National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1104
Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee NDIS Future Generations Bill 2026
My name is and I live in Brisbane, Queensland. I am the mother of Blake, a 30-year-old man with a profound disability. Blake is unable to live independently or safely access the community without support. He is non- verbal, has limited safety awareness, and needs support with most aspects of daily life. He has virtually no understanding of danger, and being non-verbal, he is unable to access any activities in the community unless he is supported. My husband and I are in our 60s. We have devoted many years of time and energy to build a safe and meaningful life for Blake. It is a huge concern that the proposed NDIS reforms could unintentionally undo much of what we have built and place Blake at much greater risk in the longer term. I have concerns about most of the proposed changes but will limit this submission to just two.
- The Minister’s power to cut funding without appeal (s34A) and other powers, and
- Changes that make self-managed “service for one” arrangements harder to operate
Ministerial power It is very concerning that the NDIS Minister will be given such incredible power to cut any participant’s funding without access to appeal. The Minister will be given other powers, such as setting maximum funding or level of support, and undertaking unscheduled plan reassessments. It is dangerous to give such power to an individual Minister. • This is likely to be subjective without any consideration being given to an individual participant’s personal circumstances. The Minister could decide at any time to cut a specific type of funding for all participants receiving that funding, leaving the participant without support and potentially in unsafe circumstances. • It means that the individual participant’s opportunity for choice and control is subject to the whim of an individual, completely contrary to the original basis of the NDIS. • There is no way to know who the NDIS Minister will be at any point in the future, given that ministers within government are subject to change without notice, and governments themselves have the potential to change every election cycle.
At the very least, the Minister needs to be subject to an external, non-government authority before he can use power to inflict significant financial penalty on people who are simply trying to live an ordinary life. The Bill represents a significant expansion of Ministerial powers since the NDIS began, and much of the detail has been deferred to future rules and instruments. This is dangerous and means the real impact of the Bill may only become clear long after it passes. Service for One I am also very concerned about changes that may undermine self-managed and family-governed support arrangements like ours. We operate a small “service for one” model built specifically around Blake’s needs. We employ and train workers who know him well and understand: • how he communicates, • what triggers distress, • how to keep him safe, • and how to help him participate successfully in the community. This has taken years to build.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1104
Traditional large provider models are generally unsuitable for people with severe and complex disability like Blake’s. High staff turnover, unfamiliar workers, rigid systems, and lack of relationship-based support can increase risk significantly. In addition, vulnerable people with disability, such as Blake, are frequently subject to abuse in group homes. As a non-verbal person, he may be ignored (‘babysat’ instead of actively supported), his personal food may be stolen (he has specific, expensive dietary requirements), and he may be physically abused by other residents (he has a generally placid demeanour and is an easy target for people with behavioural problems). It seems the proposed reforms are being designed around more typical or less complex disability experiences and do not fully account for the realities faced by families supporting people with profound disability. There is too much potential for these reforms to, perhaps unintentionally, move people like Blake away from having a meaningful life in the community and towards a life that is smaller, more isolated, more restricted, and more crisis driven. Lex and I are trying to build a future where Blake is connected to his family and friends, within his community, and supported by strong relationships long after we are no longer able to facilitate these things for him. The current NDIS has allowed us to build those safeguards around him. Please do not dismantle them.
I ask the Committee to: • Limit the power that can be given to a Minister or any individual representative of government. • Reject or amend proposals that significantly reduce social and community participation supports. • Protect self-management and family-governed “service for one” arrangements. • Ensure people with disability are not forced into unsuitable provider models. • Ensure reassessment processes properly recognise the real-world complexity of supporting people with profound disability and behaviours of concern. • Preserve review and appeal rights for participants and families. Please listen carefully to families supporting people with severe and complex disability before making changes that could have lifelong consequences.
Thank you for taking our experience into consideration.