National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2613
To whom it may concern, I wish to register my strong objections to the proposed changes to the NDIS Act. Although my immediate family and I do not have disabilities eligible for NDIS funding I have friends and relatives who require this assistance and work with also work as a speech pathologist with people receiving NDIS support.
Children with mild to moderate disabilities do require one on one therapy supports which can help them to avoid falling further and further behind in school and the common, well researched sequelae of unemployment, lack of skills and higher levels of involvement in crime.
Families of people with disabilities currently receiving NDIS support, including those with mild to moderate developmental disabilities and autism already have a heavy burden of coordinating and getting to appointments, paying for needs not covered by NDIS, providing therapy and support at home and dealing with the added complexity of life with a disabled person which can be highly stressful. Leaving these people without individualised tailored supports and no funding to get them is cruel. It is important that a community supports all of its members, not only those that are advantaged.
People with disabilities are empowered and thrive when they have the opportunity to choose their own providers - including high quality sole traders and small businesses. The move to reduce this choice leaves them disempowered and unable to appoint services that truly meet their personal needs and discourages service providers to specialise and build expertise.
Rural and remote communities will be especially disadvantaged by the limiting of service providers as large organisations will be less likely to provide consistent services to these areas.
The plan to significantly reduce community and social supports leaves people with disability alive but stuck in their accommodation and unable to build capacity and participate in social and work roles. Humans need to participate in the community or their mental health deteriorates becoming more of a drain on resources - the support for community and work participation is not a luxury but a basic human need.
Reduced services for disabled people not only creates barriers to them participating in work but also their carers many of whom will need to discontinue their paid work in order to care for their disabled loved ones - again having a negative effect on the economy.
I understand that there is some corruption occurring in this area but I have read that convictions for this are low compared to those around health and social security. Blanket statements blaming all providers as soft targets for the need for cuts is unethical, untrue and damaging for society.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2613
Allied health and other care services providing NDIS services are female dominated sectors - this is yet another example of government legislation that will result in reduced employment and poorer conditions for female dominated roles and services. Frontline service providers will be even more squeezed to try to provide for the complex needs of disabled people with inadequate funding resulting in more threats to participant health, safety and wellbeing.