National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1310
Submission Regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
About Me
I am an NDIS participant, having been on the scheme since its trial introduction into Western Australia in 2015. I am 28 years old and have a very rare physical disability with high and complex support needs, including being a power wheelchair user and being ventilator dependent. I live on my own in a high physical support SDA apartment and I rely on high levels of disability support in order to live safely and participate in the community.
I am also a doctoral researcher whose PhD research focuses on the interaction between support and social participation for people with physical disability and high and/or complex support needs. Specifically, my research examines what aspects of support, including support workers and funding, facilitate or hinder social participation. Through this PhD I have managed to secure paid employment with a research team at a non- profit organisation. Outside of work and study, I also play powerchair football, locally, nationally, and at an international level for Australia.
The supports I currently receive through the NDIS do not simply allow me to “survive”. They allow me to live a meaningful and contributing life. Through my NDIS supports, I am able to engage in paid employment and pay tax, volunteer within the disability community, participate in powerchair football, represent Australia internationally, undertake research, connect with my community, and maintain my physical and mental wellbeing. I am deeply concerned that the proposed legislation risks undermining these outcomes for people like me.
Concerns Regarding the Bill
The proposed bill gives the government and the NDIS Minister of the day too much power to use the NDIS as a mechanism for budget savings without appropriate consideration of the people behind the scheme. It is true that the NDIS is not financially sustainable in its current form and reform is necessary. However, the proposed reforms appear heavily focused on cost reduction rather than participant outcomes, safety, or quality of life. There are not appropriate safeguards, or even basic reassurances, in place to ensure that participants with high support needs will still be able to not only survive, but thrive, while relying on NDIS supports.
For participants like me, reductions to support are not minor inconveniences. They directly aRect whether I can safely live my life, participate in the community, maintain
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1310
my health, continue employment and study, and avoid becoming isolated and housebound.
Concerns About Across-the-Board Reductions to Social and Community Participation
I am particularly concerned about proposals that would eRectively reduce social and community participation supports by 50% across the board. This approach is fundamentally inconsistent with the intent and values of the NDIS. The NDIS is meant to be participant-tailored. Plans are supposed to reflect the individual participant, their disability, their goals, and the support they require to participate in society. A blanket reduction demonstrates a focus on reducing expenditure rather than understanding how participants actually live their lives.
For me, my plan funding is entirely based around my disability, my support needs, and how I contribute to the community. My support hours allow me to work, volunteer, undertake research, participate in sport, represent Australia, and engage meaningfully in society.
Non-disabled people are not told that they can suddenly only engage in 50% of their existing activities and must decide what parts of their life to give up. Yet this is eRectively what these changes would mean for many NDIS participants.
My Support Funding Needs to be Considered Together
For participants with high support needs, social and community participation funding cannot be viewed in isolation from daily living and safety. My life is not neatly divided into ‘social and community participation’ and ‘daily activities’. I run my life flexibly. Some support shifts may involve 25% personal care and 75% community access. Other shifts may involve 90% personal care and 10% community access. Across the year, however, the overall number of support hours I require remains consistent.
The total number of one-to-one support hours I receive, a combination of my daily activities funding and my social and community participation funding, is what keeps me safe. If social and community participation funding is reduced, I will still require these same hours elsewhere in my plan in order to maintain even the minimum level of safe support. Without equivalent increases in daily activities support funding, participants like me face significant risks.
For me personally, reductions to social and community participation funding would not simply reduce recreational activities or activities some may perceive as optional. The fact of the matter is, I cannot leave the house without support or I risk death due to my
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1310
ventilator dependence. Having my social and community funding cut would not only prevent me from leaving the house for sport, or for leisure shopping, it would prevent me from leaving the house for grocery shopping, to attend medical appointments, to attend my place of work and retain employment.
Without an increase in daily activities support funding, such reductions in ‘social and community participation’ funding would also place me at significant risk within my home environment due to my ventilator dependence. With my current plan structured such that my social and community participation funding contributes to the total numbers of hours per week of one-to-one support workers that I require, cutting these hours creates dangerous gaps in the support I rely on to remain safe.
Impact on Physical and Mental Health
I already experienced the consequences of reduced social and community participation during COVID lockdowns. My physical health declined, my mental health declined to a dangerous level, the isolation had serious impacts on my wellbeing and quality of life. The proposed reforms risk recreating these same outcomes for participants like me. I should not have to justify not only my right to exist, but my right to live a fulfilling life.
Need for Safeguards and Exemptions
There must be safeguards in place to ensure that participants with high and complex support needs are protected from one-size-fits-all funding reductions.
This could include:
• a separate determination or exemption process for participants with high support needs; • protections for categories of permanent and significant disability; • procedural fairness requirements before supports are reduced; • review rights for any automatic funding reduction or automated decision-making processes; and • requirements for consultation and co-design with participants and nominees before substantial changes are made.
For participants like me who rely on supports such as one-to-one support workers for both personal care and community participation, there must be protections preventing plans from being automatically reduced through legislative changes without an individualised review.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1310
Any automated decision-making powers introduced through the legislation must include:
• independent oversight; • transparency regarding how decisions are made; and • review rights.
Concerns Regarding Ministerial Powers
I am also concerned about the breadth of the proposed ministerial powers within the Bill. There should be clear limits on these powers and safeguards to ensure they cannot be used to implement broad funding reductions without proper scrutiny, consultation, and participant protections. Participants with permanent and significant disabilities need certainty and security within the scheme.
Conclusion
The NDIS absolutely requires reform in order to remain sustainable for future generations. However, reform must not come at the expense of the very participants the scheme is designed to support most. Participants with high and complex support needs require certainty that they will continue to receive the supports necessary not just to remain alive, but to participate in society, contribute to their communities, maintain employment and education, and live fulfilling lives. I urge the Committee to recommend substantial safeguards, limits on ministerial powers, protections for participants with permanent and significant disability, and strong review and oversight mechanisms before this legislation proceeds.
I do not want to live my life in constant fear that the supports which make my life safe, meaningful, and liveable could be reduced or taken away. Non-disabled people don’t have to worry ‘will I have the funding to be able to have a shower everyday’ or ‘do I have enough support funding to be able to go to the oRice this week’. They do not have to calculate whether they can aRord enough support hours to simply exist safely for another week. But these are very real fears for people like me. Can I keep my job? Can I keep training and competing in football and playing for Australia? Will I have the funding for SDA and support workers required to continue living independently? Please do not allow the NDIS to become a scheme where people with disability are expected to merely survive, rather than be supported to live meaningful, contributing, and fulfilling lives.