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Policy call, Think Autism Melbourne 2026
Who Thriving Kids could filter out before they are ever recognised
In short
Panellists at Think Autism Melbourne warned that a pathway sorting children by support needs would miss First Nations and multicultural children the system had never seen, and that the child would be blamed.
Read it instead, 5 minutesThe transcript
The story
Georgia Prattis framed the question before she asked it. The Thriving Kids program was moving children away from the NDIS, and, as she described it to the panel at Think Autism Melbourne, it would be filtering children by support needs from October of that year. She warned the parents in the room to look after themselves, because they were about to live through the change. Then she asked who was at risk of being filtered before they were ever recognised, naming First Nations communities and communities where English is a second or third language and Australian culture, in her inverted commas, is unfamiliar.
The Commonwealth had published the outline of the program in a fact sheet dated 3 February 2026. Thriving Kids is for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay or autism and low to moderate support needs. According to the fact sheet, the first state services would be available from 1 October 2026, full rollout would follow by 1 January 2028, and changes to NDIS access for children in that group would apply from 1 January 2028, subject to amendments to the NDIS Act 2013 that had been agreed in principle. The fact sheet names First Nations people and culturally and linguistically diverse people among the intersectional cohorts whose needs services would consider.
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Sources the story draws on
- Fact sheet: Foundational Supports and Thriving Kids (opens in a new tab), Australian Government (health.gov.au)
- Closing the Gap Information Repository: Socio-economic outcome area 3, early childhood education (opens in a new tab), Productivity Commission
- NSW Thriving Kids EOI process: Momentum is building and we need to keep it going (opens in a new tab), Occupational Therapy Australia
- Thriving Kids must be built with Aboriginal communities to succeed (opens in a new tab), SNAICC, National Voice for our Children (media release)
- Thriving Kids (Early Childhood Update, October 2026) (opens in a new tab), Victorian Government (vic.gov.au)
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