Submission 1671
Submission regarding the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Dear Senate Committee,
I am a 28 year old woman born with physical disabilities who grew up navigating disability support systems long before the NDIS existed. I have been an NDIS participant for almost 10 years, almost since the beginning of the scheme, and I want to share my lived experience and my very deep concerns and fear regarding the proposed changes in this bill.
Before the NDIS, my parents had to fight for absolutely everything. I was lucky enough to receive a second-hand wheelchair just so I could attend kindergarten, while getting my own wheelchair took many more years. My parents even had to fundraise for my second wheelchair because of the previous very limited funding system. This was the reality for so many families before the NDIS existed.
The NDIS has completely and positively changed my life. My supports are not luxuries. They are the reason I can survive, live independently, work and participate in society.
When I was 18, my ndis supports were the reason my parents felt secure enough for me to move from my regional town to attend university and live independently while completing my degree. Without support workers helping me with the physical tasks I cannot do alone, thi would likely never have been possible.
My supports are still the reason I can continue living independently today. I do not have family near me to step in and provide this support (nor should they have to). Support workers are the reason I can work, attend appointments, maintain my physical health and safely complete everyday tasks most people take for granted.
The proposed cuts to community participation and support funding are absolutely terrifying. It is devastating knowing the government can effectively decide to cut 50% of my ability to leave my house and participate in society. Due to this bill even being proposed I am already mentally preparing for a future where I may need to ration when I am allowed to go outside, attend work, grocery shop, go to the gym to prevent further physical deterioration, or even attend medical appointments.
Do disabled people simply not deserve to be seen in public anymore?
Because that is what these cuts will do. They will push disabled people back into isolation and invisibility. They make me feel like the government thinks I am unworthy or “ridiculous” to even want to go outside.
To this day, I am still often the first wheelchair user many people have ever regularly interacted with. If disabled people lose the ability to participate in workplaces, communities and public life because supports are cut, this will only increase stigma, misunderstanding and social isolation (many disabled people still experience this with ndis support).
Submission 1671
Without my supports, I will also risk physical injury and hospitalisation by attempting tasks beyond my capacity. I risk losing my employment because I may no longer physically be able to get there or maintain my health enough to continue working. Without being able to work, I will lose my ability to afford my rental and will likely become homeless (which will also cost the taxpayer).
The government speaks about the cost of the NDIS while ignoring the economic contribution it creates. Research has shown that for every $1 invested into the NDIS, significantly more is returned to the economy through employment, services and participation. The NDIS allows disabled people to work, study and contribute economically, while also employing hundreds of thousands of support workers, allied health staff and other workers across Australia.
Cuts to participant funding do not just impact disabled people. They will directly impact support workers losing shifts and jobs because participants will no longer have enough funding to access support. Parents and carers will also be forced to reduce work hours or leave employment entirely because they will have no choice but to provide unpaid care themselves.
These changes will not save money long term. They will simply shift costs elsewhere into hospitals, mental health services, homelessness services, crisis systems and unpaid family care. Preventative support is always cheaper than crisis intervention.
What is particularly devastating is that even government representatives have acknowledged these changes are not truly aimed at stopping fraud. The providers and businesses intentionally exploiting the system will continue profiting from the participants who remain on the scheme unless there is meaningful reform directly targeting fraudulent behaviour and misuse of funding. Instead, the burden is being placed onto disabled people by reducing the supports we rely on to survive and participate in society. Genuine participants are being punished while the core issues surrounding provider regulation, accountability and exploitation remain unresolved. Disabled people are being sacrificed to create the appearance of savings, while the people actually committing wrongdoing continue finding ways to benefit financially.
I also find the proposed “must have undertaken treatment” new requirements deeply frightening. For many disabled people, including myself, there are no cures and no meaningful treatments available. Yet participants may now be forced into repeatedly proving permanence, attending additional appointments, chasing specialist letters and spending enormous amounts of money and energy just to justify supports we already rely on to survive.
How much money will actually be wasted forcing disabled people into endless assessments, specialist appointments and paperwork simply to prove conditions that are permanent and lifelong? This is also something the NDIS currently struggles with.
I am deeply concerned about the power this gives the government to decide what treatments disabled people “should” pursue, even when no effective options exist.
People with disabilities are exhausted from constantly fighting systems that were never built for us. Hoping that we won’t fight this and create noise, yet that is what we have to do every day, we are the strongest fighters. Many of us feel abandoned by a government that promised
Submission 1671
support and inclusion, only to now create fear and uncertainty about whether we will continue to have the basic supports needed to live safely and with dignity.
I strongly urge the government to reconsider broad cuts to community participation and support funding. If reassessment is required, then genuine individual need must be considered rather than implementing blanket reductions driven by ministerial powers that will devastate people’s lives.
I also strongly urge that all reforms be genuinely co-designed with disabled people ourselves. Policies about our lives should not be created without us.
Disabled people are not a burden to society. We are people trying to participate in it.
Thank you for considering my submission.