Leaked government documents reveal that new NDIS eligibility rules will remove 241,000 participants from Australia's disability support scheme within four years.

The cuts represent the biggest reductions in the federal budget. Yet conservative media has barely mentioned them while raging about minor tax changes affecting the wealthy.

This is going to devastate some of the most vulnerable people in the country. And somehow, it's not the story getting coverage.

The documents, obtained by Guardian Australia, show the government expects new eligibility criteria to reduce NDIS participation by nearly a quarter-million people by 2030. That's 241,000 people with disabilities who currently receive support and won't in four years.

The changes tighten eligibility requirements, making it harder for people with psychosocial disabilities, developmental delays, and certain chronic conditions to access the scheme. People currently receiving NDIS support will face reassessments under the new criteria.

Some will lose support entirely. Others will be shifted to "foundational supports" that provide less funding and fewer services.

The government argues the changes are necessary to ensure the NDIS remains sustainable. The scheme's costs have grown faster than projected, reaching $42 billion annually. Limiting eligibility, the government claims, will control costs while focusing support on those with the most significant disabilities.

That's the official line. Here's what it actually means: Australia is cutting a quarter-million people from disability support to save money.

Economist Greg Jericho has called out the hypocrisy in how this budget is being covered. The NDIS cuts are the largest savings measure in the budget, yet they've received a fraction of the attention given to capital gains tax changes that affect wealthy investors.

Jericho notes that conservative media has run dozens of stories about proposed changes to the capital gains tax discount, which would modestly increase taxes on property investors and wealthy individuals. Meanwhile, cutting 241,000 people from disability support barely rates a mention.

The budget hits people with disabilities hardest. But the coverage focuses on capital gains tax changes. The priorities are clear, and they're not pretty.

"Australians with disabilities copped the biggest cuts in the budget," Jericho wrote. "Yet conservative media's heart bleeds for the wealthy."

He's right. The budget takes billions from people with disabilities while making modest adjustments to tax concessions that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. But you'd never know that from the coverage, which treats capital gains tax reform as an existential threat while treating NDIS cuts as a footnote.

Disability advocacy groups have warned the changes will force people with disabilities into poverty, homelessness, and institutionalization. People who need support to work, live independently, and participate in their communities will lose access to the services that make those things possible.

The government responds that people who lose NDIS eligibility can access other services through mainstream programs. That's theoretically true. It's also meaningless.

Mainstream programs don't provide the individualized, funded support that makes the NDIS effective. Telling someone with disability they can access "foundational supports" instead of an NDIS plan is like telling someone their house is being demolished but they can still sleep in the park.

The NDIS was supposed to be different. It was supposed to recognize that people with disabilities have rights, not just needs. That they deserve funded support to live the lives they choose, not just whatever minimal services the government feels like providing.

Cutting 241,000 people from the scheme abandons that principle.

The Labor government insists the changes will "improve" the NDIS by focusing resources on those with the most significant disabilities. But every person being cut from the scheme has a disability significant enough to currently qualify for support.

They're not faking it. They're not gaming the system. They're people with disabilities who need support, and who met the eligibility criteria that Australia established when it created the NDIS.

Now the government is changing the rules to cut them off.

Mate, this is the largest cut in the federal budget. It affects a quarter-million vulnerable people. And it's being treated as a minor policy adjustment while media outlets run wall-to-wall coverage of tax changes affecting wealthy investors.

The priorities couldn't be clearer. And they should appall anyone who cares about fairness or basic human decency.