Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.

While I have used artificial intelligence to assist with organising and presenting my thoughts in a more readable format, the concerns, experiences and opinions contained within this submission are my own.

I am an NDIS participant living with multiple physical and psychosocial disabilities. I am also the sole carer for my four-year-old son, who has autism and is an NDIS participant under the Early Childhood Early Intervention pathway.

I would have preferred to have written an extensive submission, addressing individual sections of the proposed bill. But I have not been able to given my disabilities, parenting responsibilities and the extremely limited timeframe to review, write and submit.

The proposed changes contained in this Bill are nothing short of terrifying to me.

I agree that the NDIS, in its current form, requires reform to ensure that it remains available and effective for current participants and future generations of Australians with disability. However, I do not believe that the legislation currently before Parliament is the right solution.

My greatest concern is that the Bill appears to move the focus of the NDIS away from participants and towards financial sustainability. Sustainability is important. Any publicly funded scheme must be sustainable if it is to survive. However, when financial sustainability becomes the dominant consideration, there is a risk that the wellbeing of the people the scheme was designed to support becomes secondary, potentially with life threatening consequences.

Throughout the Bill there appears to be an increasing emphasis on financial sustainability, expanded Ministerial powers, compliance and enforcement. At the same time, there appears to be a movement away from the participant-centred principles that originally underpinned the Scheme.

As both a participant and a parent of a participant, this creates a constant sense of fear and uncertainty.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 2640

My family already lives with the daily reality of disability. Disability does not stop when government budgets become tighter. Disability does not disappear because funding is reduced. The costs associated with disability do not vanish when supports are removed.

If supports are cut or restricted, those costs are simply shifted elsewhere.

They are shifted onto families who are already struggling. They are shifted onto unpaid carers. They are shifted onto state health systems, hospitals, mental health services, schools, community organisations and other government programs. The Bill may reduce expenditure within the NDIS itself, but that does not mean the overall cost disappears. It simply moves from one place to another.

In many cases, delaying or denying supports creates greater costs in the future. Early intervention, capacity building and preventative supports often avoid much larger expenses later. What appears to be a short-term financial saving can create long-term costs, both financially and socially.

I am also concerned by assumptions that participants can simply access support through other systems if NDIS supports are reduced or removed. The existence of another program or service does not guarantee access to that service.

Many services have waiting lists, restrictive eligibility criteria, geographic limitations or insufficient funding. In regional and rural areas, services may not exist at all. For families already struggling to navigate multiple systems, being told that another service theoretically exists is not the same as receiving meaningful support.

As someone with psychosocial disability, I am particularly concerned about the impact that ongoing uncertainty can have on mental health and wellbeing.

The prospect that supports may be reduced, removed or altered through future policy decisions creates a constant state of anxiety. Many participants already live with significant stress associated with reviews, reassessments and funding decisions. Expanding powers without corresponding safeguards risks increasing that anxiety, further impacting their health and wellbeing.

For people with psychosocial disability, chronic stress can worsen symptoms and reduce functioning. For carers, it can contribute to burnout. For families, it creates instability at a time when stability is essential.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 2640

The NDIS was intended to provide certainty and support so that people with disability could participate in society and plan for the future. I fear that aspects of this Bill move in the opposite direction.

I am also concerned about the increasing reliance on administrative and digital processes. Provisions that require additional information, documentation or compliance activities may appear reasonable on paper. However, participants should not be held responsible for failures within the NDIS system itself.

Participants should not be penalised because of administrative errors, automated decision-making failures, digital system problems, lost documentation or delays outside their control. Many participants have disabilities that directly affect their ability to manage paperwork, technology, communication or executive functioning.

The burden of maintaining the integrity of the Scheme should not be transferred onto those who rely on it.

Another concern is the impact of increased regulatory burden on small and independent providers.

Independent providers often provide highly personalised supports and help maintain genuine participant choice and control. They also provide important competition and accountability within the disability sector. If compliance requirements become too onerous, many smaller providers may leave the sector, reducing choice for participants and increasing market concentration among larger organisations.

This would ultimately undermine one of the fundamental principles upon which the NDIS was built.

Finally, I am concerned about the broader direction of the proposed reforms.

The NDIS was established to support Australians with disability to live ordinary lives, participate in their communities and pursue their goals. This cannot be done without a more holistic, person-centred model of support that recognises the interaction between disability/disabilities, environment, mental health, community participation and quality of life.

The proposed reforms appear to move away from that holistic approach and towards a narrower focus on cost containment, compliance and administrative control.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 2640

I urge the Committee to carefully consider whether the Bill strikes the appropriate balance between protecting the financial sustainability of the Scheme and protecting the rights, wellbeing and dignity of participants.

For families like mine, the consequences of getting that balance wrong are profound.

This Bill is not an abstract policy discussion. It will affect where people live, whether they can access therapy and supports that are effective for them, whether carers can continue caring, whether children receive early intervention, and whether people with disability can participate in society.

I respectfully ask the Committee to oppose the bill in its current form and recommend that amendments are required that restore a stronger participant-centred focus, strengthen safeguards against misuse of Ministerial powers and administrative errors, protect participant rights, and ensure that the long-term human costs of these reforms are given the same weight as their projected financial savings.

Thank you for considering my submission