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

Submission 1766

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

I have complex post traumatic stress disorder, treatment resistant major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. I have been living with these for over 20 years and have been receiving supports through NDIS funding for the last three years. A few years ago I was so severely depressed and agoraphobic that I barely left my bed for weeks or months on end. Now, with the help of my medical and NDIS supports, I am generally able to feed, wash and dress myself most days, keep my home fairly clean and make it to my many medical appointments in person. It’s not much of a life and none of it is a “treatment” or “cure”, but it’s a vast improvement to how things were. The proposed bill will likely reduce or completely cut my funding and I fear what will happen to me when I no longer have the supports I’ve come to rely on.

The proposed changes to the definition of a permanent disability will be devastating for me and many like me because mental illnesses are often not thought of as permanently disabling. In addition, many doctors and authorities don’t like to admit the possibility of a person not being “curable” regardless of how many types of treatments they’ve tried. I’ve been on dozens of psychiatric medications, had decades of therapy and tried medical treatments such as TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and ECT (electro convulsive therapy) and none have made any noticeable difference to my illnesses, yet they are still labeled as “treatment resistant” not “permanently disabling”. Cutting off my funding because there may be something that might help me available somewhere in the world is an abhorrent act, especially as access to psychiatric services in the public system is so severely limited.

I was drowning and while I may never get to dry land again, at least my NDIS supports have given me a floaty to hold on to so that I don’t have to work so hard to not drown. And just to be very clear, in this analogy you cutting off my funding would be the same as you taking away my floaty and leaving me to drown again. But I deserve to live. And I deserve a life where I’m not constantly struggling and suffering. This is supposed to be “the lucky country”, I shouldn’t have to beg for equality.

The NDIS was put in place to help people like me and this proposed bill will strip away all the good it has done. If you truly want to reduce fraud in the NDIS don’t punish the individuals who need it and use it responsibly. Listen to those of us with lived experiences in this system and instead weed out the businesses who are price gouging and the providers who are not providing adequate services - there are plenty of them and they are a far greater drain on this country than the people you are duty bound to support.

Please reconsider this bill, it will do more harm than good.