National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1146
Executive Summary
This submission opposes the proposed NDIS legislative changes in their current form due to concerns they will disproportionately harm genuine participants with permanent disabilities and already exhausted carers while failing to adequately address the true drivers of unsustainable expenditure within the Scheme.
As a single mother and full-time carer of a 28-year-old son with Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 3 requiring 24/ 7 support, I am deeply concerned the proposed reforms will:
• reduce flexibility for legitimate participants • increase reassessment stress and uncertainty • undermine community participation supports that provide essential life skill development • worsen carer burnout • shift costs into hospitals, mental health systems and crisis services • create greater instability for families already under significant pressure
This submission argues that stronger provider regulation, fraud prevention, governance reform and targeted compliance measures should be prioritised over increasing restrictions on genuine participants and carers.
The submission also raises concerns regarding human rights obligations, long-term sustainability, workforce impacts and the practical consequences of reducing supports for people with permanent and lifelong disabilities.
Submission Regarding Proposed NDIS Legislative Changes 2026
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1146
I write this submission as a single mother and full-time carer of my 28-year-old son who lives with Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 3 and requires one-to-one support and supervision 24 hours a day.
I have spent almost three decades caring for my son while simultaneously attempting to maintain employment, stability and a basic quality of life for both of us. Like many unpaid carers across Australia, I have effectively become part of the disability support system itself.
While I acknowledge the need to ensure the long-term sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), I am deeply concerned that the proposed legislative changes, as currently drafted, risk harming genuine participants and families while failing to adequately address the actual causes of expenditure growth and systemic misuse within the Scheme.
The current reform approach appears focused on increasing restrictions, reassessments and scrutiny of participants, despite the Government itself publicly acknowledging widespread fraud, provider misuse and systemic weaknesses within the NDIS market.
Genuine Participants Are Not the Problem
Recent parliamentary hearings and government statements have revealed the scale of fraud, misuse and “integrity leakage” occurring within the NDIS.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has estimated that approximately $3.7 billion annually — around 8.3% of Scheme expenditure — may be lost through fraud, inappropriate claims, payment errors and non-compliance.
The Government has already established the Fraud Fusion Taskforce involving multiple agencies including the NDIA, Australian Federal Police and Services Australia to investigate criminal misuse of the Scheme. Hundreds of investigations have been launched, providers banned, assets seized and prosecutions commenced.
This evidence demonstrates that the Government is already aware of serious provider misconduct, inflated invoicing, inappropriate claims and regulatory failures within parts of the NDIS market.
However, despite this, the proposed reforms appear to place increasing pressure on participants and carers rather than focusing primarily on provider accountability, stronger oversight and better governance.
Families caring for people with permanent disabilities should not bear the consequences of administrative failures and inadequate regulation.
Community Participation is Functional Capacity Building
One of the greatest misunderstandings underpinning current reform discussions is the assumption that community participation supports are simply social activities or optional recreation.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1146
For many people with profound disabilities, community participation is functional skill development and disability support in practice.
Supports delivered in community settings frequently assist participants to develop and maintain:
• road and traffic safety awareness • use of public transport • money handling skills • communication and social confidence • ordering food independently • emotional regulation in public settings • routine and behavioural stability • tolerance of community environments • reduction of social isolation
These supports are not luxuries.
They are often essential in maintaining functional capacity, emotional wellbeing and community inclusion.
Reducing or restricting these supports may appear financially responsible on paper, but in reality it risks participant regression, increased social isolation, worsening mental health, behavioural deterioration, carer collapse and ultimately greater long-term costs to hospitals, emergency systems and government services.
Disability support cannot always be measured purely through productivity outcomes or narrow administrative definitions.
Carer Burnout is Being Ignored
The proposed reforms fail to adequately recognise the role unpaid carers already play in sustaining both participants and the broader disability system.
I am already burnt out.
Like many carers, I live with constant uncertainty regarding reassessments, funding changes and the ongoing fear that essential supports may be reduced despite lifelong and permanent disability needs.
There is little acknowledgement of the emotional, physical and financial toll this creates for families who are already operating beyond capacity.
If my son’s supports are reduced, I may be forced to stop working entirely in order to provide the care myself.
