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
1 June 2026
I am a:
- Disabled person with hidden disabilities and chronic health conditions
- Parent of two neurodivergent young people (one child, one young adult)
- Professional working with children and families affected by the NDIS
Amendment Bill
- My connection to this issue I work with many disabled children and their families to support them to manage life with their disability, and to support their capacity to enhance their engagement in all facets of life.
I myself am a disabled person, with neurodivergent children, and haven’t, to date, accessed the NDIS for supports. This is largely because of the cost and administrative burden, and because of a) internationally recognised disabilities being excluded and b) the assessment not taking into account the functional impacts of multiple intersecting disabilities.
- My overall view of this Bill I oppose the Bill as it currently stands and have serious concerns about harms to young people and their families, which may be a direct result of the proposed changes to the NDIS.
My main concerns about this Bill are that:
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The changes are being targeted at restricting or reducing access for disabled people, rather than the core problems leading to the system becoming unsustainable.
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Supports cut before replacement system is ready: Removing disabled young people from the scheme, to be replaced with a not yet well-defined scheme is
causing harm to families. What we know so far, is that a core tenet of disability rights, to choice, control and individualised supports, is being eroded. The weight of responsibility is also being shifted back onto already struggling parents/carers, with changes to eligibility where it is deemed “parent responsibility”.
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Inappropriate Ministerial Powers: the Bill allows Ministers to change who gets NDIS support and how much funding people receive by signing an instrument, without going back to Parliament. The rules that will determine critical eligibility thresholds. NDIS participants and disabled people are already struggling to cope with rapid, frequent and complex eligibility changes, which are impacting on their core needs.
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Narrower criteria and fewer rights to challenge decisions: The scheme already restricts and withholds necessary supports from people with disability. The burden put on families to challenge decisions through the ART is already extreme and often proves eligibility. The families I work with are already under an immense load, with the current settings and removing or reducing their supports further will have detrimental impacts on young people and their parents/carers.
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Automation and the Functional Capacity Assessment Tool: The scheme already makes it extremely difficult for disabled people with complex intersecting disabilities and health conditions, to access the supports they need. The tool is not yet validated and is not fit for purpose for disabilities which are fluctuating or episodic in nature and require clinical expertise to appropriately assess people’s capacity and needs. Further, the lack of meaningful human oversight and ability to override decisions is dangerous and has precedent for causing extreme harm to vulnerable people (Robodebt again?!)
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Ministerial Power to Cut Funding: We are already seeing the impact of an ill- informed Minister’s decision to severely cut funding in the social participation category. It shows a complete lack of understanding of what it means to create an inclusive society for disabled people.
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Requirement to exhaust all treatment options before eligibility Requiring a disabled person to prove that their disability cannot be treated before they can apply is an extreme level of control over the rights and choices of individuals. Further, the burden of evidence required to prove that all available treatment has been accessed, for people with complex, fluctuating or episodic disabilities with co-occurring health conditions, will further restrict access for thousands of disabled people. Who is going to determine whether a treatment is appropriate or might cause harm to an individual, when the medical science behind treatments is constantly evolving.
The changes I would like to see, before the Bill passes are:
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A requirement that all decisions affecting NDIS eligibility and funding levels be made through primary legislation subject to full parliamentary scrutiny, with mandatory advance notice to affected participants before any changes take effect.
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Requiring a no harm safeguard to ensure current participants do not lose access to supports unless equivalent supports are in place.
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Do NOT proceed with requirements to exhaust “appropriate treatment” options given there are no safeguarding measures in place.
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DO NOT proceed with the I-CAN functional capacity assessment tool unless it has been demonstrably validated to identify the needs of ALL disabled people.
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Require that no reductions to community participation or capacity building supports take effect until appropriate supports are fully operational and adequately funded.
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Do NOT shift the burden of care onto parents by shifting the “parental responsibility” provisions.
This Bill may affect me / people I support because:
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Mine and my children’s potential to access supports as our capacity fluctuates or declines, will be further out of reach, which could have further impacts on my chronic disease profile, further burdening the health system and reducing my capacity to work/care even further.
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Families I support who are barely coping, may see the escalation of extreme behaviours in their children, which could put the young person or their parents/carers at risk of physical or psychological harm.
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Parents/carers are likely to experience further declines in their mental and physical health, their capacity to care for their young people, and their capacity to fully participate in the workforce.
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Without accessible therapies, young people who are surviving (not thriving) in the school system, may become unable to participate in the mainstream schooling system without very significant cost and intervention.
One example from my experience:
I have experienced extreme hardship over the last 18 months and after being told repeatedly that “there weren’t really supports suitable for you”, I have been able to access short term home and community care, while my husband recovers. It is wonderful to have the support at last but I am now in burnout, with my chronic
conditions significantly exacerbated. Further, the supports I have been offered are NOT flexible, not targeted to my specific disabilities and health needs, and I have no choice of provider. The impact of this, is that the personal cost of receiving the supports wipes out some of the benefits that I receive. This is what I can imagine the future for “low support needs” NDIS participants could become. It will not work!
What I want the committee to understand is:
This Bill is NOT okay as it is. It is causing extreme stress in the disabled community, without appropriate justification and guardrails in place. The shifting of blame onto disabled people is abhorrent and ignores the core issues which underly the difficulties the NDIS faces.