National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1557
My name is David Jereb. I am a paediatric occupational therapist with more than 20 years of experience and co-founder of MoveAbout Therapy Services, a multi-site paediatric occupational therapy organisation supporting children and families across metropolitan, regional and community settings in NSW. I understand the need for a financially sustainable NDIS. However, I am deeply concerned that several aspects of the proposed legislation will create significant unintended consequences for children, families, frontline clinicians and the broader disability support ecosystem. In its current form, the Bill will narrow access, reduce flexibility and create barriers to responsive early support, particularly for children with developmental, behavioural and neurodivergent presentations. I am particularly concerned that the Bill appears to have been developed with insufficient understanding of how paediatric disability support functions in real-world community settings. Children’s functioning is dynamic, contextual and relational. Development does not occur in neat linear pathways and cannot always be meaningfully captured through narrow functional definitions, standardised frameworks or inflexible review processes. The children we support do not live in controlled environments. Their functioning is deeply influenced by relationships, regulation, sensory demands, school environments, trauma, caregiver capacity, social participation and developmental supports. Systems designed primarily around cost containment will unintentionally reduce the very supports that prevent long-term dependence and crisis escalation. One of my biggest concerns relates to restrictions on reassessment and review.
Children develop rapidly. Their needs change rapidly. Family circumstances change rapidly. In paediatric practice, flexibility is not a luxury. It is essential. A child may begin school and suddenly struggle significantly. A previously manageable behaviour presentation may escalate. A family may experience burnout, relationship breakdown, housing instability or school refusal. A child may initially cope in a structured environment but deteriorate as academic, social and sensory demands increase.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1557
Limiting reassessments and narrowing review processes will create a system that is less responsive to real human development and functioning. I am also concerned about increasing reliance on standardised frameworks, automated processes and broader system-level decision-making. Professional judgement matters. High-quality occupational therapy assessment involves far more than identifying impairment. It involves understanding how a child participates in everyday life and identifying the supports required to help them engage meaningfully at home, school and in the community. Increased reliance on automated systems and broader ministerial powers will reduce transparency, weaken individualised reasoning and increase the risk of clinically inappropriate decision-making. I am particularly concerned about the proposed reductions to capacity building and community participation supports. Their support not optional extras: school disengagement, school refusal, family breakdown, emental health deterioration, social isolation, long-term dependence on crisis-driven systems later As an occupational therapist I regularly see children make meaningful gains through supports focused regulation ,participation independence routines social engagement caregiver capacity building Reducing these supports will shift children families further toward crisis driven systems including emergency mental health presentations exclusion family burnout long term welfare dependency Early developmental capacities building are often very supports reducing downstream costs.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1557
Restricting access will shift pressure and costs into education, health, mental health and child protection systems. I am also deeply concerned about the potential impact on the private allied health workforce. Across Australia, a significant proportion of paediatric therapy services are delivered through small and medium private practices. These organisations train and supervise graduates, provide regional access, support schools and families, and deliver flexible community-based care. Many private providers are already operating under significant pricing pressure, automatic line break due OCR misreading) weight: low confidence in structure
Submission 1557
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1557
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