The minister for the National Disability Insurance System defended the reforms to curb the program’s $14 billion growth over four years, rejecting claims that the reforms amount to a “cut” in funding.

The federal government sounded the alarm about the program’s costs several years ago, saying they were growing at a rate of 13.8 percent every year and would quickly become unsustainable without change.

This week, legislation was passed with the support of the Coalition that aims to curb the growth of the scheme. This is done by creating new powers to investigate fraud, defining more precisely what can be funded under the NDIS and limiting automatic top-ups to the funding of participant schemes. There are also a number of other changes to the way the scheme works.

But NDIS Minister Bill Shorten told ABC’s Insiders the public could have confidence in the government’s “cost savings”.

“There are more people joining the scheme this week than last week. We will be investing more in people with disabilities joining the scheme this week than we did last week,” Mr Shorten said.

“With this legislation we return to the original intention of the plan.”

An update on the program’s ongoing costs showed growth had already slowed and was $600 million below the budget estimate for the year to July 2024.

Criticism of NDIS does not represent reality for participants, says Shorten

A number of disability organisations raised concerns last week as the government concluded negotiations with the Coalition on NDIS reform.

Australian Federation of Disability Organisations CEO Ross Joyce said the government had not engaged with the sector properly, while Inclusion Australia CEO Catherine McAlpine said trust had been “eroded”.

The Greens called it a “betrayal” by the Labor Party, which first introduced the plan in 2013 under former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Mr Shorten rejected these claims.

“I don’t agree that (those views) are representative of the 600,000 people in the community and the 400,000 people who work in the program.”

One of the next big challenges for the government will be to work with the states to establish a new ‘fundamental support’ program for people with disability who cannot access the NDIS.

At the end of last week, the government received the approval of the federal states. The states had given their support in principle, but had expressed serious doubts about the details of the program that had yet to be designed.

Mr Shorten said the plan would add to the ‘menu’ of support for people with disabilities.