National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2544
Submission re NDIS Future Generations Bill 2026
I am the parent of a 30 year old man with severe Autism and Intellectual Disability. My son has been a NDIS participant since 2018 when the scheme initially rolled out in Queensland. The NDIS has enabled him to have funded supports for social and community participation, speech and occupational therapy, behaviour support and more recently for supported independent living in specialist disability accommodation. Given that my son has high support needs, NDIS funding has been making a positive difference in his life.
I strongly oppose the NDIS Future Generations Bill 2026 and hold grave concerns for my son and other people with significant disability if the proposed legislation is passed in its current form.
Specifically, I am very concerned about the Minister’s new power to cut participant funding without appeal (s34A).
Under this section of the bill, a percentage of funding can be removed from a support category by legislative instrument. The first cut is locked in for social and community participation, phased in from 1 October 2026 as plans renew. Disturbingly, that same power can apply to ANY support category to ANY level in future. The Explanatory Memorandum confirms: “Changes to funding as result of support determinations are not subject to merits review” (¶ 285). Social and community participation funding is the mechanism allowing participants with high needs to step safely outside the front door and interact in the community, so this planned cut (announced initially as 30% but stated in the bill as 50%) is extremely harsh.
For participants with very high support needs, social and community participation funding is not discretionary or merely recreational. It is the mechanism through which essential supervision, behavioural support, communication support, nursing oversight, active support, and intensive disability support are delivered outside the home. A participant requiring 24/7 supervision may be funded through a combination of in-home support (e.g. 18 hours per day) and community participation support (e.g. 6 hours per day), together creating a practical 24-hour safe support framework.
Where a participant requires continuous 1:1 support because of profound behavioural support needs, complex health risks or other intensive needs, a percentage-based reduction to community participation funding does not magically reduce the need for supervision. It simply leaves periods of the day where no safe support arrangement exists. The foreseeable risks include serious neglect, preventable hospitalisation,
increased restrictive practices, carer breakdown, placement collapse, increasedemergency service involvement, and in some circumstances, life-threatening harm.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2544
The Bill and its associated public commentary risk framing community participation supports as discretionary lifestyle expenditure – “workers scrolling on phones” or “a few less coffees per week”. That framing fails to recognise that, for many participants with complex disability, these supports are inseparable from core safety, supervision, communication, regulation, inclusion and safeguarding needs.
Suggestion: Amend s 34A so that any percentage reduction to a support category cannot apply to participants whose plan funding for that category reflects high or complex support needs – including but not limited to participants requiring 24/7 supervision, participants with profound behavioural support needs, participants with complex health support needs (including tracheostomy, swallowing risk or airway management), and participants with intensive 1:1 support requirements. Provide an automatic exemption mechanism so that a uniform percentage reduction cannot produce unsafe gaps in supervision or support.
There appears to be a community perception that NDIS participants with high support needs will be safe from any negative impacts of the proposed changes. Unfortunately, that is untrue. No participant is protected from cuts under this bill. The bill seeks to introduce legislation that could shatter the supports and futures of our most vulnerable disabled citizens.
Reducing community participation supports risks increased isolation and segregation, declining mental health and increased pressure on informal support. Strong visibility and community connections are the ultimate safeguard for vulnerable people.
What is at risk for my son? He will have less opportunities to leave his home to engage in simple movement and exercise which helps to reduce his anxiety. Less opportunities to use community facilities and be visible in his community (an important safeguard for disabled people who struggle to communicate). His 24/7 supports are at risk of being disrupted, which could result in the collapse of his supported living arrangement, because he cannot safely be left alone for any period of time.
Please consider the impacts of this bill and the extreme power it will give a government minister to cut people’s support without proper regard to their individual needs or circumstances. Without warning. Without the right of appeal, even if harm will be caused. Disabled people have the right to be safe and to live comfortably with dignity.