Replace Dr Mike Freelander as Chair of the Thriving Kids inquiry

We call on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler, and NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister to urgently replace Dr Mike Freelander MP as Chair of the House Standing Committee’s Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative.

This inquiry will help shape the future of supports for children with developmental disability, including autism and other types of disability, especially those with mild‑to‑moderate needs who may receive foundational supports outside the NDIS. Submissions close Friday, 3 October 2025, and the community deserves a process that is impartial, and is seen to be impartial. 

On 11 September 2025, before the Committee has taken evidence, Dr Freelander publicly argued that:

• 'there is pressure to up‑diagnose or over‑diagnose' autism so families can access the NDIS
• said the 'model didn’t work' and must be 'reinvented';
• and suggested diagnosis had become 'diluted' so that “any child with a delay in language, a little bit quirky or energetic, gets a diagnosis”.

These statements mirror the most contested premises in the current policy debate, focus purely on children with autism rather than all children who are currently being removed from the NDIS (about 500 children a week, with a range of diagnoses, as well as disabled adults) and go directly to matters the committee is supposed to examine with an open mind.

The Terms of Reference ask the Committee to consider how to identify and support children with developmental delay and autism with mild‑to‑moderate needs, gaps in workforce and services, equity issues (including First Nations and CALD children), and how to ensure seamless access through mainstream systems. A Chair who has already framed autism primarily through an 'over‑diagnosis' lens risks limiting autistic participation, privileging certain clinical narratives over lived experience (including those with multiple and no one 'primary' diagnosis), and undermining public confidence in the process. 

In Australian public law, the rule against apprehended bias exists to protect public confidence: the question is whether a fair-minded observer might reasonably apprehend the decision‑maker might not bring an impartial mind to the task, not what the decision‑maker privately intends. Parliamentary committees are not courts, but the same principle of fairness and the appearance of fairness should apply where recommendations will affect tens of thousands of families.

Meanwhile, states and disability organisations have already expressed concern about the way reforms have been announced and consulted on. That makes it even more important that the parliamentary inquiry be beyond reproach.

What we’re asking for

• Replace the Chair: Appoint a chair who has not publicly pre‑judged core issues.
• Consider the Deputy Chair: The current Deputy Chair, Dr Monique Ryan MP, or another member who has not demonstrated that they hold clear bias, could serve to restore confidence.
• Process safeguards: Publish a short statement of impartiality; commit to respectful, non‑stigmatising language; ensure that autistic people and our families are able to contribute in a neuroaffirming, trauma informed environment; and embed meaningful participation by Disabled Person's Organisations (especially Autistic organisations) and autistic people at every stage.

Why it matters

• Autistic people, our families and professionals will only engage fully if they trust the process.
• A fair process improves the quality of recommendations and the legitimacy of future reforms.
• “Nothing about us without us”, the catch-cry of the disability rights movement, starts with leadership that is impartial and a fair process.

Our message to government

We want reforms that work. Many of us support early, equitable, properly funded supports in mainstream settings, as well as equitable and fair access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

But those reforms must be built on evidence, not on a public narrative that pre‑labels families or children. To get any reforms that are considered right, get the process right: appoint a chair who is, and is seen to be, impartial.

Early childhood intervention is for every child with a disability or chronic health condition, not just for a select few diagnostic groups. To meet the criteria for the NDIS, participants must prove that they have a permanent and severe disability and require support every day; that has not changed. This inquiry must examine all facets of this proposal without bias. 

Please sign and share before 3 October 2025.