Submission regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
I am writing as a family member of a person with a severe disability who relies on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to live with dignity, safety, and independence. Our family has engaged with the NDIS since its creation. We have navigated a growing administrative burden, systemic unpredictability, and a persistent sense that we are battling the system rather than being supported by it. This Bill, in its current form, will make each of these problems worse.
While this legislation is framed as a measure to secure the NDIS for the future, the reality is that the only thing this Bill secures is insecurity. In practice, it replaces an individualised, rights-based scheme with arbitrary bureaucratic barriers and unchecked ministerial power. It directly undermines the founding principle of choice and control for participants.
Our experience
Our family has already had essential Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) funding stripped from my family member’s plan without warning or explanation. When we sought to understand this decision, we were told to lodge a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. Rather than correcting this lack of transparency, the Bill codifies and expands it. Section 34A (Point 1) and Section 33(2EA) (Point 2) grant the Minister the power to cut current plans across entire support categories or cap supports by cohort without Parliamentary approval.
We have also experienced the consequences of administrative delays first-hand. When my family member’s wheelchair required replacement due to wear and safety issues, the approval process was so slow that the wheelchair broke in half while they were boarding public transport. Under Section 50A (Point 4), this type of systemic failure becomes a trap. Auto-renewals that automatically strip unspent funds mean that if a participant has a wheelchair on order or a home modification mid-build, those funds can be removed upon renewal, with variations unable to restore them. Participants are punished for the NDIA’s own processing delays.
Core issues and recommendations
- Protect participant choice and reduce workforce red tape.
The NDIS was designed for individualised, self-directed support. Forcing participants into rigid agency structures increases costs and bureaucracy. The right to self-management must be protected in primary legislation. Mandatory worker registration creates barriers to care without improving quality. In practice, safety comes from trusted relationships and family oversight, not registration schemes that treat people with disabilities as structurally different from their community. If these reforms force my family member’s workers to become registered contractors or require us to operate as a registered provider, we will lose the workforce that keeps them safe.
- Retain legislative safeguards over support categories.
Core support criteria and safeguards must remain in primary legislation. Granting the Minister power to unilaterally cut funding categories ignores the integrated nature of disability care and undermines workforce reliability. If funding for essential categories can be pulled at any point, the safety of those requiring 24/7 care is compromised, and experienced workers will leave the sector.
- Retain legislative appeal rights and end Section 48A restrictions.
A person with a disability must be able to challenge a decision that affects their safety, independence, employment, communication, or support arrangements. Section 48A restricts participants from requesting plan variations in response to changing circumstances, trapping them in administrative limbo. The rate at which independent tribunals overturn NDIA funding decisions makes the problem clear: original decisions are frequently wrong. It is participants, not the NDIA, who bear the cost of these errors.
Conclusion
This Bill formalises a system governed by budgetary rationing, blanket reductions, and restricted access to review. I urge the Committee to reject the Bill in its current form and require amendments that restore transparency, accountability, and the right of choice and control for NDIS participants.
Thank you for considering my submission.