The Australian government is set to implement sweeping reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which currently supports approximately 760,000 Australians with disabilities. Health Minister Mark Butler announced that the scheme's annual growth will be limited to 2% until 2030, with plans to reduce the number of participants to 600,000 over the next four years. New eligibility criteria will focus on functional capacity rather than diagnosis, requiring all participants to undergo standardized assessments starting in 2028. Additional measures include a 30% budget cut for third-party plan managers and a cap on social and community participation program costs, reducing the average yearly cap from $31,000 to $26,000. The reforms aim to stabilize the NDIS, which has seen a growth rate of 24% annually since its full implementation in 2020, with costs projected to rise from $50 billion to $70 billion by 2030. These changes are intended to ensure the sustainability of the NDIS while maintaining support for those with significant disabilities.