NDIA Accountability Project

Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales - response to reopened Inquiry

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Submission
No 112

INQUIRY INTO FOUNDATIONAL AND DISABILITY SUPPORTS AVAILABLE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Organisation: People with Disability Australia
Date Received: 18 September 2026

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY\

AUSTRALIA

PO Box 666
Strawberry Hills
NSW 2012

+61 2 8365 0400
Toll free 1800 422 015
pwd@pwd.org.au
www.pwd.org.au

18 September 2026

Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales

Legislative Council

NSW Parliament House

6 Macquarie Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Submitted through inquiry website: [Inquiry details | Parliament of NSW](Inquiry details | Parliament of NSW)

Dear Select Committee

Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales — response to reopened Inquiry

Response to developments since Select Committee interim report

Foundational supports are supports and services for people with disability provided outside of the NDIS. They are made up of general supports and targeted supports. General supports are such things as information, advice, referral and capacity building, and available to all people with disability and their families, carers and kin. Targeted supports are for people who may not need the NDIS but would benefit from things such as

A voice\

of our

specific allied health support services and other developmental learning support.

Foundational Supports are to be rolled out in phases directed at specific cohorts.

The first phase of Foundational Supports to be rolled out is Thriving Kids. It is for children aged 8 and under who require developmental support. No formal diagnosis is required. In NSW general supports for Thriving Kids are to start rolling out from October 2026, with targeted supports to start being available by January 2027. All supports under Thriving Kids will be rolled out by January 2028. So far Thriving Kids is the only program under Foundational Supports to be announced formally and agreed to by the Commonwealth, states and territories.

We note that the NSW Select Committee interim report was tabled on 20 February 2026, with the NSW Government response tabled on 20 May 2026. Key details on the framework and operation of Foundational Supports and Thriving Kids were not at that time available. There have been significant developments regarding the rollout of Thriving Kids and the wider disability services context since the NSW inquiry began and the drafting and tabling of the Select Committee interim report. These include:

  • The December 2025 ‘No child left behind’ report of the House of Representatives, Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative, and the 13 August 2026 Australian Government response;
  • The national Thriving Kids Advisory Group final report (December 2025);
  • The signing of the Heads of Agreement on the National Health Reform Agreement, National Disability Insurance Scheme reforms and Foundational Supports between Commonwealth and State and Territory governments in January 2026;
  • The subsequent signing of the National Agreement on Foundational Supports 2026-31 and its commencement on 2 February 2026;
  • The subsequent signing of Bi-lateral Agreements on Thriving Kids between the Commonwealth and states and territories under the National Agreement on Foundational Supports (NSW signing on 6 March 2026);
  • From May 2026 the commencement in NSW of the procurement process for Thriving Kids services to be delivered by NGOs. A second tranche of procurement is planned for late 2026 focused on contracts commencing around mid-2027.

One of, if not the most critical development have been changes made to the NDIS with the August 19 2026 passing of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.

This is on top of previous changes to the NDIS such as around access and eligibility and new plan variation and reassessment rules commencing in March 2025.

Despite the developments above, the NSW Select Committee interim report remains an important contextual document, specifically in its sharing the voice and experience of children and young people with disability with existing service frameworks, as well as its identification of issues more broadly with the current provision of supports in NSW. Such insights will assist in providing some accountability to the implementation and operation of the Thring Kids programs as it rolls out. To that end, PWDA believes the findings made in the interim report remain important to informing the successful implementation of Thriving Kids in NSW.

We note that since the NSW Select Committee interim report, the NSW Government has agreed to implement the Thriving Kids program under the National Agreement on Foundational Supports. The Bi-lateral agreement on Thriving Kids between the Commonwealth and NSW was signed by NSW on 6 March 2026.

The NSW disability community including people with disability, parents and carers, advocates, and providers identified numerous concerns with the rollout of Thriving Kids when it was announced in 2025. In addition to being picked up on in the Select Committee interim report, many were identified by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) Foundational Supports for Children Advisory Group, as well as through broader community consultation undertaken by DCJ in late 2025.

These concerns by the NSW disability community with the implementation and delivery of Thriving Kids (and Foundational Supports broadly) remain today. These concerns and anxieties have been heightened by the recent significant NDIS changes. These concerns include:

  1. The availability of a capable, safe, rights informed workforce.
  2. How Universal Parenting Supports will be provided and what will be provided.
  3. Ensuring services are well integrated, easy to access (including ‘soft’ entry points) and easy to transition between. Interfaces between systems are regularly noted as being ‘confusing.’
  4. How Thriving Kids will be implemented in different settings, particularly targeted supports.
  5. Children falling through gaps through not being able to access NDIS funding and not being able to access appropriate Thriving Kids services in their area. There is ongoing concern regarding statements made that people going from NDIS to Foundational Supports will not be getting ‘like for like.’
  6. Whether there will be sufficient coverage for rural, regional and remote communities.
  7. Whether information will be accessible and available in different formats for all people with disability.
  1. Whether services will be culturally safe and inclusive.
  2. How children transition out of specific targeted Thriving Kids services once a child turns 9. There is no specific clarity on this at this stage (for example, what is the next cohort focus), and that is causing concern.
  3. How and what data will be collected, stored and used to best support the provision of services to people with disability.
  4. Ongoing monitoring and accountability mechanisms, and specific responsibilities, are not particularly clear. People with disability are wondering how they will be included in ongoing meaningful consultation around the implementation and evaluation of Thriving Kids in NSW.

