National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1555
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 From: NDIS Support Coordinator/Compliance Coordinator Date: 26/05/2026
Introduction
As a NDIS Support Coordinator/Compliance Coordinator, I support the goal of ensuring the Scheme remains strong and sustainable for future generations. However, several elements of the Bill introduce significant uncertainty, risk, and potential harm for people with disability.
Many of the most consequential reforms are left to future legislative instruments or design processes, without sufficient detail, safeguards, or consultation. This creates a situation where participants are being asked to accept major structural changes without understanding how their daily supports, safety, and independence will be protected.
This submission outlines the most urgent concerns and proposes practical amendments to ensure reforms strengthen — rather than destabilise — the lives of people with disability.
- Impact on the People We Support
The Bill enables scheme-wide reductions in funding for categories of supports through Ministerial “support determinations.” These reductions can occur without individual assessment, without appeal rights, and even if they leave a participant unable to purchase essential supports.
For participants, this translates into:
• Reduced access to therapies and capacity-building supports
• Fewer opportunities for social and community participation
• Increased pressure on already exhausted informal supports
• Greater risk of isolation, regression, and crisis
• Loss of stability and predictability in daily life
This shifts the NDIS away from person-centred planning toward a system-driven allocation model.
Concern
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1555
Participants may lose essential supports without any assessment of their individual needs and with no right to review. This will increase distress, mental health deterioration, carer burnout, and long-term costs to health, housing, and crisis systems.
Recommendation
• Require individualised impact assessments before any support reductions take effect
• Ensure review rights for all participants affected by support determinations
• Embed UNCRPD principles of choice, control, and participation in all funding decisions
- Lack of Detail: Commissioned Provider Panel / Plan Management
The Bill proposes limiting plan management to providers selected through a commissioned panel arrangement. However, the Bill does not explain:
• How providers will be selected
• What criteria will be used
• How participant choice will be preserved
• How continuity of relationships will be protected
The Bill acknowledges the market is large and fragmented and signals an intention to significantly reduce provider numbers.
Concern
This reform risks:
• Removing trusted providers
• Disrupting long-standing relationships
• Reducing innovation and diversity
• Concentrating power in a small number of large providers
• Creating gaps in regional and thin markets
Recommendation
• Mandate transparent selection criteria and public reporting
• Guarantee participant choice and the ability to change providers
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1555
• Require co-design with participants and providers before implementation
• Provide a funded transition plan to prevent service disruption
- Unclear Future Role of Support Coordinators
The Bill removes the ability of support coordinators to request plan reassessments, yet does not define:
• Their future role
• Whether their functions will be replaced
• How participants will navigate increased system complexity
Support coordinators currently play a critical role in safeguarding participants, connecting them to services, and ensuring plans are used effectively.
Concern
Reducing their role without a clear alternative will undermine participant safety, system integrity, and access to supports — especially for people with complex needs.
Recommendation
• Provide clear policy direction on the future of support coordination
• Guarantee continuity of support during transition
• Co-design future models with participants, families, and frontline workers
- Ministerial Pricing Powers
The Bill transfers final pricing authority from the NDIA to the Minister. While the Agency may advise, the Minister becomes the ultimate decision-maker.
Concern
This removes an important layer of independence and risks:
• Politicisation of pricing
• Reduced transparency
• Market instability
• Uncertainty for participants and providers
Recommendation
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1555
• Require independent oversight of pricing decisions
• Mandate public consultation and publication of rationale
• Ensure pricing is evidence-based and market-informed
- October 2026 Budget Reset – Insufficient Transition Detail
From 1 October 2026, the Bill introduces:
• Plan renewals instead of extensions
• Removal of rollover funding
• Application of funding reductions through legislative instruments
Concern
There is no clear transition roadmap, no explanation of how changes will be communicated, and no detail on supports for participants who experience sudden reductions.
Recommendation
• Publish a detailed transition plan at least 12 months in advance
• Provide individual transition support
• Ensure no participant is worse off without review and mitigation supports
- Lack of Consultation: Inclusive Communities Fund
The Bill references the Inclusive Communities Fund as a key reform intended to offset reductions in individual supports. However, no design detail is provided.
Concern
Participants are being asked to accept reductions without knowing what will replace them.
Recommendation
• Require full co-design and public consultation
• Delay any reduction in individual supports until replacement systems are operational
• Ensure community supports do not reduce individual choice and control
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1555
- Differentiated Pricing for Unregistered Providers
The Bill allows different pricing arrangements for different provider types, including based on registration status.
Concern
This will likely:
• Disadvantage small and regional providers
• Reduce service availability in thin markets
• Increase participant costs
• Undermine choice and control
Recommendation
• Conduct a comprehensive market impact assessment
• Protect the viability of small and regional providers
• Ensure pricing settings do not reduce access or choice
Conclusion
The NDIS must be sustainable — but sustainability cannot be achieved by reducing supports, removing safeguards, or creating uncertainty for the people the Scheme exists to support.
This Bill introduces sweeping changes without sufficient detail, consultation, or protections. The recommendations in this submission aim to ensure reforms strengthen the Scheme while upholding the rights, safety, and dignity of participants and families.
Key Recommendations Summary
• Protect participants from blanket funding reductions
• Provide clarity and consultation on provider panel arrangements
• Define and safeguard the future role of support coordinators
• Restore transparency and independent oversight in pricing
• Develop a clear, participant-focused transition plan
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1555
• Co-design the Inclusive Communities Fund
• Assess and mitigate market impacts of differentiated pricing
With hope for a positive future for all Participants.
Kind regards
Martin Byrne