National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1472
I write my submission as a late diagnosed neurodivergent woman and mother to 6 year old Autistic boy with ADHD. I have family history of Autism and have intimately seen over my lifetime what life was like before the NDIS for autistic people, and how the NDIS has allowed my son to thrive in ways that were simply not possible for the adults in my family who grew up before the NDIS was available.
- Addressing the “vulnerabilities” as stated in the Explanatory Memorandum It is unclear how inaccurate modelling at the commencement of the NDIS is the fault of participants nor a reason that each and every one of the people diagnosed are any less worthy of full and complete support. Autism diagnoses are increasing because science advanced and we know more about it. Systematicreviewsdemonstratedthatthesediscrepanciesinestimatesovertime probablyarenotcausedbyanincreaseintrueprevalencebutareinsteadassociated withchangesandimprovementsindiagnosticcategories,methodology,andquality ofresearch,increasedaccesstodiagnosticandinterventionservices,increased awarenessofASDamongbothprofessionalandnon-professionalcommunities,and acceptanceofthefactthatASDcancoexistwithotherformsofdevelopmental disorders(https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9947250/)
Diagnoses are incredibly worthwhile. Any system which attempts to reduce or disincentivise healthcare access is dangerous. If a parent has concerns that their child is autistic - they should be fully supported and encouraged to seek out that assessment from an appropriate professional, as with any other health and developmental concern. A diagnosis helps one understand why your brain is how it is, why your experiences are different to other peoples experiences and guides what therapies and accomodations may be beneficial. Stigmatising autism diagnoses as unimportant or a burden on society is incredibly damaging as summarised in https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10498662/
Individuals with ASD and/or ADHD (henceforth ASD/ADHD) report difficulties in obtaining appropriate support, diagnosis, and treatment for difficulties associated with their conditions (Camm-Crosbie et al., 2019; Hayes et al., 2018; Sayal et al., 2018). This leads to poorer outcomes for the individual and their families, such as significant academic underachievement and educational problems (Arnold et al., 2020; Barry et al., 2002; Estes et al., 2011), increased prevalence of depression and anxiety (Howlin & Magiati, 2017; Stewart et al., 2006), higher rates of offending behavior and imprisonment (Haskins & Silva, 2006; Robertson & McGillivray, 2015; Young & Thome, 2011), divorce (Anastopoulos et al., 2009), driving accidents (Daly et al., 2014; Groom et al., 2015; Ulzen et al., 2018), unemployment (Halleland et al., 2019; Hedley et al., 2017; Howlin & Magiati, 2017), suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Cassidy et al., 2022; James et al., 2004) and other mental health issues (Able et al., 2007; Ómarsdóttir et al., 2021). Undiagnosed adults with ADHD are more likely to present with difficulties at work (Asherson et al., 2012), substance abuse (Asherson et al., 2012; Folgar et al., 2018) or increased medical incidents and injuries (Asherson et al., 2012; Kittel-Schneider et al., 2019; Swensen et al., 2004). In the case of substance abuse, it has been hypothesized that individuals with undiagnosed or untreated ADHD may use illicit psychostimulants as
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1472
a form of self-medication (Gudjonsson et al., 2012; Wilens et al., 2007). Undiagnosed parental ADHD can also strongly impact quality of parenting and increase chaotic home life (Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2008). Undiagnosed ASD in adults has been linked to higher rates of psychiatric conditions (C. Nylander et al., 2018), social problems (Bishop- Fitzpatrick et al., 2018), increased vulnerability to sexual abuse in women (Bargiela et al., 2016), chronic pain (Bursch et al., 2004), and suicidal behaviors (Richards et al., 2019).
These considerable risks are attenuated when ASD/ADHD are diagnosed, as diagnosis facilitates access to care or support (DuPaul et al., 2011).
Our health system, including the NDIS MUST support and encourage appropriate professional diagnoses and support, not only for the benefit of individuals and their families, but for the functioning of society as a whole. If more people need support, and that support costs more money, that is not a failing of the system, but demonstration that the system is even more important.
It is unclear how the cutting of budgets will address the second ‘vulnerability’ of NDIA lack of resourcing. Fraud against the Cth is a crime under the Crimes Act. This is sufficient for medicare fraud, social services fraud and tax fraud, if the NDIA does not have the resources to investigate and refer crimes to the CDPP in the same way these other agencies do then that is not the fault of the participants nor a reason for funding to be cut, it is reason to increase resources to compliance teams in the NDIA. I worked as a fraud investigator at the ATO and we didn’t use any special provisions in the Income Tax Assessment Act - we simply investigated fraud and forgery under the Crimes Act. With the volume of fraud against the GST and the ‘write your own cheque’ of the BAS system, the answer was never to remove GST because its too easy to commit fraud under. But with disabled people, that is the answer. If there is fraud, investigate and prosecute it.Wherever there is money going out, there will be fraud and attempted fraud. Every week around in Magistrates courts/local courts around the country there are prosecutions by the DPP for fraud against the Cth for tax, centrelink and medicare. If there is evidence about fraud against the NDIS then please fund the NDIS to prosecute the fraud. If resourcing is an issue, as this paper explains that it is, then resource appropriately!
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Autism is a significant and permanent disability If the original intent of the scheme, as legislated, was to support people with significant and permanent disability, then autism is not the supports to cut. There is nothing temporary about autism. There is nothing mild about it, as proven by the multitude of peer-reviewed research cited above. Leave autism in the NDIS.
