Fixing the NDIS won’t help the one in five Australians living with these challenges
NDIS reform is welcome, but there are millions of Australians missing out.
Full article excerpt tap to expand
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","dateModified":"2026-04-28T05:30:00Z","datePublished":"2026-04-28T05:30:00Z","description":"NDIS reform is welcome, but there are millions of Australians missing out.","headline":"Fixing the NDIS won’t help the one in five Australians living with these challenges","keywords":"Mental health, Just in, Opinion, For subscribers, Mark Butler, Disability, Healthcare, NDIS","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Allan Fels","jobTitle":"Former chairman Australian Competition and Consumer Commission","url":"/by/allan-fels-p4yw98"}],"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://www.smh.com.au/national/fixing-the-ndis-won-t-help-the-one-in-five-australians-living-with-these-challenges-20260428-p5zrl7.html","@type":"WebPage"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","height":"1322.6666666666665","url":"https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.3875%2C$multiply_0.7025%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1059%2C$x_742%2C$y_394/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/8856de882ba3ae78cc29c9e3a93cdaef5aaba544","width":"744"},"isAccessibleForFree":false,"hasPart":[{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccessibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".paywall"}],"publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","name":"The Sydney Morning Herald","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","height":"628","url":"https://www.smh.com.au/metro-assets/assets/static/smh.png","width":"1200"},"url":"https://www.smh.com.au"},"isPartOf":{"@type":["CreativeWork","Product"],"name":"The Sydney Morning Herald","productID":"smh.com.au:webonly"}}{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.smh.com.au","name":"Home"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.smh.com.au/national","name":"National"},"position":2},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.smh.com.au/topic/mental-health-5zo","name":"Mental health"},"position":3}]}AdvertisementNationalMental healthOpinionFixing the NDIS won’t help the one in five Australians living with these challengesAllan FelsFormer chairman Australian Competition and Consumer CommissionApril 28, 2026 — 3:30pmApril 28, 2026 — 3:30pmSaveYou have reached your maximum number of saved items.Remove items from your saved list to add more.ShareAAAAustralia has two crises in social policy. However, they are different. The highly visible, much-discussed NDIS spends too much and applies to too many people, according to the government. Since Wednesday, there has been a commitment and a strategy to fix it.The less visible, less-discussed mental health system is the opposite: it spends too little and applies to too few people who need care and support. And it lacks a commitment and strategy for reform.Allan Fels and his daughter, Isabella, who lives with schizophrenia. Simon SchluterThe mental health challenge is very big. More than 800,000 Australians have a severe mental illness, mostly of psychotic forms (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar). Every year, one in five Australians between 16 and 85 years old experiences a mental health challenge requiring care and support.One failure concerns the “missing middle”. At one end, there’s a system for dealing with primary mental health problems. It mostly involves GPs and psychologists. It is imperfect and inadequate. Nevertheless, the system does exist.AdvertisementAt the other end, there is a system for dealing with people in severe distress, including those experiencing psychotic outbreaks. It is hospital care. That system has even more…
This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at The Sydney Morning Herald.