NDIA Accountability Project

Social and community participation cut impacting individual with Cri du Chat syndrome

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National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 1392

Senate submission

NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

I am , a friend of , who is 32 and has Cri du Chat syndrome. ’s NDIS plan covers the social and community participation budget for day program attendance and community access, and speech therapy. My friend lives at home with family who provide care for her. The NDIS funds the day activities that give her a high quality of life and I am concerned that this bill would mean could no longer access these activities that give her so much enjoyment and social connection.

I am concerned about the following aspects of the bill:

  • The 50% social and community participation cut — no family to absorb the gap A 50% cut to the social and community participation budget will reduce the number of days can attend the day program. The Government’s own Explanatory Memorandum acknowledges these changes ‘could likely impact on other mainstream services systems’ but provides no plan for what this means for people like for whom there is no informal support alternative.

  • Provider viability and thin markets Providers who support people with Cri du Chat syndrome in day programs operate in what the NDIS calls ‘thin markets’. They serve small numbers of high-needs participants, many of whom require 1:1 or higher staffing ratios. A 50% cut to the funding that pays for day program attendance will push many of these providers to the point where the service is no longer financially sustainable. If the provider exits, loses her placement - and there may be no alternative provider in our area.

  • No right to challenge the cut Proposed section 34A gives the Minister the power to make this cut by legislative instrument, with no requirement for individual assessment and no right of merits review for the participant. - through her support coordinator, nominee, or family - would have no mechanism to challenge the cut, even where the impact on her safety and wellbeing is clear and documented.

  • The Royal Commission contradiction The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability found that segregation increases risk and called for people with disability to be supported to live in the community. Day programs and individualised community access are what make community living meaningful. Cutting the funding that enables community participation for people in supported accommodation moves in the opposite direction from the Royal Commission’s recommendations.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 1392

What I am asking

  • Reject the proposed 50% cut to social and community participation funding and oppose the amendment to s.34A.
  • Ensure that people living in supported accommodation who have no informal daytime support are explicitly exempt from any blanket reduction to the social and community participation budget.
  • Require the Minister to conduct an individual impact assessment before any support determination takes effect on a participant’s plan.
  • Make all support determinations subject to merits review.
  • Require an assessment of provider viability before implementing cuts in thin markets.

Yours sincerely,