By Joe Paradza  —  Allied Health Leader & NDIS Industry Analyst

Published: 25 March 2026

Rising fuel costs across Australia are placing acute pressure on NDIS providers, with travel-dependent services becoming harder to sustain. Petrol prices have surged more than 30 per cent since late February 2026, driven by the conflict in the Middle East and disruption to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. For allied health professionals and disability support workers who rely on vehicles to deliver in-home care, the consequences are immediate: higher operating costs, tighter margins, and growing questions about the viability of mobile service delivery.

Australia’s fuel market is experiencing its sharpest price shock since 2022. According to the ACCC’s weekly fuel monitoring update of 13 March 2026, average retail petrol prices across the five largest cities reached 240.2 cents per litre an increase of nearly 50 cents since 20 February. Diesel has risen over 40 per cent, with reports of $3 per litre in parts of Sydney. Perth saw the largest capital city increase at 59.5 cents per litre. Regional areas are being hit harder still, with fuel shortages reported across parts of Queensland, Western Australia, and Victoria.

For NDIS providers, particularly those delivering home visits, community-based therapy, and mobile allied health services, the timing could not be worse. These are inherently transport-dependent care models, and fuel is not a discretionary cost it is a prerequisite for service delivery.

The operational reality for mobile NDIS providers has shifted in a matter of weeks. A therapist covering a regional caseload might drive 150 to 300 kilometres daily. At current prices, that represents a cost increase of $30 to $60 per day compared to early February an expense that many small providers cannot absorb indefinitely.

Providers are responding in predictable but consequential ways: consolidating appointments into tighter geographic clusters, limiting the radius for new clients, shifting to telehealth where clinically appropriate, and in some cases reducing the number of home visits offered each week.

The NDIS pricing structure compounds the challenge. From 1 July 2025, therapy providers can only claim 50 per cent of their hourly rate for travel time capped at 15 minutes each way in metropolitan areas and 30 minutes in regional areas. Non-labour travel costs are claimable at $0.99 per kilometre. With petrol now exceeding $2.40 per litre in most cities, the gap between actual fuel costs and the reimbursement rate is widening rapidly.

When providers reduce their travel radius or limit home visits, the people most affected are those who can least afford alternatives. NDIS participants in regional and remote communities often have no viable option beyond in-home or mobile therapy. Public transport is limited or non-existent, and the distance to the nearest clinic-based service may be prohibitive.

Participants are reporting longer wait times and difficulty finding providers willing to travel. For those requiring regular allied health sessions children in early intervention or adults with complex needs even modest reductions in frequency can compromise therapeutic outcomes. Plan funding is going underutilised, driven not by lack of need but by lack of available services within practical distance.

The NDIS operates on a fixed pricing model. Maximum hourly rates and travel allowances are set annually through the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, with the current framework effective from 1 July 2025. While this provides consistency, it was not designed to absorb rapid external cost shocks of the kind now being experienced.

The 50 per cent travel rate cap for therapy providers was already contentious before the fuel spike. Mobile therapists in regional areas argued it did not reflect the true cost of reaching participants in dispersed communities. The concurrent removal of remote area loadings for therapy supports has further reduced capacity to cover travel costs. The NDIA has acknowledged that participants have raised concerns about travel costs draining their funding, but structural pricing changes occur on an annual cycle too slow to respond to the current crisis.

From a provider perspective, the fuel crisis has exposed a vulnerability that has been building for some time. Travel has always been one of the largest operational costs for mobile allied health services, but it was treated as a manageable overhead rather than a strategic risk. That assumption no longer holds.

Providers are making trade-offs that directly affect access. Some are absorbing cost increases and accepting lower margins. Others are introducing gap fees for travel, risking a two-tier system where access depends on a participant’s funding flexibility. A growing number are reconsidering whether mobile service delivery in certain areas remains financially sustainable at all. The broader concern is workforce retention: adding sustained financial pressure on travel increases the risk of attrition among regional practitioners at a time the sector can least afford it.

If the current fuel price trajectory continues, the risk of localised service withdrawal is real. Sole traders and small practices in regional areas are most vulnerable. Their exit would not simply reduce capacity it would eliminate it in areas where no alternative provider exists.

Around seven million Australians live in rural or remote areas where access to health services is consistently lower than in metropolitan centres. A prolonged fuel crisis risks accelerating service contraction in precisely the areas where demand is highest. The NDIA’s Annual Pricing Review recommendations, expected in the coming months, will be a critical test of whether the system can adapt to external shocks at this scale.

Fuel costs are often treated as a background variable in healthcare delivery a line item on an expense report rather than a determinant of access. The current crisis has revealed how fragile that assumption is. For NDIS providers delivering travel-dependent care, fuel is not peripheral to service delivery. It is foundational.

Without adjustments to the pricing model whether through emergency indexation, revised travel allowances, or targeted support for providers in high-cost areas access to care may become increasingly uneven across Australia. The participants most affected will be those already furthest from the services they need.