Submission 2549
Submission to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the
NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Attention: Committee Secretary, Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs
Submitted by email and upload: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au Date 1st June 2026
Please find my submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs about the National Disability
Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
I am a carer of young adult NDIS participant who has complex interrelated needs. I wish to outline a small snapshot
into the harm this Amendment Bill will cause if it passes Parliament. It is impossible to do more given the
unreasonable time frame and document constraints provided (4 pages). This Bill is unreasonable and discriminatory. I
believe the Bill requires proper scrutiny, extra time for those affected to contribute, and to be re-drafted. This
attempted rush is a shameful reflection of those responsible. Much of the proposed NDIS Amendment Bill ignores
the recommendations made by the Royal Commission and is unreasonable and discriminatory. Concentrate on
providing more detail, reducing fraud and mismanagement before passing any NDIS Amendment Bill. This is
currently a cost shifting exercise, moving costs to the disabled and their families, the states, health, justice and other
systems. This Bill must not become legislation. In the process, the disabled who are reliant on the scheme will fall
through the cracks, suffer, become injured or die.
Parliamentary Scrutiny and Transparency
The consultation period for the Amendment Bill was two weeks, which is also shameful and insufficient to allow for
appropriate consultation, considering accessibility and communication needs. The Australian Government Guide to
Policy Impact Analysis recommends consultation should occur for a minimum of 30 days where possible (for able
bodied people).
Recommendation: The government is overtly disinterested in consultation, thus I perceive is disinterested in
understanding the challenges of disabled people or providing time for them to participate. This is not transparent or
fair, it is opaque, inequitable and impacts all by preventing sufficient time to examine the bill more closely and
comment more thoughtfully and thoroughly. It is an unreasonable and disrespectful time-line.
Increase the consultation period, it should make suitable accommodations to enable all people to participate,
including those with disabilities, who have enough challenges. More time to allow for disabled people to participate
would be reasonable (i.e. 90 days at minimum).
Key decisions left to ministerial instruments, not law
The issue: The Bill allows Ministers to change who gets NDIS support (Schedule 1 Parts 8 and 9) and how much
funding people receive (Schedule 1 Part 4; Schedule 3) by signing an instrument, without going back to Parliament.
The rules that will determine critical eligibility thresholds (Schedule 1 Parts 1, 8 and 9) have not yet been written.
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How this affects participants: The decisions that shape the lives of participants, whether they qualify for the NDIS
and what supports they can access, could be changed without parliamentary debate or public scrutiny. Participants
may not know supports or eligibility rules have changed until their plan is affected.
Recommendation: How can we even consider an open cheque book (with rules that have not even been written) be
given to the Minister? This is at best a dishonest, dangerous and inequitable attempt to further disenfranchise
disabled people. This could turn the NDIS into a ‘slush fund’ which the government could reach into to prop up their
pet projects or assist premiers who have mismanaged their state’s finances. For example, to help prop up a profligate
state.
All rules should be fair and compliance reviewable, disabled people are entitled to a fair hearing, as fair as able
bodied people are. The government has wasted millions of tax payers’ funds at the Administrative Review Tribunal
fighting against disabled people. 75% of cases have been ‘won’ by the disabled, this is a poor reflection of the
government - cases should not have reached this stage. Why is the government not working with, rather than against
disabled people?
This proposition is ill thought out, dangerous and outrageous. Yet another discriminatory, unreasonable and
disrespectful practice aimed at ‘second class disabled people’.
Vulnerable disabled people need more, not less, oversight as was recommended in the 2023 Royal Commission.
Existing participants face narrower criteria and fewer rights to challenge decisions
The issue: The Bill changes the rules for NDIS participants and makes it harder to challenge some decisions about
supports and funding. It also restricts when you can request a reassessment, removes review rights for automatic
plan renewals, and makes funding reductions unreviewable (Schedule 1 Parts 1 and 8). Combined with restrictions on
reassessment requests (Part 2), automatic plan renewals without review rights (Part 5), and unreviewable funding
reductions (Part 4), existing participants face narrower criteria with significantly fewer avenues to challenge decisions
about their supports.
How this affects participants: This does not protect participants already on the NDIS, who could be reassessed under
stricter rules. If someone’s funding is reduced or their plan renewed automatically, they may have limited or no ability
to challenge that decision. This could make it harder for people to get extra support when their circumstances or
disability change.
