National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2739
Submission to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Attention: Committee Secretary, Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs
Date: 1/6/2026 I am a family member and carer of an NDIS participant. The NDIS has changed my family’s life for the better. Through the NDIS we have had access to life-changing care that would not be financially possible without it. I hold grave concerns for the consequences of this bill if passed as is, and the negative impacts this will have on the disability community. My responses to the changes proposed in the Bill, National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 are in dot points below. The Minister will have the power to reduce funding across support categories, without a need for assessment of individual circumstances or risks. The funding category “Social, Civic and Community Participation” is proposed to be cut by 50% and “Capacity Building” is proposed to be cut by 10% from October 1st, 2026.
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Why would the minister have the power to override funding without consideration for individual circumstances or risks? Every plan is supposed to be appropriate to the individual’s circumstances. This makes no sense.
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Access to the community should not be considered an optional bonus but is a human right. In particular I hold concern for our Autistic community. Autistic people are between 7 – 9 times more likely than non-autistic people to die by suicide, with loneliness as a significant factor. These changes will increase loneliness for the Autistic community.
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Overall cuts to funding categories are inappropriate as they do not consider the individual needs of participants. This completely disregards participant needs and puts people on the NDIS at real risk of being underfunded. New plan review processes that will be reliant on NDIS staff administering functional capacity assessments. There will also be new tighter rules for access requests to the NDIS which are not yet defined. There is a proposed ‘have you tried all appropriate treatments’ testing for scheme eligibility?
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More detail on this process is needed.
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What qualifications do NDIS staff hold who will be administering these assessments?
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The NDIS is already not covering a significant portion of the disability community in Australia, how much tighter could it possibly get?
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Having ‘all appropriate treatments’ as a requirement for access leaves people financially disadvantaged. Not all treatment options are feasible for participants or their families to fund. The risks this bill poses to the community are incredibly damaging, and I expect better from our government. Don’t sacrifice disabled people to improve a budget line. We are real people, not expense items. Find your savings elsewhere.