Submission 1668
INQUIRY INTO THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME AMENDMENT
(Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
To committee secretary, community affairs legislation committee
26 May 2026
Overview
I write in opposition to this bill because unlike whoever came up with these ideas, I am an intelligent human being capable of compassion for others and supportive of everyone’s right to live their best life. This bill is regressive, archaic, inhumane, ethically reprehensible and dangerous. The effects of this bill will cause catastrophic harm to people with disability.
I understand the NDIS needs to be maintained for future generations of people with disability but it is unfair that those of us already on the NDIS should be punished by changing the rules around eligibility, cutting our support so much we have no quality of life or booting us off the NDIS entirely leaving us isolated and alone because there is nothing else. This bill denies participants the procedural fairness that other Australians have regarding government decisions and ignores our rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
I have been a participant since 2016. I have psychosocial disability, autism and chronic pain and fatigue conditions. I am not responsible for the systemic, structural flaws, integrity, safety failures and poor practices that the NDIS itself created within their system. The issues facing the NDIS are the result of limited government oversight and a failure to act on the substantial advice and endless recommendations provided by numerous inquiries and a royal commission. I have played no role hiring incompetent NDIS employees. My plan budget has not caused cost blowouts. I haven’t committed rampant fraud, used a vast array of sharp practices and or behaved unethically in order to become wealthy at the expense of people with disability. I have not spent millions fighting lost causes in the ART against exhausted and defenceless participants yet I feel this bill punishes me as if I have committed all these crimes. Much of my despair comes from realising that not only is the NDIS foundationally inept, this bill gives it the power to destabilise, threaten and erase the amazing support I’ve had for a decade with a split-second decision. If I’d known when I applied to the NDIS that a decade down the track a bill could provide the legislative power to arbitrarily withdraw all my support, I would never have bothered applying. The NDIS has provided life changing support that has kept me alive, well, out of hospital, able to care for myself, do volunteer work and live a meaningful life yet this bill will likely destroy that.
No-one involved with the NDIS has had enough time to read and consider the impacts and repercussions this bill will have on the lives of people with disability. All the “consultation” processes offered are shams and not worth participating in. My life is already being destroyed before this bill has even got to parliament because there’s been too much and too great change too quickly. It is impossible to process these changes so I live in a continual state of uncertainty, confusion, fear and anxiety about how I will survive if this bill is passed and that is impacting my life right now.
Permanence Test
I am outraged at the stupidity of being forced to prove my eligibility all over again after having met the stringent requirements for serious and permanent disability for WorkSafe Victoria, the NDIS and Services Australia ten years ago. I should not have to keep proving this fact to satisfy a public service box ticker. It is cold and callous to have clear guidelines about eligibility then introduce a completely new set of hurdles with the sole aim of getting rid of thousands of participants. If I am removed from the NDIS I am giving up because all hope of a life will be gone. My Aged Care is not an option and as the mental health system has only ever caused me serious harm, I’ll never seek “help” there. There is nothing else available and the government fully knows that.
This bill also means I also have to prove again that I have exhausted every treatment option available. Don’t the NDIS know that there are limited or no treatment options for some disabilities. Don’t they know that some suggested treatments can cause some individuals additional harm. We are not laboratory rats where one treatment suits all. An NDIS employee with no medical or disability qualifications should not be able to exclude me from the NDIS because they’ve checked their list of treatments and I’ve not tried one of them. Seriously? I have human rights that allow me to choose and consent to what treatment I will have for whatever ails me. If I had cancer, no-one can make me have chemotherapy or surgery if I don’t consent to these treatment options. The health system doesn’t exclude me from healthcare because I
Submission 1668
don’t choose the options they present but that’s exactly what this bill allows the NDIS to do. This requirement in the bill demonstrates ableist ignorance, ignores the rights of the individual and provides the NDIS with an excuse to exclude people they don’t think have tried hard enough or whose support should be provided for by another department. It also fails to consider the availability and costs of treatments across Australia. Obviously the designers of this bill have always been capital city dwellers because they have no clue.
New planning framework
I do not agree at all with the structure of the NFP as outlined in the bill. A single, one size fits all assessment tool does not have sufficient capacity and nuance to capture the unique circumstances or needs of human beings. Using the same rigid test for every participant regardless of their age, circumstances and disability decreases flexibility of thought and ignores individual differences. Treating a disparate section of Australians exactly the same way based purely on an algorithm is discrimination.
I refuse to be experimented on with an I-CAN test delivered by a stranger with unknown training because being autistic with psychosocial disability, standardised tests pose particular risks for me. I-CAN is not validated for a wide range of disabilities. It is not considered appropriate for participants with psychosocial disability because it fails to account for fluctuating capacity. A self-reporting tool like I-CAN does not reliably capture the diverse support needs of autistic people because it ignores the impact of masking, fatigue and sensory overload. Being assessed by a stranger will cause intense anxiety and a PTSD trauma response because of the similarity to WorkSafe Victoria’s independent medical assessments. Being forced to be assessed by a stranger on a test simply because the NDIS want to treat all participants the same is abusing me.