Life is not perfect and disabilities cannot be placed into convenient uniform-sized pigeon holes, people with
disabilities also have imperfect disabilities which also cannot be ‘pigeon holed’. The proposed narrower criteria and
proposed fewer rights to challenge decisions simply strips disabled people of their human rights. Ironically, in 2023
the Royal Commission made 222 recommendations on how to improve laws, policies, structures and practices to
ensure a more inclusive and just society. This proposed amendment runs counter to those recommendations.
Recommendation: It is unreasonable and discriminatory to insist disabled people give up their rights of review.
Unreviewable ministerial power to cut funding across all support categories
The Minister can reduce funding for any support or group of supports by a specified percentage through an
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Submission 2549
instrument that cannot be challenged (Schedule 1 Part 4). This applies across all budget categories. Unspent funds
will no longer carry over at plan renewal (Schedule 1 Part 5).
How this affects participants: A participant’s community participation, capacity building or assistive technology
funding could be cut without warning and without any right to appeal. Participants who save unspent funds across
plan periods for high-cost items will lose that ability entirely.
This would pander to the Minister’s desires, s/he could turn funding up and down, on and off like the setting on a
television set. This is a dangerous and outlandish proposition. It opens opportunities for corruption, bias, and
government to act unjustly and without review. This is an alarming proposition, and should not to be allowed to
proceed.
Recommendation: Require that unspent funds carry over at plan renewal for participants saving for high-cost items
and do not allow any funding reduction to take effect in the form of an unreviewable Ministerial instrument.
Requirement to exhaust treatment options before eligibility
The issue: A person with disability will need to exhaust treatment options before they can be eligible for the Scheme
(Schedule 1 Part 8). There will also be a removal of whole-of-person assessment, replaced by single eligible
impairment consideration (Schedule 1 Part 3). The note that previously acknowledged environmental factors and
other ineligible impairments could affect support needs will be removed (Schedule 1 Part 3).
How this affects participants: People with disability will need to prove their impairment cannot be treated before
they access the NDIS. Once in the scheme, their supports will only be assessed against a single eligible impairment
rather than their whole experience. A person’s individual circumstances will not be considered, including ability to
pay for treatment, where they live or whether treatment is actually available to them.
This is bizarre, thought out by people who are totally out of touch with the daily necessities of disabled people, and
of the unrelenting constraints they deal with. How difficult would it be to ‘prove’ all treatment options have been
exhausted. For example, in Western Australia our son had his specialist appointment in a major hospital cancelled by
the hospital on several occasions without correspondence and despite our objections. It took him 2.5 years for a
simple appointment. The easiest way for him to see a specialist in the public system was to arrive via ambulance
after he had a medical episode. This is how he was reviewed, as an inpatient, rather than an outpatient. Being an
out-patient would have been cheaper for the health budget. Would this mean his treatment options had been
exhausted or not? Would it take us at least 2.5 years to prove this? Would the emergency doctor and specialists
have the time and expertise to provide the required document/s for a review?
Recommendation: Do not proceed with a requirement to exhaust “appropriate treatment” options – there is no
ameliorating treatment for a permanent disability. Additionally, there are no safeguarding measures around
participant harm due to side effects or complications, a participant’s financial ability to pay, or their geographic
capacity to access treatments.
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Unvalidated functional capacity assessment tool risks misidentifying need
The issue: The Bill shifts assessment from whole-of-person consideration to a single eligible impairment (Schedule 1
Part 3). Read together with the eligibility thresholds in Parts 8 and 9, the tool used to conduct functional capacity
assessments must be capable of sufficiently identifying whether a person meets the threshold for that single
impairment.
The named assessment tool is the Instrument for Classification and Assessment of Support Needs (I-CAN). I-CAN
requires validation to ensure it will sufficiently identify the needs of all people with disability, including those whose
needs may be fluctuating or episodic and may not be captured through a point-in-time assessment, and to ensure it is
culturally appropriate for First Peoples with disability.
How this affects participants: If the assessment tool does not accurately capture the full extent of a person’s
disability, including needs that fluctuate or vary over time, a participant may be found ineligible or have their
supports undercounted, with no guarantee the result reflects their actual experience.
Commentary: How will this tool be tested and prototyped to ensure it is a valid and reliable instrument? Or will this
be yet another functionary in a backroom in Canberra cobbling together some perceived functional capacity ideas?
