National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 169
Submission to the Senate Enquiry Into the NDIS Amendment Bill
To the Esteemed Members of the Senate Enquiry,
Thank you for the crucial opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed NDIS Legislation currently before Parliament. This submission is offered from my perspective: as a parent of an NDIS user, a mother of four, a person with a disability, an NDIS service provider, and an individual with over two decades of experience within the disability sector. Specifically, I am the mother of , a man living with Autism Level 3, Moderate Intellectual Disability, ADHD, and ODD, and with Autism Level 2, Depression, and Anxiety. Furthermore, I am a and the , which empowers individuals with disabilities to establish, grow, and sustain their own microenterprises.
I acknowledge and support the imperative for the NDIS to be sustainable, understanding that its original design was not intended to be a universal solution for all services and supports nationwide. I also recognise the necessity for enhanced regulation and oversight within the scheme, and as a registered provider, I welcome changes that strengthen these areas. However, the solution to addressing government spending and rectifying the actions of a handful of incompetent providers must not be to diminish or withhold reasonable and necessary supports from the most vulnerable members of our community and their families.
My son, has been a recipient of NDIS funding for nearly a decade. This support has been instrumental in enabling us to collaboratively design a life for him that prioritises his agency, significantly reduces extreme behaviours, facilitates suitable community access, and alleviates some of the substantial caregiving burden on me as his primary carer. The NDIS has afforded the dignity of avoiding group situations that exacerbate his challenging behaviours and necessitate restrictive practices, both physical and medical. These adverse outcomes have been almost entirely mitigated by allowing him to dictate the “when, where, and how” of his rich and fulfilling life. These supports have empowered me to work full-time for the first time since he was a toddler, contributing taxes, leveraging my professional qualifications and experience, and providing a stable foundation for my family. is now a small business owner, utilising NDIS social and community supports to participate in local markets and ecommerce, thereby engaging with the economy on a small, yet significant, scale.
Prior to the NDIS, our family’s ability to fund therapies and care was heavily reliant on my parents’ financial assistance due to my unavoidable casual employment As a family, we have experienced profound isolation; despite the unwavering efforts of our peers and extended family to accommodate us, we were frequently “othered” or left behind due to behavioural needs.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 169
My daughter, does not currently receive NDIS funding due to her recent diagnosis. Under the proposed legislative changes, she would be ineligible for the NDIS and has also aged out of the proposed Thriving Kids Program. She experiences extended periods of school refusal and requires ongoing therapeutic and social supports, which we have no choice but to fund privately.
My own business, which provides Support Coordination to 250 participants across will be forced by the proposed changes to close by July 2028. Additionally, currently supporting 27 disabled entrepreneurs, anticipates a 30-50% reduction in access to essential services.
My concerns are not merely personal; but these amendments threaten to have an insurmountable impact on my life, the lives of my children, and the participants we are privileged to support. Therefore, I implore you to regulate, register, reprimand, and tighten bureaucratic spending where necessary, but please, do not punish the most vulnerable members of our community. Removing this vital lifeline without a robust, alternative system firmly in place to catch them would be an unacceptable injustice.