National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1109
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this draft legislation. I do so as a person with significant physical disability (I rely on a wheelchair). This submission is about my life and my unique interactions the NDIS, which highlight the risks posed in this Bill for me and other NDIS Participants, the Australian community and economy.
I am a poster child for the incalculable benefits of the NDIS; it makes my life with disability possible. I can not speak highly enough of the knowledge, skills and professionalism of my Local Area Coordinators and the Planners who have produced NDIS Plans that support my needs. However, I have been mindful during this time that my disability is physically obvious, and I can clearly demonstrate my functional impairments. The proposed changes to NDIS eligibility must be very frightening for people with disabilities that are not visible and the families of people who cannot easily communicate their needs.
It is never easy to live with the challenges and grief of having a severe disability, like mine; I need assistance with self-care, cooking, cleaning and to set-up for activities of my day-to-day life, when I am alone. My specialist workers do not stop during their two hour shift each morning, after lifting me out of bed onto a commode on wheels for showering and dressing,and with appropriate use of their mobile phones to write case notes, complete time sheets and occasionally research items for me. I feel strongly that the current public conversation about NDIS Participants and workers is not reflective of a humane and caring society; people should be able to ask for help, without being demonised, and the dedicated members of the workforce deserve respect. I thought that the NDIS was supposed to make people with disabilities feel valued and enabled to live in the community (at least that is how I read the original NDIS Act), but now all I hear and read in the media is exaggeration, misinformation and hatred, which goes unchallenged by the Australian Government.
I have not done anything wrong; I follow the rules, and the NDIS provides me with only reasonable and necessary supports. I’ve stayed within my NDIS Plan budget and I have fabulous care workers and therapists who work tirelessly to meet their contracts with me, enabling me to do many things myself. It is vital that I maintain my current abilities and focus on capacity building through exercise, as I age, but I need assistance to do that safely. MyPlanManager thoroughly vets my contracts and invoices, so do I. I feel that it is unnecessary cruelty that I now may lose the right to choice and self control of my care, not to mention the removal of successful supports.
NDIS came at a time in my life when I was struggling and needed help that my ageing mother could not continue to provide. Thanks to the NDIS, I have been able to live safely in my own home and maintain relative independence, as my body becomes weaker with age. My NDIS-funded supports enabled me to go to work (and pay tax) for 7 years longer than I would have managed to do alone. With the help of my carefully chosen in-home workers, occupational therapist and exercise physiologists, I have avoided hospitalisation (and saved costs to the NSW Health system), despite becoming very unwell and having to retire earlier than I had planned. I am now a self funded retiree (saving costs to Australian Social Security), thanks to my 30 years of hard work (mostly in the community care sector), which made it possible for me to generate savings and superannuation (unlike many other unfortunate people who have lifelong disabilities).
I am pleased that this Bill (and also recent changes to Aged Care) provides for free personal care; I believe that people with complex care needs should never be worried about fees or means testing. My savings and superannuation are a vital safety net for me, and the only thing that allows me to stay calm, when many people with disabilities feel terrified about pending changes to the NDIS.
The new Ministerial powers to make across-the-board cuts to NDIS Plans are a startling contradiction to planning based on individual needs. Of course, I do not want new Participants left languishing on a waiting list because there is no funding available; however, I may not be able to go outside my apartment, collect my groceries or eat a freshly cooked meal, if I lose use my Social and Community Participation funding.
Clearly, the administrative problems in the NDIS must be fixed, but not by methods that cause harm to vulnerable people. I believe that all the messaging around this Bill has had a horrible impact on the Australian people, and it creates a shameful divide in our community. Living with disabilities is hard
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1109
enough, without being dismissed as simply a budgetary burden. In the obvious absence of alternative support programs for people who have diverse diagnoses, it is no wonder that many Australians are scared to death of the destruction of the NDIS we know.