National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 2320
I am a client of the NDIS. My support services enable me to stay in my own home. I have cleaning and meal preparation services. I also have funding for essential equipment such as my wheelchair. My meal preparation allowance is now apparently under review due to the recent Budget announcement. I have a significant disability and use a wheelchair full time. My paraplegia isn’t curable or changeable but somehow since the changes were announced I have had my previously approved plan frozen. I had gone to my local member and the day I did that, my plan stopped paying all my invoices and pre-approved payments. After weeks of advocacy NOIA admitted it was done manually but that its now fixed. It was a mess. They admitted making several errors and then stopped my payments as a result. They have now done a new plan (zero consultation with me or my LAC). A new plan, despite the fact that my old one was working without issue. They also removed my right to self management of my plan, again whilst admitting that I had done nothing wrong. They removed my autonomy and my right to choose because they made several errors in my plan. Adding a forced outside agency onto my plan, despite my never needing one & being successful self managed for years is supposed to help how? It’s just added a cost to the Government. So, some of my funding was removed but they added an unnecessary administrative cost.
I’m telling you this because I truly believe we have extremely serious issues in the recruitment and staffing of the NOIA Agency as a whole.
If the Government wants to make real, positive change and save significant money, they need to look at why we have so few people with lived experience or real understanding of disabilities making decisions that have a profound impact on those in the community who do. The errors being made on a consistent basis show that we have decisions being made by people who are just making errors & then compounding that by making more errors on top of them. It’s happening widespread, not just in one or two cases. My NDIS funding is critical to myself and my wife, enabling us to live independently and safely in our own homes.
By all means look at those service providers who are engaging in fraud (we don’t want them benefiting either!) but don’t punish the very people who the scheme was designed to help.