National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1877
To whom it may concern,
I am the mother and carer of a 28 year old with severe intellectual disability and severe autism. He is non-verbal and completely dependent on others for all aspects of his care.
At present he attends a day program 4 days per week. This enables him to access the community and spend time interacting with people outside of his immediate family. The time he spends at his day program also allows me time to “catch my breath”. Caring for someone with a severe disability is a full time job. My son’s needs are extensive and include frequent nappy changes and 24/7 supervision to ensure that he does not harm himself or abscond.
I fully acknowledge that there are NDIS participants with higher needs than my son and I am very concerned about how the changes to the NDIS will affect those people and their carers.
I am particularly concerned about the changes to the NDIS which allow the minister to cut funding for social and community participation. This is the main funding which my son uses. He is NOT going out for coffee, he is NOT going to the movies, he is NOT going on a holiday. He is using his funding to attend a day program which caters to his level of disability.
How can a minister simply decide that social and community participation budgets can be cut by 50% without looking at individual cases? My son is not a number, he is a person. Every participant has different needs and it is simply unconscionable to allow blanket cuts to occur.
My son recently received a new plan although his old plan still had months left on it. The new plan has reduced funding for core supports which seems to indicate that cuts are already happening. So, a budget that has already been cut will be cut further???
The lack of clarity around this is very worrying for participants, their carers and service providers.
In my son’s case the changes seem to imply that he will only be able to attend his day program 2 days per week. The majority of his time will be spent at home putting more pressure on us, his informal carers.
The legislation indicates that a planner will determine that a participant needs X hours of community and social participation support, but will only receive a percentage of that reasonable and necessary support. That is almost laughable if the consequences were not so dire. If a support is deemed reasonable and necessary then it should be fully funded. That is what reasonable and necessary means!
Please do not look at participants as numbers. Each and every one of them is a person with needs which the NDIS was created to meet.
I totally agree that rorting and fraud need to be stopped.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1877
But, please do not punish people with genuine life-long disabilities by taking away their supports.
Consult with participants, carers and service providers before introducing these changes. It’s the very least that the disabled deserve.