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

Submission 1920

To whom it may concern,

I am an own -voice disability advocate living with psychological and neurological disabilities, have experience working and volunteering in disability advocacy, and have been an unpaid carer for other disabled persons. Whilst I am not an NDIS participant my self, my reason for not applying isn’t due to a lack of significant disability, but due to the significant hurdles and poor accessibility in the application process.

I have serious concerns about the proposed bill. As someone who is actively engaged with my local disability community, many of my friends and the people I know are NDIS participants. I am deeply concerned that the proposed changes will have devastating an d long-lasting impacts to them and disabled people across Australia.

Cost saving measures regarding the NDIS should not be at the expense of the participants already on the scheme. Fixing the system should not mean booting out the very people it was created to support.

Many peoples’ lives and their capacity to engage in society are dependent on the NDIS. I am particularly fearful that existing participants may be removed from the scheme when replacement systems are presently either insufficient, inadequately funded, or do not exist. Removing supports without sufficient alternatives is dangerous when peoples’ lives and health depend on them.

Another main concern I have with the bill is the proposed reduction in funding to social and community participation supports. Support that prevents isolation and connects people with community and services is vital to health and wellbeing.

Additionally worrying is the expansion to mandatory provider registration and how this will limit choice for participants. Becoming a registered provider is a costly and arduous process that is not currently affordable to many sole traders or small busines ses. The ability to choose support workers is a highly personal decision for many participants. Given the sometimes highly intimate nature of work that disability support workers carry out, it is imperative that disabled people are able to choose their carers, ensuring they are people they feel safe with.

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

Submission 1920

Many larger organisations that are able to afford registration function by cycling through a schedule of support workers where participants have either limited or no choice of who they are put with. People from marginalised backgrounds may find themselves with support workers who hold hateful beliefs towards them. This is not dignity.

Choice is dignity. Choice is compassion. Choice is safety.

Within the current system, requiring mandatory registration removes choice.

Based on these concerns, I ask that the government withdraw this bill.

Sincerely,