Associate Professor Jill Duncan
A new NDIS Evidence Advisory Committee (EAC) will use independent expertise to steer spending toward safe, effective, and value-for-money supports.
In what may be one of the clearest signs yet that the politics of the NDIS now revolves around both outcomes and budgets, the Albanese government has established an Evidence Advisory Committee to inform how the scheme works. Its mission: use independent expertise to steer spending toward safe, effective, and value-for-money supports.
The idea is so obvious and sensible, you might think it’s amazing it didn’t occur to anyone previously. Well actually it did.
Establishing an EAC was Recommendation 23.2 of the Independent NDIS Review. This highlighted the need to rigorously assess therapies, assistive technologies, and capacity-building approaches, and ensure every dollar spent supported by evidence-based impact.
The point is that someone has finally acted.
“A team of Australia’s leading educators, researchers and disability advocates have been appointed to an expert‑led committee, established to ensure NDIS participants access the best‑practice, evidence‑based supports that deliver results.”
Crucially, this is not about cutting costs for the sake of it — but about directing finite taxpayer investments toward supports that demonstrably improve lives. It isn’t just common sense; it answers growing concerns about inconsistent outcomes, unchecked spending, and minimal transparency.
The EAC is funded with $45.5 million over four years with operations to begin by next July. It will be supported by three technical subcommittees focused on: capacity-building and therapies; assistive technology and capital; and health economics.
This isn’t austerity. It’s accountability - with participants firmly front of mind.
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Outcomes and Value are the Priority
The NDIS Evidence Advisory Committee is more than just another bureaucratic review body. It’s a line in the sand.
Led by Associate Professor Jill Duncan, the committee will bring independent scrutiny to what the NDIS funds—ensuring taxpayer dollars are directed only toward therapies, technologies, and supports that actually work.
“This role reflects my lifelong commitment to equity, inclusion and the rights of people with disability. Together, we will support a system that is fair, effective and empowering.”
This isn’t code for cuts. It’s a chance to put lived experience at the centre of policy—and sharpen the system by removing what’s wasteful, unproven, or duplicative.
Under Duncan’s leadership, the full membership of the Evidence Advisory Committee reflects both technical expertise and lived experience:
Associate Professor Jill Duncan OAM (Chair)
Professor Angus Buchanan
Melanie Eagle
Matthew Formston AM
Professor Tammy Hoffman OAM
Dr Robyn Mildon
Andrew Moffat
Mary Sayers
Clare Gibellini
Significantly, most of the members are themselves people with disability. This isn’t simply symbolic, it’s structural and vital. Real reform demands real insight.
To translate lived experience into rigorous recommendations, the EAC will be supported by three specialist subcommittees. Each is tasked with evaluating NDIS-funded supports through a specific lens:
Assistive Technology & Capital
Dr Lisa Chaffey
Professor Alistair McEwan
Capacity Building & Therapies
Dr Walid Jammal
Professor Yasmine Probst
Economics
Professor Liliana Bulfone
Professor Rob Carter
These groups will assess the safety, clinical validity, cost-effectiveness, and lived utility of supports, and deliver recommendations to the main committee.
The committee’s process won’t be conducted behind closed doors. Public Consultation will begin later this year.
Each support under review will be subject to public consultation, expected to begin in late 2025. That means individuals, families, carers, providers and advocacy organisations will have the opportunity to weigh in—sharing evidence, experience, and expertise.
Submissions will inform final recommendations to government on whether particular supports should continue, expand, be limited, or be withdrawn from NDIS funding altogether.
The Evidence Advisory Committee is part of a broader push to reform the NDIS. Budget pressures are real. But this move is about more than cost containment.
“Every dollar invested in the NDIS must be well spent on quality, evidence-based supports that make the lives of people with a disability better.”
That’s not just a policy statement. It’s the political frame through which every future reform will be judged.
By establishing the EAC, the government is trying to restore public trust—while simultaneously protecting participant outcomes.
So What Comes Next?
Committee operations begin July 2025, backed by $45.5 million in dedicated funding over four years.
Public consultations for individual supports will open progressively from late 2025.
EAC recommendations will shape what the NDIS considers “reasonable and necessary” going forward.
The NDIS was built on principle. To be turned into results, principle requires proof. And reform needs the courage to ask: is this working?
With the Evidence Advisory Committee now in place, the Scheme has a chance to deliver not just services but results.
This isn’t the end of the journey. But a crucial reform is now in place to make it a smarter one.