Submission on the NDIS Amendment Bill

Dear Secretary of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee,

I am a concerned Australian with many friends and relatives who currently rely on the NDIS system for support, and I ask that the Government withdraw this Bill.

I am concerned with the way that this bill seems to shift even more responsibility onto those who rely on the NDIS. I take issue with the increased administrative and compliance requirements, which will require that those with permanent and temporary disabilities will need to work even harder to prove that they are worthy of the meagre support they already qualify for. Why must they spend even more of their limited functional hours per week proving their conditions, providing documentation, and answering questions from the Government? Are they not already under enough strain in the current cost of living crisis and increasing economic and social uncertainty?

In addition to the above, this Bill also introduces the possibility that a participant’s support payments may be paused, reviewed, or otherwise affected if they do not respond within even tighter required timeframes than currently enforced. Has the Government considered how this will affect participants who are in hospital, unable to communicate without dedicated support, or experiencing a mental health crisis? Why is it up to the most vulnerable people in our society to navigate ever-tightening systems? It has not escaped my notice that the deadline for this submission on the NDIS Amendment Bill has been extended to from the 29th of May to the 1st of June. Am I to believe that this committee is worthy of leniency on its deadlines due to the administrative burden of processing the (likely many) submissions to this inquiry, but our most vulnerable citizens are not worthy of the same consideration and must endure yet more punishing deadlines? Surely this cannot be how Australians treat our friends, family members and loved ones.

Finally, I am alarmed at the Bill’s suggestion that the NDIS may increase its reliance on standardised or system-driven decision-making processes, rather than human decision makers, to enforce the rest of the Bill’s amendments (and the other amendments being made to the NDIS more broadly). It is truly baffling that the Government would even make this suggestion, with the hellish experience of Robodebt still fresh in every Australian’s mind. The proposal that systems-level changes might be made to levels of funding without individualised circumstances taken into account is dystopian, and should not even be on the table in a society that purports to be civilised. Surely this Government does not wish its NDIS reforms to be compared to the scandal of Robodebt. If this Bill is passed, comparisons will be made, and they will not be charitable.

This Bill is not “Securing the NDIS for Future Australians”, it is kicking current Australians while they’re down. I ask that instead of allowing opaque systems to nickel-and-dime vulnerable

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

Submission 2733

people, the Committee muster some empathy for those who currently live with the support of the NDIS. Do not force someone with limited daily functional hours to spend even more of their mental energy filling out forms for an opaque and ever-changing system. Do not force someone who must work reduced hours due to chronic pain to constantly prove their worthiness to exist. Do not force someone having a health crisis to respond to impersonal, automated notifications under threat of funding review or withdrawal. Think of your fellow Australians, and withdraw this Bill.

Sincerely,

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