Submissions to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Additional Material
The Performance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme
date: 22 October 2025
Performance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Data Based Learning
We thank the Committee for the opportunity to give evidence at public hearing tomorrow, along with Aunty Marg Knight and Jonathan Vanek.
We provide this additional material for the purpose of illustrating our concerns about the ability of the National Disability Insurance Agency to use available data to understand where unexpected outcomes are occurring and identify where processes can be adjusted to reduce risk.
A freedom of information request in late 2024 gave the public access to data about people who left the NDIS over time, including separate tables for mortality and non-mortality.
The graph below illustrates a specific subset of that data.
In every single period, female exits were higher than male. Over time the disparity between the two populations increased.
Although not as stark, the difference exists when considering mortality exits in the same period.
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Annual Report No. 1 of the 48th Parliament
Submission 5 - Supplementary Submission
The most recent NDIA quarterly report states:
involves considering how we understand and respond to the support needs of women, girls and female-identifying and non-binary people with disability across different life stages. We will also consider what positive outcomes might be and how to measure success.¹
We have seen no mention of the disparity in exit rates, nor investigation as to why this is occurring. We suggest this is at odds with the government’s Strategy for Gender Equality. RECOMMENDATION
In light of the significant changes which have taken place to the Scheme over the past year, we recommend the Committee seek regular reporting from the NDIA about:
- Mortality rates of NDIS participants, broken down by age, gender, state, First Nations status/cultural group and disability type
- Non mortality exits from the NDIS, broken down by age, gender, state, First Nations status/cultural group and disability type
- How they determine whether NDIS performance played a role in the death of a participant and what actions are taken as a result
- The reasons why any particular demographic is experiencing higher rates of exit than others
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