The Cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme: Australia’s Print‐Media Discourse

Abstract

This paper examines the way that Australian newspapers have framed the cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Introduced in 2013, the NDIS represented a major change in Australia's disability support policy, moving for the first time to a nationwide universal insurance model. NDIS costs have continued to exceed estimates, raising concerns about the sustainability of the scheme, as reflected in recent calls for reform. Media analysis provides an understanding of the public narrative surrounding key social issues. Using thematic analysis of n = 90 newspaper articles, five key themes were identified: cost as a problem, projections of cost, politicisation of cost, drivers of cost and the interests of stakeholders. The most dominant theme was cost as a problem , which contributed to a strongly negative portrayal of the cost of the NDIS that emerged across articles. This negativity was connected to discourse relating to the deservingness of participants receiving funding and the contribution of ‘undeserved’ support to the growing cost of the scheme. We explore the way such narratives obscure the original principles of the scheme—universal insurance and investment—and suggest that the framing identified instead reflects existing negative discourses surrounding targeted‐welfare systems and their recipients.