Submission 2848
Submission to the
Community Affairs Legislation Committee
Inquiry into the
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for
Future Generations) Bill 2026
31st May 2026
Dear Chair and Committee,
I strongly oppose the NDIS Future Generations Bill 2026.
I am here representing my sibling who is in their early 50’s with an intellectual disability and lives in a Supported Independent Living (SIL) home.
I oppose any reduction in Community Participation funding.
My sibling has been an NDIS participant for approximately 8 years. The NDIS has been positively life changing for her. For almost 40 years she attended a day training centre and as time went on it was becoming very apparent that the classroom setting and being in a group environment was not right for her. In the classroom she would abscond, raid other clients’ bags for food, causing upset. She would undress in front of others and incident reports were escalating. We were recommended to seek a different daily setup for her. The NDIS contacted her school and recommended she was best suited to 1:1 supports due to her high needs for full supervision. The NDIS “Community Participation” (CP) supports then began. Although this was a very different format to what she was accustomed to we found the transition to her having a 1:1 carer to be positively life changing and much safer for all concerned. Community Participation was the missing key to a practical, safe and fulfilling life for my sister. She currently has a well balanced life between home and outings and incident reports have become a rarity.
‘You don’t know just how important something is until it’s taken away’.
A few years ago the NDIA were reviewing my sibling’s plan and with very little explanation or consultation with us, roughly halved her CP funding.
When CP funding runs out it means my sister stays home indefinitely, virtually in a lockdown.
Submission 2848
During these periods, which has happened many years/plans in a row, it teaches us just how crucial CP funding is as behaviours of concern return and incident reports arise. These are extremely distressing for us to hear as we want her to be safe and the people who care for her to be safe. Also when her CP supports were ceased I needed to step up and help keep her entertained to avoid behaviours of concern developing. I would phone her daily sometimes calming her down through distressed episodes…zoom calls…more visitations. And with the caregiving I was also doing for our Mother it was an enormous physical and mental strain on me.
I am deeply distraught that a ministerial determination is a possibility. Reducing funds to essential support, swiftly and from a distance, with no personal accountability for the consequences.
Actions like this is what puts families into crisis mode.
My sister is very fortunate as she has had the same carers for 5 to 6 years now. We highly value them and trust their knowledge of my sister’s needs, likes and triggers.
My sibling heavily relies on her Community Participation carers to be escorted to the doctors, dentists and other allied health appointments. I am a 24/7 carer for our Mother who has very high needs. Due to her health we are virtually housebound and therefore I am unable to take my sister to her crucial appointments. At her Supported Independent Living (SIL) home they do not have their own transport. In the last 6 months my sister has been taken to the Doctor 18 times by her CP carers. Therefore we heavily rely on and couldn’t do without her CP carer. My sister’s CP carer is also our link, helping us stay connected as a family. Assisting with our family zoom calls weekly. We have done this for six years now. My sister’s CP carer handles the technology at the other end and supervises, and without the supervision our zooms are impossible. Sometimes this is our only way of seeing each other weeks at a time.
Cutting the Community Participation funding will actually mean her NDIS Plan’s SIL funding will need to be increased AND she will have a decreased quality of life with additional time stuck at home. When my sister does not have adequate supports and outside stimuli behaviours of concern escalate and this leads to dangers for her and her carers. We have worked extremely hard for my sister to have a well balanced life with quality and familiar supports. I’m now living with dread that this will be dismantled.
Please, to the committee, consider our family’s story and know that any decrease in Community Participation funding in my sister’s plan will have a
Submission 2848
detrimental effect on my sister’s health, wellbeing and livelihood. And we couldn’t do life without it.
Your’s sincerely