National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1770
28th May 2026
RE: Submission on the NDIS Amendment Bill
I am , an artist, educator, and researcher. I am not presently disabled but it is certainly possible
that I could be in the future, as it is possible for any one of us. As an educator—primary school teacher,
youth theatre workshop artist, undergraduate teaching fellow—I have worked with disabled students and - their families and have directly seen how a flexible and expansive NDIS is important to these communities
who need our support. I am not a fan of how this government spends most of my tax, but I feel proud to
know that disabled people in Australia receive support and I believe our tax should be spent on more
support, more accessible processes, rather than shrinking what could be such an accomplishment for a
society like ours, the NDIS.
I have serious concerns about this NDIS Amendment Bill. I ask that the Government withdraw this Bill.
The amendments suggested are restrictive, over-complicated, and place unnecessary burdens on people
who already experience a lot of difficulty in their lives.
The disabled community have diverse, complex needs which should be met with a diverse, complex NDIS.
This current Bill aims to simplify, reduce support, and make access more complicated.
In my work as workshop artist at a youth theatre, I worked with many students whose tuition was funded by
the NDIS. I wrote support letters to assist with this process. These students, who were often experiencing
school avoidance due to the stigma of being disabled, greatly benefitted from being able to access help
that worked for them: the drama workshops helped them feel more confident with sociality and improved
their mental health. One student, who had experienced hospitalisations associated with their disability,
wrote me an email letting me know these out-of-school theatre lessons felt like a lifeline during an extremely
difficult and life-threatening time in their life.
This Bill is straining to be more restrictive, and likely provisions like theatre lessons for disabled teens would
be swept off the table, despite being exactly what the students need.
The NDIS should provide disabled people with more agency to access the care they need in the ways that
centre them. Processes should be more flexible, as the disabled experience is complex and varied, and
changes to the NDIS should be informed by disabled people themselves.
I ask the committee to consider my lived experience when reviewing this Bill.