This would not reduce government expenditure overall. It would simply shift the cost elsewhere:
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1146
• increased reliance on healthcare systems • emergency respite • mental health services • crisis intervention • workforce exit • long-term economic disadvantage • increased hospitalisation risk for both participant and carer
When carers collapse, the system pays elsewhere.
Concerns Regarding Reassessments and Administrative Power
I hold serious concerns regarding proposals that may expand reassessment powers and reduce participant flexibility.
Participants with permanent and lifelong disabilities should not be subjected to repeated reassessment processes that create fear, instability and administrative burden where there is little or no prospect of recovery.
Rigid categories and narrow interpretations of support needs do not reflect the lived reality of permanent disability.
The current reform direction risks creating a culture where participants and carers must continually justify basic supports despite extensive medical evidence and lifelong care requirements already being established.
This is not only administratively burdensome — it is dehumanising.
Fraud Must Be Addressed Properly
I strongly support genuine action against fraud, exploitation and inappropriate profiteering within the NDIS.
However, the current reform direction appears to place increasing pressure on participants and carers rather than adequately addressing systemic failures within parts of the provider sector and broader administration of the Scheme.
There is widespread community concern regarding:
• inflated provider pricing • questionable billing practices • inconsistent provider accountability • misuse of participant funding • supports approved that appear unrelated to genuine disability outcomes • inadequate monitoring of high-risk providers • administrative inefficiency and poor long-term planning
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1146
If the Government is serious about sustainability, enforcement efforts should focus on identifying and regulating unethical providers and inappropriate expenditure rather than increasing fear and restrictions for legitimate participants.
This should include:
• proactive auditing of high-risk providers • stronger compliance investigations • face-to-face reviews where fraud concerns exist • tighter regulation of excessive pricing • improved financial accountability measures • faster intervention where exploitation or misuse is identified
The current reform approach risks targeting the easiest people to scrutinise — participants and exhausted carers — rather than addressing the more difficult task of investigating systemic waste, provider exploitation and poor governance.
The sustainability of the NDIS will not be achieved by reducing essential supports for people with permanent disabilities. It will be achieved through responsible management, effective oversight, proper regulation and targeted action against fraud and exploitation where it genuinely exists.
Human Rights Concerns
Australia has obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), including the rights of people with disability to:
• live with dignity • participate fully in community life • access supports necessary for inclusion • maintain autonomy and independence • avoid discrimination based on disability
Policies that significantly restrict access to supports, participation and community inclusion risk undermining these obligations.
People with permanent disabilities should not be treated primarily as financial liabilities whose quality of life is negotiable depending on budget pressures.
Recommendations
I urge the Committee to:
- Delay implementation of major reforms pending genuine consultation with participants, carers and disability organisations.
- Protect funding for community participation and functional capacity-building supports.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1146
- Limit unnecessary reassessments for participants with permanent lifelong disabilities.
- Increase oversight and regulation of providers rather than increasing pressure on participants.
- Strengthen compliance activity targeting provider fraud, organised exploitation and inappropriate expenditure.
- Introduce stronger safeguards regarding planner discretion and funding reductions.
- Ensure carers are formally recognised within sustainability modelling and policy development.
- Conduct transparent independent reviews into the actual drivers of NDIS cost escalation.
- Ensure all reforms comply with Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Conclusion
The NDIS was created to support dignity, participation and quality of life for Australians with disability.
These proposed reforms risk shifting the Scheme away from that purpose and toward a model driven primarily by budget containment, administrative control and reduced flexibility.
Families like mine are not asking for luxury.
We are asking for the ability to survive, to continue caring for the people we love, and to participate in society without living in constant fear that essential supports will disappear despite lifelong disability needs.
The Government must not attempt to restore confidence in the NDIS by placing the burden of reform primarily on genuine participants and already exhausted carers.
The sustainability of the NDIS depends not only on financial management, but on fairness, trust, proper governance and remembering why the Scheme was created in the first place.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide this submission.
I urge the Committee and the Government to carefully consider the real-world impact these proposed reforms will have on people living with permanent disabilities and the families who care for them every day.
The long-term sustainability of the NDIS is important. However, sustainability cannot come at the expense of dignity, inclusion, safety and the wellbeing of genuine participants and carers.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1146
Reform must focus on better governance, stronger provider oversight and meaningful consultation — not increasing fear and instability for families already carrying enormous responsibility.
Yours sincerely,