The NDIS and the government may have forgotten Robodebt but most of us haven’t. Robodebt demonstrated how unethical government policy design that values money over the lives of vulnerable people causes terrible, long-lasting damage. The NFP is scarily similar to Robodebt. The NDIS are knowingly and recklessly exposing participants to a largely untested single assessment tool with learner assessors with unknown capabilities. Automated decision making will create plans and budgets that will critically impact the quality of life, health, safety and happiness of vulnerable human beings. I am in no doubt that with the NFP, the NDIS are making the same error in thinking as Robodebt and the results will be just as devastating. AI is incapable of innovative or creative thought and has no humanity, compassion or common sense. Automated decision making cannot make the nuanced decisions necessary for participants because it is incapable of considering the extensive breadth, complexity and diversity of disability. AI lacks the intelligence and wisdom that comes from being human and experiencing life. Participants are so much more than just a score and AI is incapable of understanding any of us as individual human beings. Australia is going horribly wrong using algorithms to make decisions instead of listening to human beings.
Australia is a signatory to the UN Charter on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and that should mean they act according to the responsibilities they committed to. This bill does not do that. The NFP uses a level of automated decision-making that does not respect the rights of people with disability. We are not appropriate subjects to be used by government agencies to trial new systems. AI and algorithms are not neutral tools. All automated systems reflect the creator’s world perspective and carry their bias. The NDIS are extremely reckless in assuming their AI program is good, sound, reliable, consistent and safe. They are risking participants’ lives using this method of determining support needs. This bill needs to fail.
Cuts to community participation
I completely disagree with this part of the bill. I did not ask to have disability. I was born autistic and remaining undiagnosed and living in a neurotypical biassed world for sixty years meant I was destined to have serious psychosocial disability. I have no family so some form of social connection is essential for me to live. For sixty years I was a fine aunt, sister, cousin, friend and colleague who fitted right in with everyone but after I experienced a serious and permanent psychological work injury and received a diagnosis of autism, I was viewed as someone different. Even though I required nothing from them except a continuation of the relationship I’d already had with them for years, everyone chose to quietly disappear out of my life leaving me confused, hurt, alone, isolated and lonely. My practitioners and my NDIS workers are now the only people in my life.
This bill proposes the unilateral cutting of community access funding if the minister of the day fancies that’s a good idea. This will contribute to decreased mental and physical health, well-being and quality of life for every person with disability. It’s a cruel and unnecessary cut based purely on finance rather than humanity. People without disability have the luxury of
Submission 1668
being able to leave their home, go anywhere and do whatever they like in the community but I can’t. I need support to live that sort of a life now. I only get to do that for a few hours each week so when I go shopping or for a coffee with my worker, it is not a luxury. It is necessary for my mental and physical health, well-being and quality of life and without it, I won’t bother staying alive. For people without disability, shopping, going to a nursery, museum or art gallery or visiting a café for coffee with family or friends is an everyday pleasure and something they completely take for granted. I can only leave my home in the safe company of my worker. It is usually the only thing I look forward to and enjoy for the whole week. I finally have someone to talk to who also provides me with the confidence to feel safe to shop for necessities. Only someone with no empathy, knowledge or experience of disability would consider cutting community participation. If this bill passes as is, it will be the direct cause of deterioration in the lives of people with disability and people will die. It’s akin to depriving people of sunlight, food and water. It is a human right to have relationships with others, to have someone to talk to, to leave your home and enjoy being out in the community even if it’s with someone who’s paid to accompany you.
Fraud, increased compliant workforce, wider provider registration requirements
I agree with the amendments to combat these issues that impact on all participants but more and more we are being scapegoated and blamed as if we are the fraudsters. The NDIS caused these issues by creating a system that was unregulated and highly susceptible to all of these significant integrity concerns. Government and the NDIS have been warned for years and advised what to do but they ignored all that and did nothing, allowing it to become a massive problem. Somehow in the minds of the ignorant, the story has evolved and been twisted to drag participants into the conversation as if we are to blame for these structural and integrity issues that should have been included in the foundations of the NDIS when it was established. Talk about blame shifting and bullying the people with disability! I’m happy for this part of the bill to proceed.
Ministerial powers
This bill takes away the already limited power and control people with disability have in their lives and passes that directly to the NDIS and the minister. It sets a dangerous precedent allowing a minister total control over someone’s life. This is not the United States of America, China or Russia. A single minister should never have the power to reduce the supports a participant needs to live their life based on nothing but their opinion that the supports are neither necessary or reasonable. No minster should have the power to select a cohort of participants for example - older women with psychosocial disability and autism – and then limit or remove their support based solely on who they are as if their lives are worthless. A minister has no clue about our lives so making decisions about people’s very existence is completely wrong and totally unjustified.
Reduced participant numbers
If participant numbers have to be reduced then make sure it is done across the board. I have the two disabilities that have long been unfairly singled out and targeted by the media, the NDIS and the government as the cohort of people who are not disabled enough for the NDIS and who are costing too much. We’ve been named, blamed and shamed as if we are totally responsible for everything that’s wrong with the NDIS. As there’s nothing to be seen and our disability is variable, we are viewed as not disabled enough. It’s impossible not to be deeply hurt by this almost daily discriminatory, ignorant and ill-founded dialogue.
