Submission 2797
Subject: Submission – National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the
NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submitted by: (individual submission)
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Introduction My name is , and I am writing in my capacity as an advocate for the NDIS community. I also write as a family member of a person with disability, and as someone with experience working across both mainstream services and the NDIS sector. I am making this submission because I believe my lived and professional experience places me in a unique position to speak to the serious concerns raised by the changes outlined in this Bill.
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My overall position on this Bill I do not support this Bill and have very serious concerns about what has been proposed. While the NDIS is still a work in progress, it is important to remember that its creation brought together a wide range of organisations, funding streams and government resources into one system. As a result, fewer people have fallen ‘through the cracks’, and many people with disability have been given the opportunity to live more independent, fulfilling and hopeful lives.
Reducing or removing these supports from NDIS participants would be catastrophic and unsafe, and fundamentally unfair. I struggle to understand how the government can make such a sudden change that would eNectively strip people of their supports, their independence, and the lives they have worked hard to build through the NDIS.
It is also deeply concerning that the changes proposed in this Bill could be implemented without any established mainstream or alternative government-funded programs in place to replace the supports and services that participants currently rely on.
- My key concerns This Bill raises several serious concerns for me, many of which overlap. I have outlined the key issues below.
Firstly, I am deeply concerned about the loss of supports and funding. Across the sector, I have repeatedly seen individuals and families forced to ‘make do’ with the funding they have, and even in its current form, this is often not enough to meet a person’s needs. Any further reduction in funding or supports would be catastrophic. For some participants, this may mean losing the ability to work or facing increased social isolation. For others, it could lead to serious safety risks and, in some cases, even death. Regardless of the type of support a participant requires, the loss of those supports carries serious and harmful consequences.
Submission 2797
Reductions in funding also force participants to make impossible choices about which aspects of their disability related needs are most important, and which can no longer be addressed.
I am also concerned about the reduction or removal of funding for established services such as support coordination. For many participants, particularly those living in regional areas, a support coordinator is the central point of contact and one of the most important supports they have. The prospect of this service no longer existing in its current or previous form is frightening. I have worked as a support worker with two high needs participants funded through the NDIS who lived independently in their own homes, required significant daily care, and had no close family supports. For these individuals, their support coordinators were fundamental in ensuring they could continue living independently, receive the quality and quantity of care they needed, and remain safe. It was critical that they had one consistent, responsive contact person who understood both the individual and their support needs. I fear that, under this new Bill, that level of support from the NDIS and service providers will no longer exist.
I am also concerned by the proposed changes to community participation funding. Community participation is far more than assisting someone to have a coNee at a café. Many NDIS participants rely on this support to attend essential appointments, go to work, access banking, complete grocery shopping, and manage everyday activities. This funding also supports functional capacity building programs and group activities, while enabling people with disability to enjoy their lives and remain active members of their communities, families and friendship groups.
Lastly, people with disability and NDIS participants are not a one-size-fits-all group. Each person is an individual and requires an individualised review before decisions are made about their supports. I am deeply concerned that the proposed automated decision making in this Bill cannot properly consider each person’s unique circumstances, placing participants at real risk of once again ‘falling through the cracks’.
- My lived/professional experience My first experience with a person with disability was through an older relative. This person was born in the 1960s, when Australia’s disability services were vastly different from what they are today. Unfortunately, the family had to make devastating decisions to ensure their safety and wellbeing, including placing them in a facility approximately seven hours away from their regional home. This relative passed away just before they had the opportunity to experience the independence and hope that the NDIS now provides.
Submission 2797
Since then, I have worked across aged care, government mainstream services, and the NDIS as both a Support Coordinator and a support worker.
Through this experience, I have seen firsthand the hope, supports, and opportunities that the NDIS can provide, and the significant difference it makes to people’s lives. As a support worker, I have supported a person living with quadriplegia to remain living as independently as possible in their own home with the appropriate supports in place, rather than becoming a young person in aged care. I have also supported individuals who, with the right NDIS supports, have been able to return to high-level employment and remain active and engaged within their families and communities.
I can only wish that my family member had been born into a time where they could have benefited from the opportunities provided by the NDIS.
- What I believe this Bill gets wrong I do not believe this Bill adequately considers the impact these proposed changes will have on the individual lives of participants, or the additional pressure and cost that will inevitably fall onto other mainstream services. I fear for the human lives and livelihoods that are at risk because of these changes.
I believe this Bill risks sending Australia’s disability services backwards to a time reminiscent of the 1960s, without first ensuring that the necessary foundational and mainstream supports are in place. That prospect is deeply concerning.
- What needs to change or be protected This Bill must properly consider the cost to the lives and livelihoods of people with disability. We have come a long way from a system of minimal services, institutional care, and fragmented funding spread across multiple organisations. In its current form, this Bill represents a significant step backwards.
NDIS participants deserve the right to live independently, build capacity, and access the supports they require to live safe, fulfilling and meaningful lives.
- Final Statement I ask that any reform to the NDIS be co-designed, evidence based and carefully implemented so that long-term sustainability can be achieved without jeopardising the promise, hope, and future that the NDIS was created to provide.