“Managed neglect,” First Nations disability peak body responds to the 2026-27 Federal Budget

First Peoples Disability Network says First Nations people with disability are invisible in both the NDIS cuts and the Closing the Gap package

The First Peoples Disability Network Australia (FPDN) today warned that the 2026-27 Federal Budget exposes First Nations people with disability to the greatest policy risk since the NDIS was created, stripping $37.8 billion from disability supports while offering no dedicated pathway, no culturally validated assessment tool, and no funded governance mechanism for the 63,000 First Nations people on the scheme.

FPDN CEO Damian Griffis (Worimi) said the budget's silence on First Nations disability was a failure of design, not just a failure of funding.

"This government is taking $37.8 billion out of disability. That is the single largest savings measure in this budget. And it has not asked a single question about what that means for the 63,000 First Nations people on the NDIS, people who are already the most underserved participants in the scheme.

Notably, the budget's $37.8 billion in NDIS savings are drawn almost entirely from participant plans and supports, while the government simultaneously invests in new assessment infrastructure, an expanded NDIA assessor workforce, and the bureaucratic architecture of Thriving Kids and Foundational Supports. The costs of reform are being built into the system, but the savings are being taken from the people it is meant to serve.

The budget's $1.2 billion Closing the Gap package invests in health, jobs, housing and family safety, but disability is not named as a priority in the NIAA's budget factsheet. Meanwhile, the NDIS reform package introduces a new functional capacity assessment tool, the I-CAN v6, that has no published cultural validation for First Nations populations. The tool is designed to determine both eligibility for the scheme and the size of individual plan budgets. Every current participant will also be reassessed under the new tool over the coming years, raising serious concerns about what happens for First Nations people who are unable to engage with the reassessment process within the government's timeframes.

"Our mob experience disability at nearly twice the national rate. Less than one per cent of NDIS providers are First Nations organisations, despite making up eight per cent of participants. In remote communities, more than one in three of our people aren't even accessing the supports in their plans," Mr Griffis said.

"And now this budget asks them to trust a transition they had no hand in designing, assessed by a tool that hasn't been validated with them, into replacement services that don't exist in their communities. That is not reform. That is managed neglect."

FPDN is calling for direct involvement in the development of the new eligibility rules and assessment processes to ensure there is no further exclusion by design. The NDIS already has significant barriers to access for First Nations people. Introducing an assessment tool that has not been culturally validated risks making those barriers worse.

FPDN advocated for five specific safeguards from the government before this budget. None have been met:

• Cultural validation of the new assessment tool: : Not addressed. The I-CAN v6 tool has no published cultural validation for First Nations populations.
• No transition off the NDIS until culturally safe alternatives exist locally: A commitment also written into the legislation and the Foundational Supports agreements.
• Ring-fenced funding for Aboriginal community-controlled organisations in disability: Not funded. Neither Thriving Kids nor Foundational Supports contain a confirmed ACCO delivery pathway.
• Establishment of the First Nations Disability Forum: Not funded. The Disability Royal Commission recommended this more than two and a half years ago. The government has not met its commitment.
• A First Nations disability outcomes framework linked to Closing the Gap: No commitment.

FPDN is calling on the Senate crossbench to make passage of the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Bill conditional on three safeguards:

1. No First Nations participant is reassessed under the new tool until it has been independently culturally validated by a First Nations-led research body.
2.  A statutory "no exit without alternative" guarantee ensuring no person is transitioned off the NDIS before a culturally safe, locally available replacement service is operational.
3. Immediate establishment and funding of the First Nations Disability Forum, with a permanent secretariat and formal links to Disability Reform Ministers.

"We are not opposed to reform. We have been calling for reform of this scheme since day one, because it was never designed for our mob in the first place," Mr Griffis said.

"But you cannot cut $37.8 billion and call it reform unless what replaces it works for everyone. Right now, nothing in this budget guarantees that. First Nations people with disability are falling through the gap between two systems, the disability system and the Indigenous affairs system, and neither one is catching them.

"We are here. We are ready to work. But we will not be silent while our mob are designed out of the system again."

Key facts for journalists:

• First Nations Australians experience disability at 1.5 to 1.9 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians
• 63,000+ First Nations people are NDIS participants, making up 8% of all participants
• Less than 1% of NDIS providers (144 of 54,967) are First Nations organisations
• In remote communities, more than 1 in 3 First Nations NDIS participants are not accessing the supports in their plans
• The $37.8 billion NDIS savings package is the single largest savings measure in the 2026-27 Budget
• The I-CAN v6 assessment tool has no published cultural validation for First Nations populations and will be used to determine both eligibility and plan budgets
• Every current NDIS participant will be reassessed under the new tool over the coming years
• The Disability Royal Commission recommended a First Nations Disability Forum (Rec 9.10) in 2023. It remains unfunded despite government commitment in its DRC response, as well as community consultations
• Disability does not appear as a named priority in the NIAA's Closing the Gap budget factsheet

Interviews and further comments: 
FPDN’s CEO Damian Griffis is available for further comment and interviews.

For all media enquires please contact:
FPDN Media Team 
Email: media@fpdn.org.au 

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