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

Submission 1756

Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the NDIS Future Generations Bill 2026

Submitted by: A parent and registered physiotherapist, Melbourne, Victoria

I am writing as both a parent and a healthcare professional who has seen firsthand what the NDIS makes possible and what is at stake if access is reduced.

I have two young children, both of whom have accessed the NDIS through early intervention, one now has ongoing access. My eldest child is autistic and is currently at high risk of disengaging from school. My youngest has also already benefited from early supports despite less than a year accessing therapy. As a physiotherapist, I also work alongside many therapy providers whose practices are built around supporting NDIS participants and see firsthand the value that can be added to participants lives though increased independence and autonomy.

The NDIS, to me, is not just a disability scheme. It is the mechanism through which disabled Australians get a genuine chance to be treated as themselves and be themselves, rather than be defined by their disability.

The impact of on our family is immediate and real. I work part-time not by preference, but by necessity. My children would not cope with after-school care on multiple days a week, which limits my capacity to return to full-time work. We are a family constantly managing the risk of burnout, both in the parents and our children. The supports my children receive through the NDIS are not a luxury; they are what keeps us functioning. We don’t have the additional capacity to do more ourselves. Between myself and my husband we can’t work more hours without sacrificing more stability at home, every action or change has a consequence and already we feel we are on a tightrope. We are financially comfortable, but the financial burden of supporting the cost of the supports we currently receive for our two children would make it impossible for us to cover our mortgage. Medicare funding for the services we use would not make a significant change to this. I would say,we are one of the fortunate families in what is about to come.

If my eldest disengages from school – an omnipresent risk, the downstream consequences are significant — for their future, and for mine. A parent managing a child in crisis cannot work. That is lost productivity, lost tax revenue, and a greater long-term cost to government than the early intervention we are asking for now.

The case for early investment is clear. Building my children’s capacity now, their ability to regulate, to connect, to learn, directly shapes their ability to participate as adults. Reduced access to intervention toda.y means greater reliance on mental health services, income support, and crisis care in the future. The cost of inaction is not avoided; it is deferred, and compounded.

As a physiotherapist, I have also seen what happens to therapy providers when NDIS access tightens. Small businesses close, experienced clinicians leave the sector, and the capacity to deliver early intervention shrinks making it harder and more expensive to rebuild later. The workforce implications of this decision are huge, there will be many unemployed allied health workers, many small businesses that

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

Submission 1756

The government invested huge amounts of money to support through Covid will be unable to continue.

I urge the Committee to consider the full economic and human cost of reducing NDIS access, not just the immediate budget impact. Supporting Australians with disability to participate fully in their communities is not a burden on the economy. It is an investment in it. The very people who are most likely to lose their funding with this decision are those who are the most likely to lose the capacity to work and end up relying on disability support payments, needing additional support through the medical system and no longer contributing as a tax payer due to their inability to work without the supports they have had in place with NDIS funding.

I ask that you fully consider the long term implications of reducing workforce capability of a significant proportion of the population when making decisions around this Bill

Thank you for the opportunity to make this submission.