Submission 2561
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
Date: 29/05/2026
My name is Max Bower. I am an NDIS participant, carer for my partner who is also an NDIS participant, and a peer facilitator running a free social group for other people with disabilities.
I have been on the NDIS since 2021 and the supports I’ve received have had an incredible impact on my life – I’ve achieved things I never thought I could and been able to give back so much to my community.
If this Amendment Bill will passes Parliament, it will have terrible impacts on me, my partner and the young people with disability I support. This Bill is too far-reaching to pass as it stands. It desperately needs closer examination and amendment.
The short timeline for consultation (two weeks) has made it incredibly difficult (nearly impossible) for me to read and understand the bill and get ready to submit feedback. This submission is much shorter than it needs to be.
I want to write more in this submission, but don’t have enough time, especially as this 2 week period has coincided with an intense period of pain flares and burnout for me.
The consultation period should be extended to the best practice minimum of 30 days.
I am deeply concerned about the bill, most pressingly in relation to rules that will determine critical eligibility thresholds which have not yet been written, and which mandate reassessment of existing NDIS participants in line with these new thresholds. I am terrified that it has been stated that 160,000 people will be removed from the scheme, when the eligibility thresholds and new definitions of functional capacity have not yet been created.
These changes are daunting – the fear that all my supports and my partners supports could disappear from under us is immense. Without my NDIS support, I would not be able to work in my role as a neurodivergent peer facilitator, meaning that a cohort of over 40 neurodivergent young people ages 18-30 would lose a key community program. Without my NDIS support, I would not be able to spend time with my friends at Rollercoaster Theatre, the best part of my week and my pathway towards a career in the arts. Without my NDIS support, I would not be able to return to University in 2027, where I plan to study my Masters with a focus on disability research.
Submission 2561
My NDIS funding allows me to give back so much to the community- through work, the arts, community support and postgraduate research. Without it, I will be homebound frequently and unable to contribute in the ways I want to.
My partner is disabled and can’t step in to care for me if I lose my supports. I can’t step in to care for my partner.
Please make it a requirement that all decisions affecting NDIS eligibility and funding levels be made through primary legislation subject to full parliamentary scrutiny, with mandatory advance notice to affected participants before any changes take effect. And require a “no harm” safeguard ensuring no current participant loses access to supports unless equivalent supports are in place, with independent review rights before any exit decision and access to unscheduled reassessments preserved.
My functional capacity to write more in this review is very low due to severe pain, so I will respond to other major categories with dot points.
Unreviewable ministerial power to cut funding across all support categories
-
Reducing social and community participation funds by 30-50% across the board would make leaving the house incredibly challenging for me.
-
I would not be able to see my closest friends.
-
I am in a community group (Rollercoaster Theatre) with neurodivergent and intellectually disabled adults which meets every week to make theatre.
-
If these changes go through, ¼ of the group might never be able to come back (if we are among the 160,000 removed), and the rest of us won’t have enough funds to come every week.
Requirement to exhaust treatment options before eligibility
-
To get accepted to the NDIS I submitted a 10 page dot-point list of all the treatment options I had already tried. This proved my disability was permanent and that I was eligible.
-
This change would mean I could be considered ineligible for not trying treatments that have been deemed to be completely inappropriate for me (electroconvulsive therapy, group DBT workshops etc.).
-
It could mean I was ineligible for not trying treatments I can’t afford to try.
-
It could mean I was ineligible for not trying treatments that don’t exist where I live. Unvalidated functional capacity assessment tool risks misidentifying need
Submission 2561
- The iCan tool was never designed for and is not proven to effectively measure need across the disability cohort.
Supports cut before replacement system is ready
- Cutting supports when replacement supports don’t exist will kill people. Thank you for reading my submission. I want you to understand that these changes are inhumane, cruel and will lead to deaths. You need to look closer and find ways to actually fix corruption and manipulation of the scheme.
My NDIS funding has allowed me to go from being almost completely home bound from disability just 4 years ago to studying at uni, running a community group, making friends in the disability community and finding a career. I need my supports to stay or all of those achievements become impossible and I’m stuck at home again.
I beg you to think of the real human impact and make changes to the proposed bill.
Please.
Max Bower.