National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1674 - Supplementary Submission
Dear Committee,
I would like to clarify what I mean by a community-based solution. This is not about expanding group-based programs for people with disabilities. Instead, we need options that provide genuine choice, dignity, and independence — the ability to do everyday activities with a person they choose, at a time and place that works for them.
This is why I proposed a large-scale community-based volunteer program, where trained volunteers receive incentives such as tax offsets or gift vouchers in exchange for regular support. For example, a volunteer could spend three hours once a month supporting a person with disability 1:1 in the community — getting a haircut, going shopping, having a meal at a café. The volunteer would be consistent each month, and a person with disability could have a number of different volunteers across the month to ensure they receive the 1:1 support they need each week.
For many of our adult children, group-based activities simply do not work. My son finished school in 2024 and has tried many group programs. He found them too restrictive and felt unable to be as independent as he wanted. One-to-one support allows him to fully participate in the communities and activities he genuinely enjoys — including heavy metal music, which not everyone appreciates (including me, his mum and unpaid carer). It also allows him to do age-appropriate things — going to the pub, choosing a “cool” hairdresser — with support workers his own age, rather than relying on his middle-aged mum.
I understand this idea may seem ambitious, but as I said in my main submission, it is simply cruel and unfair to continue relying on unpaid carers — desperate, burnt-out shadows of their former selves who have been expected to keep going for decades. If there truly is no money to pay support workers, and if social and community budgets must be cut by up to 50%, then the responsibility for providing decent, safe, reasonable 1:1 support must be shared differently across the whole community.
Thank you for your consideration.