Submission 1578

Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs

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

I am making this submission as a person with disability, a carer, a husband, a father and a grandfather.

I have lived experience with disability myself. My wife has disability, both of my sons are autistic, one with a significant intellectual disability, and my granddaughter is on the NDIS due to a rare neurological condition and epilepsy. My family has spent years navigating disability support systems and I am deeply concerned about the direction of this Bill.

Ministers Making Decisions Without Parliament

I am very concerned about ministers being given the power to make major decisions about the NDIS without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

The people making these decisions may never have lived with disability, cared for someone with disability, or had to navigate the systems that families use every day.

Governments are there to serve the community. Decisions about disability supports should be openly debated and properly scrutinised because they affect real people and real lives.

What worries me most is that these changes could be locked in for years to come. Society changes, people’s needs change and disability support systems need to change with them. Giving ministers more power and reducing oversight feels like a step in the wrong direction.

Cuts to Supports and Fewer Rights to Challenge Decisions

My family would be directly affected if supports are reduced.

Both of my sons rely on NDIS supports. Those supports help them participate in the community and live more independent lives.

My youngest son has already experienced reductions in supports that helped with his mobility and physical wellbeing. We know what it feels like when supports are taken away.

My granddaughter’s future is still largely unknown. Her condition is rare and we don’t yet know how much support she will need as she gets older. The idea that future support could be reduced while families have fewer rights to challenge decisions is frightening.

If people lose supports, they should have the right to question that decision and have it reviewed. Taking away those rights leaves families feeling powerless.

Submission 1578

Existing Participants Should Be Protected

I do not believe existing participants should lose supports because the rules have changed.

If someone has been assessed and found eligible, there should be strong protections in place before anything is reduced or removed.

I understand governments have budget pressures, but people with disability should not be expected to carry the burden of fixing those problems.

The NDIS was created to support people. It should continue doing that.

Exhausting Treatment Before Eligibility

I am very concerned about requiring people to exhaust treatment options before they can access support.

The system is already difficult enough.

People often need specialist reports, assessments and evidence before they can even apply. Those reports cost money and are not always easy to get.

Many people already cannot afford doctors, specialists or therapies. Adding more hurdles will only stop people from seeking help.

For people with intellectual disability, communication barriers or limited support networks, it could make access almost impossible.

The people who need help most are often the people least able to navigate complicated systems.

Moving Away From Whole-of-Person Assessments

One of my biggest concerns is the move away from looking at the whole person.

People are not just one diagnosis.

Many people have multiple conditions that affect each other. My own family is an example of that.

You cannot separate someone’s disability into neat little boxes and expect to understand their support needs.

A whole-of-person assessment makes sense because it looks at how disability affects someone’s life overall.

I worry that a single impairment approach will miss important information and leave people without the supports they genuinely need.

Submission 1578

Artificial Intelligence and Automated Decisions

I do not trust AI to make decisions about disability support.

Computers can process information, but they cannot understand what it is like to live with disability or care for someone with disability.

They do not understand fear, stress, uncertainty or the reality of everyday life.

AI is only as good as the information it is given. If information is missing, incomplete or wrong, the outcome will be wrong too.

Human beings should be making decisions about human beings.

Community Participation and Capacity Building

The proposal to cut community participation and capacity-building supports worries me greatly.

These supports help people connect with others, build skills, gain confidence and participate in their communities.

Without them, people become isolated.

Children miss opportunities to learn and develop.

People in regional and rural communities become even more disconnected.

The NDIS was supposed to help people be included in society, not push them further away from it.

Closing Comments

The NDIS is not perfect. No system is.

But it has helped many people live better lives, including members of my own family.

My message to Parliament is simple: be very careful.

The decisions you make now will affect people for years to come.

People with disability are not numbers on a spreadsheet. They are family members, eighbours, friends and citizens.

We should be building a better system, not making it harder for people to get the support they need.

Human beings should be helping human beings. That is what the NDIS was meant to be about, and that is what it should remain about.