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

Submission 1747

To whom it may concern, I am writing as an early career Speech Pathologist working in metropolitan private practice, with a caseload spanning autism, developmental delay, psychosocial disability, and complex paediatric presentations. Offering this submission constructively, hoping it contributes to reform processes both fiscally responsible and genuinely centred around children served under the NDIS.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment

resources to absorb it, and it represents a significant and often overlooked economic cost of inadequate early intervention funding. More broadly, underfunding early intervention is not a saving. It shifts costs forward into mental health services, welfare, healthcare, and lost workforce participation across the lifespan. Children who receive adequate early support are more likely to grow into adults who contribute actively to their communities. That outcome is worth protecting, and the long-term economic case for doing so is strong. Finally, I urge the Committee to consider the stability of the private allied health sector where much of the experienced paediatric workforce now sits.Funding uncertainty and increased administrative burden risk driving skilled clinicians out of NDIS work worsening already significant waitlists and deepening access inequities particularly for families with fewer resources to navigate fragmented system.I support sustainable NDIS ask any reforms protect early interventions supports ensure assessments reflect real-world functional capacity environments reduce burdens on family maintain conditions that keep skilled clinician working children need most.