National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1018
To Whom it may concern,
I am writing as a mother of two neurodiverse children, one already on the NDIS with a Level 2 Autism diagnosis, and one currently being assessed. I want to express my deep concern about the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 and the impact these proposed changes will have on families like mine.
Being a parent who does not have to rely on the NDIS is a privilege. The reality for many families is constant survival mode. Every day involves trying to regulate children while your own nervous system is in overdrive from carer fatigue. It means juggling therapies, appointments, school difficulties, emotional regulation, food aversions, sensory challenges, behavioural escalation, work, financial pressure, and your own health conditions all at once. This is not occasional stress. It is daily functioning for many families supporting neurodiverse children.
My son’s current NDIS plan allows him access to allied health supports and one-on- one assistance after school to help him regulate emotionally after the demands of the school day. His support team works not only with him, but with our family and his school to help him communicate his feelings and improve his social and emotional understanding. These supports are not excessive. They are the reason he is able to attend school and participate in daily life at all.
I am deeply worried that the proposed changes and public statements around “mild†autism will result in children like my son losing access to the consistent supports that have helped him since he was three years old. Without those supports, I will likely need to reduce my working hours to manage his care myself and pay privately for therapies to avoid losing the progress he has made. Even with his current supports, he experiences significant emotional dysregulation. Without them, I genuinely question whether he will be able to cope with school attendance long term.
The impact of these changes will not only fall on disabled children. They will fall on families already stretched beyond capacity and on the support workers and therapists who have spent years building trust, rapport, and stability with vulnerable children. My husband and I are exhausted. We no longer function as a couple in the normal sense. We function as two people trying to keep our children regulated and safe from one day to the next. Continued support for our son and access to support for our daughter would give our family the chance to live with some stability and quality of life instead of simply surviving.
I am also concerned by the economic and policy justification being used for these reforms. The NDIS delivers $2.25 to the Australian economy for every dollar spent.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1018
Cutting supports does not remove costs. It shifts them into hospitals, emergency departments, mental health systems, housing services, schools, and onto unpaid carers, most often women. Fraud reportedly accounted for just 1.05% of projected savings, while a significant portion of savings came from removing children from the scheme. At the same time, the government voted down a Senate inquiry into NDIS fraud in March 2026 despite citing fraud repeatedly as justification for cuts. These contradictions are deeply concerning.
Autistic people account for a significant proportion of NDIS participants because this is exactly the population the scheme was designed to support. The Productivity Commission made that clear. Suggesting autistic children were never intended to access the NDIS is inaccurate and harmful.
I ask the committee to consider the following questions carefully. The foundational supports described as essential in the NDIS Review do not currently exist. On what basis has the government proceeded with eligibility changes before those systems are in place? What modelling has been done on the increased costs to hospitals, mental health services, housing systems, and families when people lose NDIS support, and why has this modelling not been publicly released? What gender impact assessment has been conducted regarding the workforce participation, superannuation loss, and long-term economic impacts on women who will inevitably absorb much of this unpaid care? Finally, when will Australia introduce a Disability Rights Act that makes the rights of disabled people legally enforceable regardless of which government is in power?
I urge the committee to reject this bill until foundational supports are fully established, require the government to release downstream cost modelling, require an independent human rights assessment before any changes proceed, extend the submission deadline, and recommend a Disability Rights Act as a necessary safeguard before further reforms are considered.
Australian families are not asking, we are pleading, Please consider our words as they have come off the back of exhaustion, sleepless nights, endless tears and not wanting to pull the support out from our disabled Australians feet.
Kind Regards,