Queensland yet to sign on to Thriving Kids a week from launch - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Mark Butler says families in Queensland are "losing time". (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

A week out from the launch of Thriving Kids, the minister who announced the program to shift some children under nine off the NDIS has lashed out at the last state yet to formally sign its side of the deal.

The Queensland government says it remains concerned the Commonwealth is walking away from vulnerable Australians.

The first phase of Thriving Kids is set to begin October 1.

A frustrated federal Health Minister Mark Butler has denounced the Queensland government over its refusal to sign up for the Thriving Kids program, a week before the first phase of the NDIS alternative for some children is set to begin.

Announced last August, Thriving Kids is a pillar of the federal government's efforts to curb spending on the $51 billion NDIS, and will see states and territories provide services for children under nine with developmental delay or autism who have "low to moderate" support needs.

Queensland's Liberal National government has held out on signing up, accusing the Albanese government of cost shifting and failing to explain important information about the program, including how "low to moderate" support needs would be defined.

But with the first phase of the program set to begin on October 1, Mr Butler said time was running out.

"All other states and territories, Liberal and Labor alike, [are] just getting on with the business of developing their programs. So I'm frustrated with Queensland; it's a big state with a dispersed community," he told the ABC.

"We're losing time, frankly, for Queensland parents and children."

Earlier this year, the premiers and chief ministers of all states and territories, including Queensland, agreed to set up "foundational supports" outside the NDIS, such as Thriving Kids, in exchange for $25 billion in hospital funding from the Commonwealth.

Most of those jurisdictions have started tender processes and set aside money in their most recent state budgets.

"[Queensland] signed the grand bargain," Mr Butler said.

"They're receiving substantial additional hospital funding … money is available for parents to receive these services in Queensland, as very soon they will be just south of the border in New South Wales and in every other state and territory."

Autism Association of Australia CEO Nicole Rogerson said it was "not OK" that Queensland was yet to formally commit to Thriving Kids.

"The sheer audacity of Queensland just saying 'I'm not prepared to be involved' is sort of shocking. I understand they're trying to make a political point, but there are families, real children at the end of this that won't have services in the state of Queensland," she said.

Thriving Kids aims to support children under nine who have developmental delay or autism with "low to moderate" support needs. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)

A spokesperson for Queensland's Acting Disability Minister Ros Bates said the state government's concerns remained.

"Not only for young people who may fall through cracks in the system, but also for those vulnerable Queenslanders who have relied on the NDIS since it was established more than a decade ago to provide support for those in need," they said.

Ms Bates then told a press conference this morning the Queensland government was "not being belligerent" by not signing on, but rather doing its "due diligence" for state taxpayers.

"We want to see the detail. We want to know what it means for kids who are under nine years of age, what happens after?" she said.

"Mark Butler knows full well that the deal that they are trying to give Queensland is substandard."

The first phase of Thriving Kids will focus on "general supports" such as online parenting courses and information resources including phone lines.

"Targeted supports", such as therapies in schools, will then gradually roll out, with full implementation set to be complete by January 2028, when the government intends for new NDIS eligibility rules to be in place.

Many in the disability community fear Thriving Kids will not adequately support children with moderate needs, that parenting courses will not be effective, and that already exhausted parents will be shouldering additional responsibilities.

Mr Butler told the ABC talks were starting with the states over the development of non-NDIS supports for other groups.

"We've started that process with states at an official level … we've got to develop foundational support programs for children over the age of nine and for adult cohorts who might not end up being on the NDIS, for example, adults with psychosocial disability," he said.

"When [Education Minister] Jason Clare and I meet with school principals to talk about these issues, a message that comes to me from them, using their words, is we need a 'Thriving Teens' program."

Nicole Rogerson says it's too early to be talking about something like a Thriving Teens program. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)

Ms Rogerson said it was too early to be thinking about something like that when Thriving Kids was still so far away from being fully operational.

"The kinds of supports we give very small children with autism are very different when children are above age nine," she said.