NDIA Accountability Project

Father opposes NDIS Bill due to impact on adult daughter with mental health issues

‹ PrevPage 1 of 2 · Source p. 1Next ›

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

Submission 1778

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

NDIS Bill Submission

29 May 2026

Dear Inquiry Members,

I am the father of an adult child who has had significant mental health issues since she was 8 years of age. She is now 38 years of age.

Due to the potential consequences of this Bill for current participants who suffer extreme psychosocial conditions - I do not support the NDIS bill.

On any reading, the current public information seeks to undo what has been achieved by participants with the support of NDIS. NDIS has transformed my daughter’s life (and ours) and should continue to do so.

I acknowledge that there is definitely room for improvements in NDIS. There are inefficiencies, poor checks and balances and ineffective enforcement. But if one considers who profits from the various scams and overcharging - it is not the participants but money hungry and opportunistic service providers. However in the drive for cost savings, the original intent of the NDIS seems to have been lost.

Specifically:

  • It is not ‘welfare’ – it is an insurance program for people to not only recover but also maintain a better life.
  • It was intended to support people with the most serious disability impediments to ‘live life’.
  • It was intended to assist not only those with physical incapacities but also those with mental health issues (ie psychosocial conditions) to be able to contribute but also to function in and within society.
  • It was intended to support people with barriers to lead relatively normal lives and to move towards independence as much as possible – with ongoing support.
  • It was intended that participants and positive outcomes for them be at the centre of NDIS.

Especially for those participants with psychosocial conditions, my concerns are that what seems to have been lost is that many NDIS participants. have grown and are functioning and

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

Submission 1778

want to continue being part of the community. NDIS has worked for them and my daughter, and you are now going to take away the very services that are their safety net to continue to have a better life. My daughter and others have achieved (to date) the very outcome NDIS set for itself – and are now going to have that taken away.

The current scheme provides many tangible support services including specialised equipment and funding. For those with complex psychosocial conditions the personalised support services available, assist people to find their way through the myriad of aspects of life that can be debilitating and overwhelming.

The proposed changes are removing the support services that have enabled and now maintain their ability to function in society. I can foresee that for my daughter she will not continue to work; will withdraw and lose purpose. Who wins from that! To be honest this makes a mockery of the ‘RUOK’ campaign – my daughter will not be!

This seems like finding the best level of medication to prescribe and then halving it as the person ‘seems to have recovered’. Complex mental illness needs ongoing support and reinforcement to sustain their apparent recovery so that they don’t relapse.

I have seen the difference life has made to my own daughter. She takes and continues to be heavily medicated and under ongoing specialist treatment. This has been the case since she was a teenager.

An essential and complimentary aspect has been the access to NDIS community support and engagement type assistance. When you do not intuitively understand social queues or how to read or even tolerate people it needs continuing support to sustain the gains made in coping. These have given her confidence to see a way forward and engage with the wider world.

She is now working in a permanent part time role and has hobbies and importantly an interest in the wider world. It is only since NDIS that she has moved from effectively ‘sitting in a corner’; always being angry at the world; striking out and at times incoherent and unpredictable. Over the years in her worst moments she has had frequent admissions to relevant institutions.

However, the success of NDIS for my daughter has been not only the access to support equipment but importantly to services and people to assist her to work through mundane tasks or jobs before they overwhelm her.

Please do not put that in peril.

Thank you.

redacted