Dear Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee,

I am writing to express my serious concerns about the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024. As a current participant of the NDIS, I believe this Bill could have a detrimental impact on the lives of people with disability and undermine the original intent of the NDIS.

We are being ignored, gaslighted and manipulated in a controlling way. Our voices are not at the table or being heard in a way they should be heard. As someone who has used the NDIS to help me grow in my personal life, the proposed changes are degrading, damaging and is going to have a body count with it.

I am particularly worried about the following aspects of the Bill:

• The shift from ‘reasonable and necessary supports’ to ‘reasonable and necessary budgets’. I fear this change could lead to arbitrary limits on the supports people can access, rather than focusing on what each individual actually needs to live an ordinary life. That type of thinking has to stop now. There are different towns, cities and other areas that are not all the same as each other. Not all places have disability minded places, from transport to work. Even to the amount of support workers; there are not enough in those areas to help people with disabilities.

• The tighter definition of what supports the NDIS will fund. I am concerned this definition is too narrow and could exclude vital

supports that people with disability rely on to participate in the community and pursue their goals. I am seriously concerned this is going to do more harm than good. It takes aware the original NDIS Act in the way that people with disabilities can use their supports to make their lives feel better and comfortable.

3. The increased powers for the NDIA to require people to undergo assessments or provide information, with the threat of plans being suspended or revoked for non-compliance.

This fails to recognise the many barriers people with disability can face in engaging with bureaucratic processes, especially if they are experiencing a crisis or have complex needs. I have grave fears as this was never talked about as the concept of the NDIS. The NDIS is meant for life. And life is long. Why should those on the NDIS be reassessed only as one disability, when those with a complex disability have more than one diagnosis that affects their daily life?

I can’t understand the thinking, it fundamentally will not work.

4. The provisions that allow the NDIA to prevent a person from self-managing their funding if they have made mistakes in the past. This seems to go against the principle of choice and control that is central to the NDIS. What about when it is the planners and support coordinators who are the ones not doing their jobs properly? Those with a planner or support coordinator who are doing the right thing but are still getting picked on. The onus should not be on the person with the disability. It should be considered by the large companies that are involved, and providers who are over-charging for their services.

This Bill fails to recognise those that are born into the world with a complex neurological diagnosis. The lack of detail around the needs

assessments, when we consider these situations is disappointing and

degrading. The Bill is putting people into designated boxes, rather than

individualised assessments for a person’s needs as a whole.

Overall, I am deeply worried that this Bill represents a shift away from

the original vision of the NDS - to give people with disability choice and

control over the supports they need to live an ordinary life. It seems

more focused on cutting costs than on improving outcomes for people

with disability. It takes away the fundamentals of the original Act of how

the NDIS was meant to function. It’s Do’s and Don’ts, how people can

use it and what they can use their funding for. We also need all voices at

the table who are part of the disability community. It has been rushed

way too much and too soon, and accidents and deaths will happen.

I strongly urge the Committee to recommend significant changes to this

Bill. At a minimum, there must be thorough consultation with people with

disability and our representative organisations to ensure any reforms

genuinely meet the needs of the people the NDIS is intended to support.

The NDIS is too important to get wrong. We must take the time to get

this right, with people with disability at the centre of the process. People

with disability have a right to fight this as this bill itself is cruel,

degrading, its going back to a time of the 1930’s and 40’s, to the Hitler (years, to the former nine years of the Federal Government turning a blind eye to the NDS.

I want this Bill to be stopped, dead and buried. To be written and redone again, in a manner that actually gets people with different levels of capacity with disabilities to the table for a proper co-design with the same hierarchy powers as those at the top of the chain.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024

Submission 310

As a person myself with an actual required neurological birth diagnosis who also has legal eagles around her for support and guidance in case this Bill as it stands will affect me in a way where I need their help, I want this Bill to be changed in a way where everyone, including the current participants will be comfortable with it.

Thank you for considering my submission. I would be happy to provide further information to the Committee if required.

Yours sincerely,