Psychiatrist sounds alarm over $35bn ‘gigantic vampire squid’ NDIS

Disability diagnoses have become “attractive” in Australia and we’re becoming “the most disabled nation on earth”, according to a psychiatrist on the front-line.

With the cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) ballooning to an estimates $35 billion a year and a staggering 610,500 participants taken on in the last quarter alone, one of its original architects — Professor Bruse Bonyhady — has spoken out about the need for change within the scheme.

Psychiatrist Dr Tanveer Ahmed told Neil Mitchell almost a third of people on the NDIS have an autism diagnosis, and we’ve set up a system where there’s “enormous pressure” for children to be diagnosed with autism before the age of seven.

Press PLAY below to hear what Dr Ahmed thinks is driving the skyrocketing NDIS bill

An inquiry into the NDIS will hand down its final report by October.