Will it cater for variations between ages and different parts of the country? For example, will it cater for people living
in the regions? Is it properly and culturally tested for indigenous, culturally diverse and other Australians? Are there
enough trained and certified assessors available?
What is the definition of ‘a significant reduction in capacity that affects day-to-day life?’ What is considered “normal”
function? Will a “reduction” be from the edge of the normal envelope (once adequately defined), or from the
“mean”.
The I-CAN tool is a three-hour verbal assessment unsuitable for many participants for example with autism, an
intellectual disability, attention issues, processing problems, pain issues, hearing and speech disorders, psychosocial
problems, dementia, to name a few. It has not been normalised against a significant enough test population to allow
extrapolation to all disabilities in a national population. Is this a ‘quick and dirty’ or ‘one size fits all’ tool designed to
override the many specialist reports and other tests a participant has had to endure? A tick and flick modelling tool
for the NDIS’ administrative convenience? Australians deserve better.
When my son was assessed, it was not based on ‘having a diagnosis on an approved list’. It was based on his
functional capacity, and required much supporting documentation, including many supporting specialist and medical
reports. It was a rigorous, time consuming, expensive (thousands of dollars paid by us) and stressful process,
entailing independent expert reviews.
Recommendation:
- Defer or reject adoption of I-CAN until it is validated and proven to be a reliable tool for assessing all forms of disability on a national population level. Assure participants that the three-hour verbal I-CAN assessment will
be administered in a way that is accessible and does not penalise participants unfairly due to their
disabilities.
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- Retain a ‘whole person’ view. Remove the requirement for a participant to be funded for only one disability. This is outlandish, ignorant and discriminates against many participants, particularly with complex needs and
disabilities. Some disabilities occur co-morbidly, to ‘choose’ one disability is dangerous and will cost lives.
Supports cut before replacement system is ready
The issue: From 1 October 2026, the government has announced funding for social, civic and community
participation supports will be cut by 50 per cent and capacity building daily activities by 10 per cent for all
participants, reductions that will be implemented through the ministerial instrument power in Schedule 1 Part 4. The
Foundational Supports system intended to fill that gap has no confirmed implementation date and is not yet
operational.
How this affects participants: My young adult son needs access to peer groups and to perform daily life activities as a
normal person in his community setting. Assistance to participate in society after leaving school is an area fraught
with danger. The danger is that, if not supported, he will be become disengaged, injured, or die. In turn, the
consequences of this are impactful and expensive for our son, our family, the health system, and Australian society.
The proposed $200 million ‘Inclusive Communities Program’ (supposedly inclusive) reeks of discrimination &
segregation. It would result in corralling disabled people together into groups where they can only mix amongst
themselves, fulfilling the Government’s perfect vision of disabled people not being seen or heard.
Placing disabled people together in a so called ‘Inclusive’ Communities Program so the government can gain
economies of scale is an idea that could only have been dreamed up by able bodied people totally out of touch with
the daily challenges disabled people face. Stop calculating the headline cost of the NDIS without calculating and
acknowledging the financial benefits that accrue to communities and the government overall through integration
and inclusion.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the DDA) makes it against the law to treat you unfairly because of your
disability. This proposal is ironically unlawful, and shamefully it discriminates against people because of their
disability. It treats people with a disability unfairly, and as second class citizens. It seeks to undermine their basic
human rights and dignity.
Recommendation:
Reductions to community participation or capacity building supports should not be allowed. Additionally, disallow
the Minister to make any funding reductions. This is simply a sloppy cost saving measure. The government should
make costs savings by reducing fraud and waste, instead of expecting participants to pay for it.
Conclusion
Disabled people are not political footballs, they are some of the most vulnerable in our community and rely on a fully
functioning and appropriately funded NDIS. Much of the proposed NDIS Amendment Bill ignores the
recommendations made by the Royal Commission and is unreasonable and discriminatory. I ask the Senate
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Submission 2549
Committee to concentrate on a more detailed proposal which focuses in the first instance on reducing fraud and
mismanagement in any NDIS Bill before entertaining the contentious items detailed in previous sections.
Furthermore, a 1st of July deadline is a rushed deadline and quite simply wrong, as it deliberately excludes input from
the people that will be impacted by this poorly thought-out Bill.
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