Document 7 FOI 25/26-2441
From: s47F - persona Shaun on behalf of media To: s47F - personal , Lucy; s47F - personal privacy , Leonidas; media; s47F - perso , Shaun;s47F - personal p , Enya; s47F - personal p , Keely; s47F - perso, Isabella; s47F - pers, Lucy Cc: COLLINS, Jo; s47F - pe Julian; s47F - personal pr , Ellen Subject: FYI - follow-up questions from SMH/Age on children 0-8 Scheme costs [SEC=OFFICIAL] Date: Friday, 22 August 2025 2:58:20 PM
Hi Lucy and Leon, See follow questions from Natassia. We’re seeking answers and will send through to you. Shaun
The Age/SMH has follow-up questions related to this response: In the 2024-25 financial year, the NDIS provided $1.8 billion in payments for participants aged 0-8 with developmental delay and mild to moderate autism.
Question:
- How many children does that involve (0-8)?
- What are comparable figures (cost and total children) for the 9-14 age group? From: s47F - personal priva , Lucy Sent: Friday, August 22, 2025 1:39 PM To: s47F - personal privacy , Leonidas ; media ; s47F - personal p , Shaun ; s47F - personal priva , Enya ; s47F - personal privacy , Keely ; s47F - personal pr Isabella ; s47F - person , Lucy Cc: COLLINS, Jo ; s47F - pers, Julian ; s47F - personal privacy r, Ellen Subject: Re: 1pm request: Response for SMH/Age enquiry on children 0-8 Scheme costs [SEC=OFFICIAL] This is good to go thanks
From: s47F - personal privacy , Leonidas <Leonidas.s47F - personal privacy > Sent: Friday, August 22, 2025 11:55:35 AM To: media <xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx >; s47F - personal pr, Shaun <Shaun.s47F - personal privacy >; s47F - personal priva , Enya <Enya.s47F - personal privacy >; s47F - personal privacy , Keely <Keely.s47F - personal privacy >; s47F - personal privac, Lucy <Lucy.s47F - personal privacy >; s47F - personal p, Isabella <Isabella.s47F - personal privacy >; s47F - persona, Lucy <Lucy.s47F - personal privacy > Cc: COLLINS, Jo <xx.xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx >; s47F - pers, Julian <Julian.s47F - personal privacy >; s47F - personal privacy , Ellen <Ellen.s47F - personal privacy > Subject: Re: 1pm request: Response for SMH/Age enquiry on children 0-8 Scheme costs [SEC=OFFICIAL] Hey Shaun! Please just continue to hold fire for the moment. We’ll let you know when there are green lights from our end. Cheers, Leon
Sent from Workspace ONE Boxer On 22 August 2025 at 12:05:02 pm AEST, media <xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx > wrote: Hi Lucy, Natassia is following up on this one – are you able to let me know thoughts by 1pm?
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Regards, Shaun From: s47F - personal p , Shaun <Shaun.s47F - personal privacy > Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2025 7:05 PM To: Enya s47F - personal pr <Enya.s47F - personal privacy >; Keely s47F - personal priv <keely.s47F - personal privacy >; Lucys47F - personal priv <Lucy.Cs47F - personal privacy >; Isabella s47F - persona <Isabella.s47F - personal privacy >; Leon <Leonidas.s47F - personal privacy ; lucy.s47F - personal privacy Cc: COLLINS, Jo <xx.xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx >; s47F - pers, Julian <Julian.s47F - personal privacy >; s47F - personal privacy , Ellen <Ellen.s47F - personal privacy >; media <xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx >; s47F - personal priv Shaun <Shaun.s47F - personal privacy > Subject: Response for SMH/Age enquiry on children 0-8 Scheme costs [SEC=OFFICIAL] Hi Lucy, As foreshadowed, see cleared Agency factual response for Natassia Chrysanthos. I understand you’ll let me know thoughts in the morning. Regards, Shaun
Media enquiry Journalist/outlet Natassia Chrysanthos / SMH/Age Enquiry topic Scheme costs: “children with development delay or mild to moderate autism: Background - Answering “children with development delay or mild to moderate autism”, information not “early intervention” Questions As discussed, I’m keen to know how much of the scheme is spent on early intervention
(Or alternatively children with mild to moderate development delay or autism, but I suspect that is more difficult).
From what I can see in the quarterly report:
- There are 173,466 children aged 0 to 8, with an average annual payment of $19,100
This would make a 2024-25 spend of $3.3 billion on that age group (under 9s)
- I can also see, in another section, that active participant plans under early intervention alone total 235,728 participants. But I can’t see the average annualised payment to that group
Let me know if your team has an appropriate figure on hand? Or if that $3.3 billion figure is too blunt to be accurate? Response On background
In the 2024-25 financial year, the NDIS provided $1.8 billion in payments for participants aged 0-8 with developmental delay and mild to moderate autism.
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