Submission regarding the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission: Senate Committee, I am an advocate who has been navigating disability systems since birth. The National Disability Insurance Scheme was introduced as my lifeline after years of struggle without it.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
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
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1671
support and inclusion, only to now create fear and uncertainty about whether we will to 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 ather 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.