Submission 2383
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (securing the NDIS for Future
Generations) Bill 2026
To The Senate,
I am a 28 year old participant on NDIS from Victoria. I ask the Government to withdraw the NDIS Amendment Bill as this is going to cause harm to myself, a person living with multiple complex disabilities, and every other person in Australia living with a disability who requires NDIS.
I would like the Senate to know that the proposed bill to bring in a functional capacity assessment tool is going to harm many people living with disabilities in Australia requiring NDIS. Given that this functional capacity assessment tool has not yet been released and it is unclear on who will administer such a test, how could you put this bill forward without this tool being proven acceptable, reliable and competent as a functional capacity tool taking into consideration every person’s unique presentation with any and all disabilities?
In my experience, having multiple disabilities including psychosocial, neurological, physical, and multisystemic, I fear that only taking a quick snapshot of my functional capacity with a standardized test could not possibly accurately capture the fluctuations within my disabilities. There are a multitude of symptoms that pair, cycle, and mix with each other, creating a different picture from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute, second to second. All these fluctuations require support to assist me with daily living tasks, community access, management of my conditions, and keeping me safe. Are you suggesting that because one day I am able to transfer from bed to wheelchair and fill up my drink bottle, that all the other days when I require assistance for these tasks I could be left stranded and dehydrated because the fluctuations within my conditions were overlooked by this standardized function capacity assessment tool?
Does the Australian Government understand that just because a particular condition comes with a list of symptoms, that does NOT necessarily mean those symptoms are the only presentation, and that every person is completely unique? So I would like to ask the Senate, how can a standardized assessment tool account for every unique person with a disability’s functional capacity while remaining fair and serving every person living with a disability, regardless of type or combination?
How is the Australian Government going to guarantee that a person’s entire disability and functional capacity in daily life are captured within this functional capacity tool?
Will this functional capacity tool meet the standards of qualified allied health professionals?
This bill is putting forward that a participant must exhaust all treatment options to gain access to the NDIS. Living with multiple disabilities is extremely complex to manage. There is only so much time, financial resources, and support available. If I had to exhaust all treatment options for every condition, I would require many additional services. How am I, a person living with a disability and unable to work, relying on the Disability Support Payment, which I might mention is considered below the poverty line, supposed to afford to exhaust all treatment options for every one of my conditions? I can barely afford the treatments I currently participate in to manage my conditions, pay my bills, groceries, everyday living costs, and the extra costs associated with having multiple conditions.
Being disabled, daily living expenses are already higher than that of an able bodied person. Transport, grocery shopping with intolerances/allergies, having to focus on convenience rather than cost, specialised supports like cushions, tech, gadgets, glasses, medications, support braces, mobility aids, maintenance for aids and seeing multiple allied health professionals several times a week—all out of pocket, as I can
Submission 2383
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (securing the NDIS for Future
Generations) Bill 2026
only receive five Medicare-rebated sessions per year for a chronic condition. Yes I receive NDIS however they do not fund my medical aids or anything for my physical conditions which affect my functional capacity severely as I use a wheelchair more than I am able to stand and walk, so I am having to pay for them myself. NDIS have made an error with both of my change of circumstances applications within a year that is no fault of my own, yet I am having to pay for their error. The stress has caused a deterioration in my conditions severely and I am having to try for my 3rd Change of circumstances in a year. The impact it has had on my family is immense. My parents are struggling with the funding cuts just as much as myself, having to make sure someone is always home, taking me to appointments, cooking me dinner, administering medication, putting me to bed, are just a few things they do. They are having to take so much time off work, cancel plans/holidays, help financially, the added stress, fatigue, worry has left them burnt out. I still have support hours although minimised, but what could happen if I lose my funding all together because of the proposed changes in this bill? Will my parents have to go for early ‘retirement’? They are in their 60’s and they don’t have the physical ability to handle me, which has been proven with both my parents getting injured trying to do so multiple times and having previous injuries prevents them from being able to handle in certain ways. The impact does not just lay with the participant, but with family, informal carers, the workforce and the economy.
The time it would take to exhaust all treatment options because of the numerous barriers, would mean that my conditions and functional capacity would dramatically worsen as my support needs are going unmet waiting to gain access. This could potentially result in the NDIS needing to fund significantly more than initially anticipated as my functional capacity is significantly lower than when I originally required support. In the long run, this would cost the NDIS more and could leave my life in a worsening state as well as every other person trying to access NDIS.
So please tell me where I am meant to find the funds to exhaust all treatment options?
Where are the supports for people that are unable to prove they have exhausted all treatment options because it is either unsafe, unaffordable or inaccessible that are going to fall through the cracks?
How can the Australian government not see that forcing people into treatments will cost the Government much more in the long term? Higher rates of severe disability may result, with individuals having to give up their autonomy and the right to choose, leaving those people with more severe disabilities or those unable to afford exhaustive treatment options without support. As a consequence, deterioration becomes inevitable.
Is the Australian Government prepared to spend more because a person’s disability has worsened which could have been prevented initially when access was denied?
Can the Australian Government not see that the healthcare sector will be overwhelmed with people living with disabilities who have no choice but to seek care within hospitals as they are unsafe in their homes? This bill will lead to increased hospital admissions, straining hospital systems and risking failure under demand.
Where will the support be for these individuals while they attempt to meet the NDIA’s unknown expectations of having ‘exhausted all treatment options’?
This bill wants to reassess every NDIS participant by 2028 and will cease all plans for those that cannot meet the new criteria. The fear that has been instilled in every person receiving NDIS, feeling like their support could be taken away at any moment—is incredibly distressing. Living in Australia, calling
Submission 2383
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (securing the NDIS for Future
Generations) Bill 2026
Australia home, the only home I have known since birth. Yet this bill feels like one of the most un-Australian things the Government could do. People living with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups; we have no choice but to rely on others, on services, and on systems to meet our basic needs, keep us safe, and enable us to live our lives. When we already feel as if we have lost all control and it is in the hands of others, what could happen to someone like me? To any NDIS participant? Someone just trying to survive when the one thing that keeps them safe is suddenly taken away?
What protections are in place for these participants? Why has the Australian Government turned on its own people? The people who are fighting for basic needs such as support workers to help them with essentials like showering, and assistance to feed themselves which is preventing them from injury and illness? Does Australia truly want its most vulnerable people to be left in such conditions because funding has been cut, and there is no one to assist them with tasks most people take for granted?
Does the Senate understand what happens to a person who cannot care for themselves due to disability when all their needs go unmet? Lives have already been lost because of funding cuts. This bill will likely result in many more. Is the Senate okay with that?
This bill neglects the broader context, risking an underestimation of the needs faced by people with disabilities. The amount of lives, vulnerable lives, vulnerable families that will be torn to pieces, when things are already in so many pieces, is going to be absolutely devastating. The damage that is already being caused by the funding cuts and this bill is already so distressing. For an entire year my most major stress factor has been NDIS, and every week the stress, fear, isolation, guilt, hopelessness, worthlessness and shame has been escalating. I cannot see an exit to these feelings and situations, sadly neither can my health professionals. The entirety of what makes my life somewhat manageable could be taken in an instant and that is when my life will fall into complete darkness. I have met darkness multiple times in my short life, I had to re-experience and learn how to hold the feeling of happiness as it was foreign to me. Having the support I required for my disabilities through NDIS has been life altering in the best of ways. If that were to be ripped from underneath me, I could not live any sort of life because my NDIS support is what makes it liveable. I would be left to rot in my own filth. That is the reality of what the NDIS Amendment Bill means.