THE Australian Government’s decision to delay the rollout of the Thriving Kids program has been cautiously welcomed by the disability sector – but advocates warn the pause highlights much deeper structural risks in how disability supports are being redesigned across the country.
Originally scheduled to begin in July, Thriving Kids will now launch in October, with governments citing the need for states and territories to finalise hospital and disability funding agreements.
For Disability Representative Organisations (DROs), the delay is not the issue. Readiness is.
Thriving Kids is designed to support children aged eight and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have low to moderate support needs.
According to the newly released Thriving Kids Advisory Group Final Report, the model centres on early identification and tiered supports – from skill-building and peer connection to allied health and pathways into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) where required.
Disability Advocacy Network Australia (Disability Advocacy Network Australia, DANA) says the extra time must be used to fix known gaps: workforce shortages, unclear safeguards, inconsistent state systems, and a lack of transparency about how Foundational Supports will operate alongside the NDIS.
“Implementation must be done well,” DANA said in its response.
“Access to early supports should not depend on where a child lives.”
A core concern raised by DROs is that Thriving Kids cannot be separated from the broader Foundational Supports reforms now underway. These reforms will determine how people with disability access support outside the NDIS – and how responsibility is split between Commonwealth and state governments.
National Cabinet has committed to Thriving Kids being fully operational by January 2028, backed by $2 billion in Commonwealth funding matched by states and territories. But DROs say governments have yet to explain how progress will be reported, how safeguards will operate, or how families will navigate transitions as children grow and their needs change.
According to surveys conducted by Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) and the Australian Autism Alliance, a strong majority of families believe the original timeline was rushed and systems are not ready for scale.
Advocates stress that sequencing matters. Foundational Supports must be operational before any reforms shift boundaries within the NDIS. Otherwise, children risk losing access to services with nowhere else to turn “When systems change without safeguards, it’s these families who fall through the cracks,” said National Ethnic Disability Alliance, warning that inaccessible communication and under-prepared workforces will compound existing inequities.