The idea that this bill will allow funding to only cover the disability the participant gained NDIS access for is absolutely imbecilic. I cannot separate myself and identify which disability impacts on which function. The whole notion is dehumanising and ridiculous. People with disability need to be viewed holistically. The Royal Commission highlighted this but being Australia, successive governments routinely ignore Royal Commission findings and recommendations.
Unscheduled reassessments
I disagree with this aspect of the bill. In the ideal world delusional government advisors exist in, they are ignorant of the fact that everybody is potentially seconds away from acquiring a serious and permanent disability. They don’t comprehend that bad stuff happens all the time and life can change in a split second. Reassessments should only be for significant changes but someone sitting in their cosy NDIS office can’t comprehend how quickly your life as a person with disability can deteriorate when supports need to be quickly adjusted or increased as a matter of urgency in order to maintain your life. I don’t think any participants willingly engage with the NDIS unless it is necessary because we are too exhausted and stressed just living. For seven years, despite informing the NDIS during three plan reviews, my NDIS file recorded that I had supportive family living nearby. Not only was it always untrue, telling them it was untrue seemed an impossible task.
Submission 1668
Reassessments should be assessed fairly and on an individual basis without the considerable delay there is now. This bill and the attitude of the government and the NDIS assume that participants are requesting reassessments for fun. I don’t believe that’s the case at all.
Shifting supports back to the states
This part of the bill is verging on fantasy. The government dismantled everything and they alone decided to make the NDIS the only support for people with disability. They did that. Participants had nothing to do with that. There is no doubt that participants with autism and psychosocial disability are being targeted for removal from the NDIS. This bill has the power to forcibly remove autistic children and adults and people with psychosocial disability from the NDIS leaving them completely without support because nothing else exists. The state-run education and mental health systems have nothing in place to assist exiting participants. This bill had created enormous levels of anxiety because there are no alternative pathways and they will take years to be established if they ever are. This bill will leave us hanging out to dry. Can these decision makers even imagine the instability, fear, confusion and despair caused by hinting we can be removed from the NDIS at any time within the next five years. Cruel and abusive!
Workforce and agency restructuring
This amendment allows for workforce and NDIS restructuring. I don’t care if the NDIS staff are cut or they are shunted around to other departments. The NDIS workforce has always been useless and incapable of doing the job anyway. Participants can’t talk to them. NDIS employees don’t return emails, read reports, investigate complaints or follow their own procedures and timeframes so having fewer of them will not be noticed by me. I’ve had nothing but trouble from them. They’ve made my life a misery and caused significant psychological distress, ill health and a worsening of my quality of life every time I’ve had to engage with them. There seems to be a rotary government employment pool anyway so NDIS staff will probably be transferred to the Quality and Safeguards Commission who seem to be gaining staff. What a misnomer that body is! At present they demonstrate no quality service and provide absolutely no safeguards for participants. They don’t acknowledge complaints let alone act on anything demonstrating a systemic lack of consideration for the safety and well-being of participants. Sending them more staff won’t fix the problem.
No appeal process
This bill allows the new planning framework to be a totalitarian closed system. Immediate action is necessary to stop this. The NDIS will control what information is gathered, how it is interpreted, the level of support funded and what participants can do if they are unsatisfied. Total control of the entire process gives the NDIS all the advantage and that flows through to increased power and control over participants’ lives. The NFP denies participants procedural fairness because there is no genuine opportunity to review, dispute or appeal decisions made by the NDIS. In a democracy, a government body should never be allowed to have so much power over so many vulnerable people.
The NFP erases my right to an internal appeal process by handballing the entire appeal process to the already overwhelmed ART. I was under the impression that whatever government department Australians interact with, they have a right to appeal decisions made in relation to that interaction. My rights as an Australian will evaporate with this bill. The NDIS states that, “Participants have a right to seek a review of agency decision and the NDIA respects that right.” However, the reality is that this bill allows changes to the ART that effectively obstruct participants from exercising that right. It’s a right that exists in name only. This is not how things should work in Australia.
Not content with giving all internal appeal responsibility away, the NDIS has simultaneously and efficiently hamstrung the ART by stripping away its power. The bill will cause changes that will render the ART unworkable and the recent addition of staff will not help. The ART can no longer order changes to a plan or budget. It can’t right wrongs by overriding bad NDIS decisions and making better ones. The NFP constrains the ART to sending the plan and participant back to the NDIS for another assessment. Potentially this process could go on and on infinitum wasting enormous amounts of time and money and causing catastrophic harm to participants. The ART process was never perfect but now it will be toothless and useless. How has this been allowed to happen? Is it even legal to deliberately deny participants a right to a genuine appeal process?
Conclusion
If this amendment goes through as is my life as a person with disability will be destroyed. I have ceased thinking of Australia as a caring nation who looks after its most vulnerable people. I am ashamed that this is how our government
- chooses to operate.
Participants are not to blame for the failings of the NDIS yet this bill punishes us and will cause us great harm.