National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2624
30th May 2026
Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
OT Country Care is a small regional occupational therapy private practice supporting participants across the Gawler, Barossa Valley and Yorke Peninsula regions. Our team of 7 OTs, 1 therapy assistant, and 2 admin staff provides essential services in communities with limited alternatives and long waitlists.
NDIS OT pricing has remained unchanged for over 7 years now, while every cost of delivering therapy has increased — wages, superannuation, fuel, insurance, rent, resources, and administrative requirements. As a small business, it is getting harder to absorb these rising costs without risking service cuts or closure.
Our Participants and families are scared - In recent months, many of our clients and their families have expressed significant fear and distress about the proposed reforms. They are worried about:
- Losing access to therapy
- Being removed from the scheme
- Sudden or large budget cuts
- Losing trusted providers
- Reduced safety and independence Families already under pressure feel unheard and uncertain about their futures.
We are concerned about the move to introduce new functional capacity models, and the introduction of Support Needs Assessments/ use of the I-CAN tool which fail to recognise complexity. Occupational Therapists are well placed to understand Participant’s real-world functioning, environment, and daily challenges. Standardised tools ‘alone’ cannot capture this complexity. Removing OT-led FCAs risks inaccurate assessments, inappropriate funding, and poorer outcomes. Generic tools should not replace clinical judgement. Allied health assessments involve nuanced clinical reasoning, functional observation, and risk identification elements which are absent fromWe are concerned that the Bill significantly restrictsI‑CAN.reassessment processes, and that someone’s Plan can be suspended where the Agency ‘cannot contact’ a participant. This proposed presents serious safeguarding risks.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2624
We are concerned that the Bill grants the Minister extraordinarily broad powers to reduce funding for specified groups through support determinations. This creates the possibility of substantial cuts targeting particular cohorts, impairments, ages, or support categories.
Proposed section 34A would create an extraordinary power permitting across-the-board percentage reductions to funding components in “old framework plans” for reasons of “financial sustainability”, without any requirement for:
- individual reassessment of reasonable and necessary supports;
- consideration of participant safety;
- assessment of functional impact; or
- analysis of risks arising from funding reduction. This approach shifts the NDIS away from its core principle of tailoring supports to an individual’s functional needs, replacing it with a broad fiscal mechanism that does not reflect real-world disability requirements. Applying a uniform percentage reduction risks disrupting essential supports such as therapy, community participation, assistive technology, and home modifications. Such disruptions could have serious consequences for participant wellbeing, independence, safeguarding, and long-term outcomes.
We are deeply concerned about children 0-8 being removed from the scheme - Many children in our region rely on the NDIS. Early intervention is essential and must remain accessible. Removing children from the scheme without real, accessible alternatives will lead to:
- Regression in skills
- School disengagement
- Increased behavioural distress
- Higher long-term system costs
- Significant family stress Impact on Small Regional Providers - The proposed reforms, combined with stagnant pricing and rising costs, threaten the viability of small regional practices. If small providers close, participants in regional SA will have no realistic alternatives.
NDIS reforms must not compromise participant safety, family wellbeing, or the survival of small regional providers. Without careful implementation and genuine consultation, these changes risk reducing access, increasing inequity, and destabilising the system for those who rely on it most.
Kind regards,