On Tuesday, 25 March 2025, the Australian Government released its 2025 budget.
The budget is the Australian Government’s plan for how it will collect and spend money. For more information about what a government budget is, please see the Parliamentary Education Office’s website.
Amaze welcomes the following parts of the budget which will support accessibility, inclusion and access to services for Autistic people and their families and carers.
Disability
- $364.5 million to redesign the Australian Government’s Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) program. This program currently funds disability community projects, such as Autism Connect, and is in the process of being transitioned into a new model of Foundational Supports (to be funded by the Australian Government and state and territory governments). This means that ILC funded programs should generally continue to receive funding during the transition to Foundational Supports, minimising gaps in services.
- Increased funding for NDIS fraud detection, and for the NDIS Appeals Program. The NDIS Appeals program funds Legal Aid and other advocacy services to support people seeking review of NDIS decisions/plans to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
- $17.1 million for the Accessible Australia Initiative. This program will aim to increase the accessibility of national parks, beaches, changing facilities and play spaces (replacing the Changing Places Initiative).
Health
- Incentives for GPs to bulk bill their services, meaning it will be easier to access free bulk billed appointments with GPs.
- Cheaper prescribed medicines, with the maximum amount payable on any PBS covered scripts reduced from $31.60 to $25.00, and some subsides on long-acting contraceptives and endometriosis treatments.
- Increased public hospital funding and funding for 50 urgent care clinics (for families whose children need medical attention but aren’t sick enough for the emergency department).
Education and childcare
- 100,000 fee-free TAFE places until 2035.
- Funding for three days of subsidized childcare for all families earning less than $533,000, with parents no longer having to work, study or be looking for work for at least 16 hours each fortnight to qualify (from January 2026).
Cost of living relief
- Student debt balances to be reduced by 20%, together with some measures to make student loans easier to pay off. Note: this requires legislation to be passed by parliament to come into effect.
- Minor tax cuts, which will effectively mean an extra $268 in workers pocket in the 2026-27 financial year and $536 a year from the 2027-28 financial year.
- Energy bill relief, reducing power bills by around $150 per annum.
- Expanded eligibility for the first home buyers grant, now available to singles earning less than $100,000 and joint applications (i.e. couples) where the applicants earn less than $160,000.
What’s missing? What other Australian Government funding is needed to improve autism inclusion, accessibility and access to services?
- Funding to implement the Disability Royal Commission’s recommended reforms. This is largely missing due to the lack of a robust reform roadmap to progress these reforms.
- Longer term funding for Foundational Supports. This requires a long-term funding agreement between the Australian Government and states and territories (currently under negotiations) to understand how, and the extent to which these will be funded in the longer term.
- An increase to the Disability Support Pension or Jobseeker allowance.
- Increased cost of living support, including for accessible and inclusive housing, employment and education.
What happens next?
The next federal government election will take place in early May.
Amaze will continue advocating for reforms that enable all Autistic people and their families and carers to live their best lives.
Our advocacy priorities to the Australian Government include:
- Foundational Supports that are informed by and meet the needs of all Autistic people. For more information, please see our submission to the Australian Government’s recent consultation paper.
- Full funding and implementation of the National Autism Strategy and National Roadmap to Improve the Health and Mental Health of Autistic people.
- Implementation of the unanimously agreed recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission, including the establishment of a Department of Disability, Equality, and Inclusion, with a dedicated Cabinet level Minister, supported by an Assistant Minister for autism.
- A National Disability Insurance Scheme that is fair, sustainable and meets the needs of all Autistic people.