National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2847 - Supplementary Submission
Introduction
I am writing to you as a participant of the NDIS. While I feel very strongly that the bill should not pass in its current form, I do agree that scheme sustainability is important, and that there is much room for improvement within the current systems.
The phrases “choice and control” and “reasonable and necessary” are scattered throughout NDIS guidelines, and are supposedly central to the NDIS. In this submission I would like to highlight some areas where I have felt that these aims have been sidelined in ways that negatively impact participants, while also increasing spending within the scheme.
The bill also seeks to pull many participants off the NDIS, redirecting them to other schemes and programs. I hope to also relay my concerns with that plan.
Areas of concern
Unspent funds:
Currently, NDIS participants are strongly encouraged to use all of their funding, each plan, as unspent funding in one plan might cause NDIS planners to opt for lower funding for the participants’ next plan. This should not be the case. It puts unnecessary stress on participants, and encourages them to use more funds than they need or have the capacity to use, as a way to ensure the funding will be there when we do have the capacity and/or need to use it. This is not good for sustainability, and the current bill does not address this.
Everyday expenses:
Currently, you cannot use NDIS funds on anything that is considered to be an everyday expense. One issue with this is that it does not take into consideration that disabled people have higher everyday expenses than the average Australian, while also often having significantly lower incomes.
I am unable to use $15 of my NDIS funding for the delivery fee on a Woolworths grocery order. However, I would be allowed to use 3x that amount to fund a support worker to pick up my groceries for me. This costs the NDIS more, and impacts my quality of life.
I have heard of participants trying to use funding to replace a broken iPad that was being used as a communication device for a participant, and being told that they instead needed to purchase a far more expensive device that was specifically designed for communication purposes. The child already knew how to use an iPad, and it fit their needs. iPads and laptops used to be able to be funded through NDIS, as a lot of participants rely on video calls for some of their supports, but this is no longer the case. Some participants now require transport to in-person appointments because they cannot afford to buy a device with their own funds. This costs the NDIS more than funding an iPad would.
This is not good for sustainability, and the current bill does not address this.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2847 - Supplementary Submission
Medical expenses:
Currently, you cannot use ndis funding for anything that is deemed to be medical, rather than disability related. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of disability, and is frankly shocking to still be seeing in 2026. Disabled people have more medical complications and higher medical expenses. Medicare helps, and the PBS helps, but not enough. The NDIS was built to support disabled people in ways that were not covered by other systems. This is not currently being done to a large enough degree.
Disabled people often have to go without specialist appointments, medications, and other treatments, as they cannot afford them. This leads to a reader degree of disability moving forwards, and higher support needs.
This is not good for sustainability, and the current bill does not address this.
Accommodation:
Aside from those who qualify for SDA accommodation, there seems to be no way to use any NDIS funding towards accommodation expenses. I realize that this is in part because accommodation is an everyday expense, but it again fails to factor in that disabled people have higher everyday expenses due to their disabilities.
Part of the justification for NDIS not helping with accommodation costs is the fact that programs like the private rental subsidy exist. In 2023, I spent months applying for the private rental subsidy, and qualified. I was then informed that I could only receive the subsidy if I found a rental for $380 or less per week. That was a near impossibility in Sydney, even without factoring in that I have specific accessibility needs due to my disabilities.
For months, I was bounced back and forth between the NDIS, and government housing departments, while my physical and mental health declined in an unsuitable living situation. I had thousands of dollars in NDIS funding and was told that I should move into an unsuitable apartment and use the NDIS funds to pay support workers to help bridge the gap.
The NDIS is set up in a way where I can use $515+ of funding, per week, to pay a support worker to come and do my washing up each day. But I cannot use any funding to buy a dishwasher, or use any funding to go towards my rent to be able to afford a rental that has a dishwasher.
Where is choice and control? Where is reasonable and necessary? Where is the flexibility that was central to the NDIS, factoring in that while some participants are better off having a support worker come and wash up, some are better off having access to a dishwasher? Paying a support worker for this task limits my independence, reduces my quality of life, and costs the NDIS more.
This is not good for sustainability, and the current bill does not address this.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2847 - Supplementary Submission
Conclusion
I realize that not all of a persons needs can or should be supported through the NDIS. The DSP is important. The private rental subsidy is important. Medicare is important. The PBS is important. But the NDIS was built to fill existing gaps, supporting the whole person.
Each time new NDIS reforms are brought in, they take us further away from that original goal, as well as the goals of choice and control, and away from “reasonable and necessary” as a metric by which supports are granted or denied.
The disabled community wants the NDIS to be sustainable. We want it to fit the needs of those who need it most. We welcome reforms that do these things. We’re tired of being seen as a burden on the economy. But the current bill does not take into account the reality of life as a disabled person in this country.
Please do not pass this bill. All Australians deserve for this to be done right.