up any developmental concerns at that crucial age for referral for appropriate support’.
‘The College of General Practitioners has been calling for some years for a child development check like this to be re-established because they worked,’ he said.
‘Improved decision-making tools for health professionals and better workforce training on child development will help create a stronger system of supports for children and their parents.’
The RACGP has previously declared its backing for universal annual child health checks to be funded through Medicare covering the first 2000 days of a child’s life, following research suggesting the efficacy of support during the initial phases of development.
Minister Butler also said primary care is likely to have an expanded role in early childhood as part of a new scheme called Thriving Kids which he said is now in the planning stages.
‘During the toddler years, families will interact with their local GPs, early learning centres and other community health supports,’ he said.
‘Again, systems that already support children and families with those needs and are ripe for a greater focus.’
New Medicare allied health items including occupational therapy, speech pathology and psychosocial therapy could also be introduced if the need for additional supports is identified.
The RACGP has long advocated for more GP involvement in the NDIS and better collaboration between the NDIS and the primary care sector.
Minister Butler said his taking on the disability and NDIS role in his portfolio since the last election has given himself and the Government ‘much more capacity to compare and align systems in the NDIS with … other health and social care systems’.
He said many of the changes would draw heavily on recommendations from the NDIS review.
The Thriving Kids program is due to start from 1 July next year, with access changes to the NDIS from mid-2027.
