WA finally joins the NDIS – a decade after the rest of the country

Western Australia has finally signed off on a full bilateral agreement with the Commonwealth for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), securing long-term funding and governance arrangements for the state’s more than 62,000 participants.

Health and NDIS Minister Mark Butler and WA Disability Services Minister Hannah Beazley jointly announced the deal, which is to officially commence on 1 July, yesterday. Under the agreement, WA will now make fixed annual contributions to the scheme, with the Commonwealth funding the balance.

Both Ministers described the deal as a "significant milestone," that provides long-overdue funding certainty and promises better service delivery in regional and remote areas. The establishment of a WA NDIS Community Advisory Council was also flagged to give participants a voice in ongoing governance.

But there’s more to this story than the ministers say. WA resisted joining the national NDIS for years, running its own “WA NDIS” system in parallel while raising concerns about national control, funding equity, and service consistency. The final integration wasn’t completed until 2020 - years after the other states.

So despite the fanfare, today’s announcement merely formalises what was already in place. The real questions are: why did it take until 2025 to finalise this agreement, and what difference will it make?

The answer? Power, parochialism, and politics.

▶️ Read more: What took WA so long – and will this fix service gaps?

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Delayed Unity: WA’s Long Road to NDIS Integration

WA’s hesitance to join the NDIS was not about ideology — it was about control. For years, the state ran its own version of the scheme, “WA NDIS” (or “MyWay”), arguing it better met local needs.

The state’s concerns included inconsistent national delivery standards, the cost burden on state finances, and the lack of local input; but this all boiled down to who was handing out the money. And WA being, somehow, different and better.

After protracted negotiations, WA agreed to a phased transition in 2018, with the Commonwealth assuming full operational control by the end of that year. But while the day-to-day administration moved under the NDIA, the formal bilateral funding agreement — standard in every other jurisdiction — had remained elusive until this week.

So why the delay? One reason appears to be financial. WA will now receive a lump-sum payment of $842.9 million from the Commonwealth through the DisabilityCare Australia Fund — money that reimburses the state for transition-era spending. Critics might wonder whether this payment was a necessary sweetener to secure WA’s signature.

The promised WA NDIS Community Advisory Council is welcome, but similar structures already exist in other states. Likewise, commitments to regional and remote services echo long-standing challenges, especially in Indigenous communities where service gaps remain acute.

As for the funding model, fixed annual state contributions do offer predictability. Whether this really relieves federal pressure or limits state accountability remains to be seen.

In short, this agreement formalises a status quo. What it won’t do, by itself, is solve ongoing problems. Yes, WA now has what every other state already has. But people with disability are still waiting for real improvements in service delivery, access, and consistency. Altering these embedded issues is about improving the national scheme, not just singing on the dotted line.

The paperwork is complete. Now comes the hard part. Which is making the NDIS actually work for everyone.