First ever National Autism Strategy launched

The Federal Government has released Australia’s first National Autism Strategy, with hopes that the plan will improve the lives of the nearly 300,000 autistic people living in Australia, but concerns have already been raised about its integration with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
 
The policy is backed by $42.3 million in funding, including $445,000 in 2025–26 for resources to improve the diagnosis process by supporting ‘autistic people and their families with pre- and post-diagnosis information’.
 
The plan, released on Tuesday, says GPs are ‘often the first point of contact’ in referring individuals to specialists for ‘assessing neurodevelopmental differences and disabilities’.
 
Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said addressing barriers for autistic people was ‘long overdue’.
 
‘This is not a strategy that has been done in isolation,’ she said.
 
‘It has been built in consultation and collaboration with autistic people living in Australia.’
 
She said this ongoing approach is key as the Federal Government rolls out this strategy, with initiatives stretching out over the next five years.
 
The strategy states that there are current difficulties at all stages of the identification, assessment, and diagnosis process.
 
‘Particularly the time it can take to receive a diagnosis, and the associated cost,’ it reads.
 
‘It can also be hard to find, access and navigate appropriate supports and services once a person has an autism diagnosis.’
 
Autism Awareness Australia (AAA) welcomed the first-of-its-kind plan but said ‘it must be followed by immediate action’.
 
AAA Chief Executive Nicole Rogerson raised concerns that state governments are not ready to implement this Federal Government initiative.
 
‘There needs to be a streamlined approach to address the funding gaps between the Commonwealth and state governments, because the current changes to the NDIS are having a real impact on Australian children,’ she said.
 
The report also touched on the importance of early diagnosis.
 
‘Early identification and diagnosis leads to better education, social and economic outcomes for Autistic people,’ it reads.
 
In a RACGP submission to the strategy, the college said GPs are often the first contact for people of all ages seeking support and play an important role in the management of people with autism.
 
‘GPs are well placed to assess the needs and goals of care of individual patients with autism, and how best to progress towards those goals,’ it said.
 
Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Child and Young Person’s Health Dr Tim Jones, who has a special interest in neurodevelopmental paediatrics, said while the dedication towards early identification is laudable, the strong focus on diagnosis is concerning.
 
‘Quite a significant proportion of children will be flagged as having concerns for possible autism within the first two years of life but if those children receive appropriate targeted supports, we have Australian data to suggest that 70% of those children will not meet diagnostic criteria for autism by age seven,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘What that says is that early intervention really works, and that while there are children at the severe end of the autism spectrum who really benefit from that early diagnosis and wraparound supports, there is a far greater number of children who may be more mildly represented on that spectrum where the importance of a diagnosis is nowhere near as important as appropriate targeted supports for that child’s development – and that’s where we see our current system just not working.’
 
Also emphasised in the action plan is the lack of service integration across sectors, poor understanding of autism in both community and professional settings, and workforce shortages.
 
But Dr Jones raised the issue that it is also difficult to dissect how the Federal Government itself aims to approach autism.
 
‘They’re putting a large amount of money towards trying to understand the true prevalence of autism, but we’d really want to know is what they’re defining as autism,’ he said.
 
‘Are they defining people with severe autism diagnoses? Are they defining people with autism traits who are getting good supports and thriving and living very well and independently? It is such a diverse group of conditions that it’s very hard to understand how the government views autism, because the needs and supports are incredibly diverse as well.’
 
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ASD autism autism spectrum disorder early diagnosis Federal Government national strategy