We understand that some concerns raised by the disability community (including those above) and some findings and recommendations raised in the Select Committee interim report are addressed in a broad sense in the National and Bi-lateral agreements. For example, implementation of and reporting on Thriving Kids must be in line with the framework established by the Thriving Kids National Model adopted and embedded as part of the National Agreement.

This appears to be largely the position of the NSW Government in its response to the Select Committee interim report. This is, that the NSW Government is now implementing Thriving Kids, and its ‘approach to implementing Thriving Kids will be shaped by the agreements reached by governments in early 2026.’¹ Underpinning this approach are the Thriving Kids Service Principles from the National Model contained in those agreements that seek to ensure that supports are:

¹ National Agreement on Foundational Supports 2026-2031, Schedule B: National Model: Thriving Kids, p. 20.

  • Focused on outcomes,
  • Cost effective,
  • Child-centred, family-centred and strengths-based,
  • Flexible and accessible, including for those with different intersectional needs,
  • Evidence-informed, based on contemporary evidence/research, and lived experience of children, families and carers,
  • Delivered predominantly in everyday settings that families and children already interact with (where children live, learn and play),
  • Culturally safe, with ACCO, AMS and ACCHOs, where appropriate and available, prioritised as providers for programs/services for First Nations children and families, carers and kin,
  • Delivered through flexible and effective service approaches in regional, rural and remote areas and thin markets,
  • Effectively connected and integrated with related services and supports across the service ecosystem, and
  • Delivered by appropriately skilled workforces.²

It is relevant that these agreed to service principles do mirror concerns raised by children and young people, their families, carers and kin, and other stakeholders. However, the National Model and the Service Principles have not been tested through implementation.

As noted above, we suggest the NSW Select Committee interim report remains important as a document to inform implementation generally as it is based in the experience of children and young people, families, carers and kin, and stakeholders with the current system. Because of this, findings made by the NSW Select Committee remain of use,

² National Agreement on Foundational Supports 2026-2031, Schedule B: National Model: Thriving Kids, p. 20.

even if some of the recommendations focused on broad implementation considerations may have been addressed through subsequent developments with National and Bi-lateral Agreements.

There is a renewed sense of urgency to get Thriving Kids ‘right’ considering the significant changes to the NDIS brought by, for example, the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. Independent evaluation and oversight will be important. While there is to be Thriving Kids interim implementation reporting and ongoing annual reporting by the States and Territories that have signed up, details on the format of this are not clear.

Importantly there will not be a full independent evaluation of the program for three years. PWDA is concerned that waiting three years for a final independent systematic evaluation risks problems being identified late that have persisted over an extended period and which may have been able to have been addressed earlier.

PWDA submits there is a need for the NSW Government now to partner with people with disability, their representative organisations, service providers and other key stakeholders in the implementation and ongoing evaluation of Thriving Kids. The DCJ Foundational Supports for Children Advisory Group established in 2025 could be reconstituted. However, PWDA submits that its Terms of Reference must be redrafted through co-design, and include reference to a co-leadership model of consultation and engagement. The emphasis must be on government and the community working together to share feedback and experience, identify problems early (especially systemic problems), workshopping solutions, and crucially, ensuring no child who loses access to NDIS funding falls through the cracks.

PWDA acknowledges again the work that the NSW Select Committee undertook to release its interim report. We acknowledge that the NSW Select Committee undertook the inquiry in a spirit of cooperation and collaboration. We are particularly appreciative that the NSW Select Committee recognised the value of lived experience and promoted the voice of children and young people with disability.

If you have any questions about this submission, please contact Mr Julian Laurens, Senior Policy Officer at:

Yours sincerely

Megan Spindler-Smith Acting CEO

People with Disability Australia

About People with Disability Australia

People with Disability Australia (PWDA) is a national peak, non-profit, non-government disability rights and advocacy organisation made up of, and led by, people with disability. Established in 1981, during the International Year of Disabled Persons, PWDA represents the interests of people with all kinds of disability.

We have a vision of a socially just, accessible and inclusive community in which the contribution, potential and diversity of people with disability is not only recognised and respected but also celebrated.

Our work is grounded in a human rights framework that recognises the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and related mechanisms as fundamental tools for advancing the rights of people with disability. PWVWDA embraces the ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us’ motto of the international disability community and Disabled Peoples’ International.

PWDA receives funding under the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing Disability Representative Organisation (DRO) Program to communicate the views of its members to the Australian Government. We receive further funding through the NSW Department of Community and Justice Disability Advocacy Futures Program for individual and systemic advocacy work in NSW. We also represent people with disability at the United Nations, particularly in relation to the CRPD.

PWDA is also a Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO), along with the First People’s Disability Network, National Ethnic Disability Alliance, and Women With Disabilities Australia. DPOs collectively form a disability rights movement that places people with disability at the centre of decision-making in all aspects of our lives.