Submission 1699

Submission from

To the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee

Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

I make this submission as the partner and carer of a person with disability, and as someone deeply concerned about the practical impact of the proposed NDIS changes on disabled people, families and carers.

I understand that the NDIS must be administered responsibly. I am not opposed to sensible reform, better safeguards, or action against fraud. My concern is that this Bill and the surrounding reforms place too much burden on disabled people and their families, including people who are least able to absorb further cuts, navigate further bureaucracy, or advocate for themselves.

My particular concern is the proposed reduction to social, civic and community participation supports. The Government’s own public material says that from 1 October 2026, budget allocations for social, civic and community participation supports will be reduced by 50 per cent as plans are reassessed or renewed.

I believe this will have a discriminatory practical effect.

A 50 per cent reduction does not affect every participant in the same way. For many people with disability, social and community participation support is not a luxury, recreation, or optional extra. It is the support that allows them to leave home safely, take part in ordinary community life, reduce isolation, build confidence, and avoid becoming more dependent on family members.

This is especially important for people with vision impairment, psychosocial disability, Down syndrome, intellectual disability, or other disabilities affecting communication, orientation,

Submission 1699

Community participation support may be the difference between an ordinary life in the community and being effectively housebound.

I am also concerned that the Bill and related reforms appear to assume that informal supports can take up the gap. That assumption is unfair and unrealistic. Informal support is not evenly available. Some participants have a partner or family member who can assist. Others do not. Some live in rural or regional areas where transport and service options are already limited. Some have ageing carers, disabled carers, or no safe and reliable family support at all.

Even where family support exists, cutting formal support shifts more unpaid labour onto partners, carers and families. It affects our health, work, finances, relationships and ability to sustain care over time. The impact of these changes therefore does not stop with the participant. It flows directly to the people who support them.

I am also distressed by the public narrative around these reforms. Disabled people and NDIS participants are increasingly being portrayed as the cause of the scheme’s financial problems, or as people taking advantage of the system. Fraud and exploitation should be addressed, but participants should not be smeared as cheats or burdens. Most disabled people are simply trying to live safely, with dignity, and with some connection to the community.

The NDIS was created to support independence, inclusion and participation. Reducing social and community participation supports by 50 per cent risks moving the scheme away from that purpose. It may save money in one part of the system while creating greater costs elsewhere: carer breakdown, isolation, mental health deterioration, crisis accommodation, hospitalisation, and increased pressure on families and community services.

I ask the Committee to recommend that the Bill not proceed in its current form.

At a minimum, I ask the Committee to recommend:

1. That any reduction to social, civic and community participation supports be reconsidered, especially for participants whose disability makes community access unsafe or impossible without support.

Submission 1699

2. That the Bill include stronger safeguards against discriminatory impacts on people with vision impairment, psychosocial disability, Down syndrome, intellectual disability, and people without reliable informal supports.

3. That the Government undertake genuine consultation with disabled people, carers and families before implementing changes that affect daily life, community participation and independence.

4. That the reform focus on provider misconduct, fraud, poor administration and system design, rather than shifting the burden onto participants and unpaid carers.

5. That the NDIS continue to uphold the principles of dignity, self-determination, community participation and “nothing about us without us”.

The NDIS can and should be improved. But reform should strengthen the scheme’s purpose, not reduce disabled people’s opportunity to live ordinary lives in the community.