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Financial sustainability Is Medicare legislated with a financially sustainable Object to the Act? Are fossil fuel rebates legislated with a sustainability Object? This is a budget choice and surely changes over time with the other revenues and expenses of the government of the day. How can you expect people to live their lives and develop therapuetic relationships when funding
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1472
is tied to things outside of their control and outside of their needs. I strongly object to the proposed amendment to s 3(3)(b) of the Act and urge the withdrawal of this proposal.
- Defining functional capacity and support determinations I support the requirement that to be eligible for the NDIS, someone’s impairment must result in substantially reduced capacity in at least one key activity. By this definition, autism should be included in the NDIS because the diagnostic criteria for autism includes this requirement. By this definition, every autistic child should be supported by the NDIS because this assessment has already been made by a professional who has examined them at length.
With this in mind, it is extremely concerning that needs would be assessed by a ‘tool’. The government must commit to retain human assessment of needs and functional capacity by qualified professionals. There should be no place for a Minister or any ‘tool’ to be assessing needs and budgets. I fully object to the proposed s34A. I urge the Minister to actually read the studies cited above to learn about how appropriate diagnosis and supports relate to the safety of participants that he is planning on cutting funds to.
It is peculiar the framing of the use of supports that are no longer needed or justified. Does the government think that disabled people just go to appointments for fun? I invite the Minister to come and spend time with my family and see the effort it takes to get an autistic child into a therapy appointment, and the waiting lists and triage papers that we need to fill out to access the therapy. Again, if there are sectors of the disability community that are ‘overfunded’ as you say, this is not autistic children. There are hardly enough therapists to go around, I havent had any therapies for my son without a lengthy waitlist. OTs, speech therapists, psychologists have waitlists and wont take on clients who dont need it. Accessing supports is mentally and physically draining and to suggest that people are doing this when its not even necessary is insulting. People make the therapy and support choices they make because the effort leads to real benefit. This is not about having fun and accessing supports willy nilly because the budget has been made available. The government must commit to cease this degrading language about participants and their family.
- Permanence and other supports I object to the government redefining a very common word with an established meaning “permanent” in order to justify these changes in line with the original intent of the NDIS to support those with permanent disabilities.
If an impairment requires support to be overcome, then the proposed definition automatically prohibits the scheme from providing those supports because the existence of the support working is proof that the impairment is not permanent. This is ridiculous and an affront to the english language. The government shouldn’t need to redefine common words in order to justify these cuts. It is hugely concerning that the government is expecting people to access other areas of the health system for what is currently accessed under the NDIS. Has the health budget been increased to the corresponding dollar figure to allow for this? Given that the health system is already suffering from
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1472
huge lack of resources and services, adding more services that that system is supposed to provide seems evident that people will simply miss out. The government must commit to ensuring that all the requred supports being passed by this bill from the NDIS to the health system will be fully funded by the public health system and wont be absorbed into private health policies or peoples own costs if they cannot afford private health insurance.
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Regulatory powers It is hugely concerning that this bill wants to implement civil penalties as an alternative to appropriately resourced investigation and prosecution. Search warrants, signed off on by a Magistrate, and executed by the AFP, ensure a level of independent oversight that internal information gathering powers will circumvent. Criminal acts require a criminal law enforcement response. And if the acts that you wish to use these new powers are not criminal, but small infractions that dont warrant criminal compliance in line with the Prosecution policy of the Commonwealth, then they should not be pursued. Any compliance measures must be open, transparent and safeguarded by independent assessment such as Magistrates and the CDPP. Internal issuing of infringement notices is abhorrent and must be removed. These powers must remain in the judicial system.
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Thriving Kids As the target of a large part of these cuts, I am very anxious about what replacement services will look like for our family. My son uses his NDIS supports to be able to attend school. Last year the ACT education directorate simultaneously states that he was not eligible for any additional supports in class, yet the school constantly removed him from the classroom for being dysregulated. He has come so far with intensive use of his NDIS budget in OT, speech, play therapy and social skills therapy, as a level 2 autisic boy. He can participate in the whole school day nearly every day now. He has a therapist who supports him 1 on 1 in the classroom for a set amount of time in the middle of the week. The government must commit that Thriving Kids, as the replacement support, continues intensive one on one supports for autistic children. Although, I fear that it wont because that wont save any money will it. Schools didnt have any resources to support neurodivergent kids when I was growing up, and they still don’t. I have no faith in our Territory education directorate to support autistic kids in schools. Funding will be absorbed into overheads and the whole point of the NDIS to place funds into peoples hands because they know what supports they need and its the cheapest way for those supports to be provided.
This bill must not be passed until the full details of Thriving Kids are public and transparent and politicians know what they are condemning their constituents to before they vote.
Furthermore, these changes to accessibility to the NDIS must only be introduced prospectively, ensuring no one who currently has support will lose it. We have seen grandfathering of other measures in this very same budget to ensure fairness and people not suffering any loss because they made choices under a certain set of circumstances. People also make life choices about how to manage their disabilities, indeed, whether to have children or not knowing that there is a social safety net for them should
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1472
circumstances prevail that they need to draw on that. Disabled people matter more than property portfolios. Current participants must be grandfathered, for the sake of fairness in the very same reasoning that other (and less impactful) choices are protected under this budget.
In conclusion I am terrified at what this bill means for my son and our family. His supports allow him to attend school (and correspondingly, for me to work full time). If he cannot access the supports he needs as a 6 year old autistic boy to attend school, understand social cues and participate in society, then he will be home with me and I will not be able to work. If I can’t work then how am I supposed to pay our mortgage. Our whole world relies on his therapies helping him stay in school and participate in society. My heart breaks for other families starting out their autism awareness journey with supports knowing that the therapies that enabled my boy to go from a non-verbal three year old, to a verbal 6 year old, won’t be there for other boys like him.
Please save the NDIS.