National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2673Submission on the NDIS Amendment Bill
Attention: Committee Secretary, Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs
Good afternoon.
I would like to take this opportunity to make a submission for the committee’s consideration about the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
I am a NDIS participant who has been very grateful for the disability supports that I have received over the years. The supports I receive are necessary, and without them, not only would my capacity be severely reduced, but I could die. The NDIS has also provided me with the means to live as independently as possible with dignity, whilst remaining safe and supported by providing the individualised supports necessary for me and disabilities.
I do not support this Bill.
In their current format, I have serious concerns based on the nature of the proposed amendments, and the lack of planning time and co-design to ensure that me and my community have all the reasonable and necessary supports for us to survive.
My health has impacted my ability to grasp all the aspects of the Bill. And from what I have managed to read in this short submission window, I do not see how the proposed amendments will fix or sustain the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, or help disabled Australians have a future either. Let alone one where we have the supports needed to have dignity and the same human rights that we all deserve, regardless of our abilities.
There is not enough information on how the proposed amendments will ensure the safety and wellbeing of myself and people like me. Humans are complex, we are all individuals, and disabled people are first and foremost human. The cost of getting this wrong is unfathomable. As a disabled person I am exhausted from having to ensure that I have adequate supports and from having to justify my right to exist. I have had to face the appeals process and fight for my supports in front of the Tribunal in the last three years.
Changes to eligibility in the Bill including the proposed narrowing of definitions, redesigning access through streamlined assessments, and the use of automated systems will cause much harm. Those systems do not allow for the nuance and complexities of disabled lives if we are boxes to tick.
Even when I provided the NDIS evidence to explain how without the requested support I could die, I had to repeatedly demonstrate how the system misunderstood the complexity of my disabilities. That appeals process could have easily costed me my life. So even now, there is so much the current assessments fall short in. I am incredibly grateful though, that I was successful, and that the Tribunal Member understood and saw what my needs were. For once in my life, I
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2673
I felt that someone in a position of power listened to how incredibly complex my disabilities can be, and not only understood, but cared about my life. Streamlining and automation to reduce the number of participants on the scheme is dangerous. People will get overlooked.
Disabled people are humans. I am a human. We are not a number or a blowout. It has been incredibly dehumanising to experience the backlash of the way this Bill has been spoken about in the media when I leave my home. I have experienced an increase in ableism, as has my support worker. I have witnessed a disabled girl in a wheelchair and her carer given verbal abuse for simply existing in the community using some of the talking points of this Bill.
Disabled people are vulnerable and seeing lives like mine as a burden or a problem to be solved is dangerous. I have had to reach out to a suicide prevention line recently, and the toll of trying to collect my thoughts to submit this plus valid fears of what support may or may not look like in the years to come has been exhausting. The hurt is added to by there not being sufficient details in the Bill or any guarantees that disabled lives are being prioritised.
To me, it seems like this Bill has a lack of transparency, accountability and consultation. I would like to see amendments to the Bill be done right if it is to proceed. These changes should not focus on crunching numbers, but on the humans being impacted.
Where do the people go who lose supports? Foundational supports do not exist currently to the extent that would be required for those left without support. Hospitals, aged care residences, welfare and other systems that are already struggling surely could not handle an unprecedented influx.
I am concerned that if any changes to the NDIS are not handled right, we would have a public service crisis with disabled people as collateral damage. I know there are many voices like mine explaining how these types of changes will cost lives. And I am incredibly heartbroken to know that so far, this has not been addressed or prioritised.
The NDIS is not perfect. It has been manipulated, but not by participants and people trying to live their lives. I am concerned that the Bill does not target fraud or providers abusing participants, it instead places people in a position where they struggle to get the reasonable and necessary support to live. Please consider protecting the lives and dignity of disabled people when designing a way to make the NDIS more sustainable.
I ask the committee to consider my lived experiences and concerns when reviewing this Bill and listen to those people this Bill will harm.
Thank you for taking the time to review this submission.