National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2695
I am a support worker. My client has a diagnosis of Autism with level 2 support needs. She relies on the NDIS for support to leave the house, take medication, engage in personal hygiene, eat meals, pay bills, buy groceries, book and attend appointments, reply to emails, participate in exercise, socialise, run errands and complete chores. I would fear for her wellbeing and safety if she was removed from the NDIS as she has not demonstrated being able to independently look after herself or participate in society. She has not been able to work or study and is on the Disability Pension.
Her support needs are considered level 2, or moderate. While she needs a lower amount of support needed than someone with high support needs who may need constant 1:1 support to stay safe and maintain bodily needs, having these needs met are evidently vital to her survival.
She is unable to leave the house independently to do more than walk a route that is two block loop. She is unable to independently deviate from this route even if she wants to and she is only able to do this on a really good day.
I am concerned that were she to loose NDIS supports due to the Bill’s eligibility or assessment changes, that she would regress and no longer be able to complete this two block walk independently. The extreme isolation that would result from the loss or reduction of supports and restrictions on community participation proposed by the Bill threatens her wellbeing and put her at high risk. The same goes for the hundreds of thousands of other disabled people who benefit from the life changing support the NDIS provides. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Disabled people in Australia already experience significantly higher rates of isolation and loneliness than those without a disability. 19% experience social isolation, compared to 9.5% of the general population. Over 1.1 million or 27% of disabled people do not leave their home as often as they would like. Removing people from the NDIS and cutting social and community participation supports of those who remain on the scheme will worsen these statistics. Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/ people-with-disability-in-australia/contents/social-support
Autistic people already have poor outcomes in Australia. In Australia Autistic people without an intellectual disability or those who are considered to have low-moderate support needs are more than 5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. Source: The University of Queensland: https://news.uq.edu.au/2024-09-11-suicide rate-higher-people-autism
The Unemployment rate for autistic people in Australia is 31.6–34.1%. This is three times higher than the rate for people with other disabilities and over six times that of people without disabilities. Only 11% of working age autistic people in Australia work full time.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics: https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/autism-australia-2022
Amaze: https://www.amaze.org.au/creating-change/research/employment/
Australian Autism Alliance:https://australianautismalliance.org.au/autism/autism-snapshot/
I am also aware that when disability supports were assessed in the UK this lead to an increase of suicides. During the UK government’s reassessment of disability during the move from ‘Incapacity Benefit’ to ‘Employment and Support Allowance’ using the ‘Work Capability Assessment’ between 2010 and 2013 there were 590 additional suicides across the country. For every 10,000 people reassessed research indicates an addition 6 suicides, 2,700 more cases of reported mental ill health and an extra 7,020 prescriptions for individual antidepressants. These are horrifying findings and I fear that similar will happen when NDIS participants are reassessed.
Source: BMJ Journals https://jech.bmj.com/content/70/4/339
Citizen Network: https://citizen-network.org/news/government-disability-policy-increases-suicide-
rate
I urge that the committee understand that removing people like my client from the NDIS will lead to deterioration, regression and potentially death. Based on the history of my client and many like
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2695
her, this regression could lead to higher support needs in the future. This ultimately costs the government more, as well as leading to higher costs and pressure on emergency rooms and hospitalisation. My client has been hospitalised in the past, but they have not been pushed into that state of crisis since receiving the supports provided by the NDIS.
I oppose this Bill as it would put the NDIS participate I work with and other disabled people at extreme risk. I ask that the Government withdraw this Bill and put the safety and wellbeing of disabled people first.