Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), a government programme providing individualised funding to people with permanent or significant disabilities, is facing a major financial crisis after its annual cost ballooned from an initial estimate of A$22 billion to A$54 billion, now supporting over 700,000 participants. The federal government has introduced legislation to rein in spending, including tighter eligibility controls and cuts of up to 50% to funding for social participation activities — changes that advocates warn will strip disabled Australians of hard-won independence and community inclusion. Critics argue that while fraud and overcharging by some providers have contributed to the scheme's unsustainability, the deeper problem lies in the collapse of other public disability services that once existed alongside the NDIS, funnelling more people into the scheme than it was originally designed to support.