Submission 2065

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing as a Support Coordinator working directly alongside participants, families, carers, and frontline providers within the National Disability Insurance Scheme system.

I feel compelled to express serious concerns regarding the proposed changes to the NDIS and the very real impact these changes may have on people with disability, their families, and the broader community.

The NDIS is not a luxury. For the participants I support, it is the difference between safety and neglect, inclusion and isolation, stability, and crisis.

The supports funded through the NDIS enable people with significant disabilities to complete essential daily living tasks, access the community, maintain personal care, attend medical appointments, participate in education or employment, and preserve their mental health and wellbeing. Without these supports, many participants would simply be unable to function safely or independently.

There is growing concern across the sector that proposed changes aimed at reducing costs or tightening access will disproportionately harm those with the highest and most complex support needs. Many participants already face overwhelming barriers to accessing appropriate services due to workforce shortages, transport difficulties, housing instability, communication barriers, and long waitlists. Families and carers are already stretched beyond capacity. Further reducing supports will not create independence, it will create crisis.

I regularly work with participants whose daily functioning relies entirely on funded supports. Reduced support hours in real-life terms can mean:

•    participants left without assistance to shower, eat, transfer safely, or take medication
   increased hospital admissions and emergency interventions
   severe mental health deterioration caused by isolation and loss of routine
    participants becoming housebound due to lack of community access support
    carers reaching breaking point from exhaustion and burnout
   families being forced to reduce employment or leave the workforce entirely to provide
   unpaid care
   increased risk of neglect, abuse, homelessness, self-harm, or involvement with crisis
   systems
  

The expectation that families or informal supports will simply “pick up the gap” is unrealistic and deeply concerning. Many carers are ageing, managing their own health conditions, financially strained, or already providing care far beyond what is sustainable. The long-term consequences of carer burnout are profound and often ignored within policy discussions.

I also hold serious concerns regarding proposed changes surrounding “permanence” and treatment expectations. Disability is not always linear, predictable, or curable. Many participants live with lifelong neurological, intellectual, psychosocial, degenerative, or complex conditions

Submission 2065

that may fluctuate over time. The increasing expectation that participants continually prove their disability or undertake treatments in order to justify support places enormous emotional and financial pressure on vulnerable individuals and families.

In practice, I am already seeing participants retraumatised by repeated reassessments, excessive evidence requests, and fears that essential supports may be removed. Participants are living with constant uncertainty about whether they will continue receiving the assistance required to survive safely in their homes and communities.

The NDIS was established to uphold the rights, dignity, and inclusion of people with disability. It was designed to provide support that is person-centred and responsive to individual need. Any reforms that prioritise cost reduction over human impact risk undermining the core purpose of the scheme.

From a frontline perspective, I strongly urge decision-makers to meaningfully consult with participants, carers, support coordinators, allied health professionals, and disability advocates before implementing changes that may have devastating long-term consequences. Investment in appropriate disability supports reduces crisis presentations, hospital admissions, homelessness, family breakdown, and long-term reliance on other overstretched systems.

People with disability deserve safety, dignity, consistency, and the opportunity to participate fully in their communities. They should not have to fight continually to prove their worthiness for essential supports.

Yours sincerely,

Submission 2065

We would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands in which we live and work, and we pay our respects to elders past, present and future.

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