Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee
Re: National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment Bill 2026
My name is and I live in Victoria. I am the mother of multiple children who are NDIS participants, and I am writing because I am deeply frightened about what these proposed changes could mean for my children and families like mine.
My children’s support needs range from moderate to significant. One of my sons has Down syndrome. He has worked incredibly hard throughout his life to achieve things many people take for granted. He requires far more repetition, patience, and personalised teaching than school alone can provide. Through the support of the NDIS, he has learned to walk, communicate, build life skills, and participate more fully in the world around him.
He is a teenager now. Like every other teenager, he dreams of having friends, being part of his community, developing independence, and building a meaningful future. He does not want to spend his life isolated at home. He wants the same opportunities that other young people have.
The NDIS has given him the chance to work towards those goals. It has not been a luxury. It has been life-changing.
Our family uses a combination of self-managed, plan-managed, and agency-managed supports. We rely on support workers, therapists, community participation programs, support coordination, assistance with building daily living skills, and continence aids. These supports are not extras. They are the foundations that allow my children to learn, grow, regulate their emotions, participate in society, and live with dignity.
What worries me most about these proposed changes is the continued removal and restriction of supports, combined with the erosion of participant choice, control, and appeal rights. Families are being told to trust a system while simultaneously losing the ability to challenge decisions that can dramatically affect our lives.
I fear that my son’s future is becoming smaller.
Without access to the supports that help him engage with the world, I worry he will become increasingly isolated, lonely, and depressed. I worry that opportunities to build skills and independence will disappear. I worry that he will be left sitting at home while other young people continue to build friendships, experiences, and futures.
When people talk about reducing supports, they often speak in budgets, policies, and savings. For families like mine, those decisions have human consequences.
When my children lose support, the entire family feels the impact.
Without opportunities to learn emotional regulation, social skills, and independence, challenging behaviours increase. We already know this from experience. As my sons become teenagers and young men, those behaviours can include aggression and violence within the home. This affects everyone in our family. It affects siblings. It affects our ability to function as a family unit. It affects my ability to work and contribute economically.
The reality is that reducing support does not remove need. It simply shifts the burden onto families who are already doing everything they can.
I am also a cancer survivor.
The stress and uncertainty surrounding these changes are taking a significant toll on my wellbeing. Every time another support is questioned or removed, I find myself wondering what will happen to my children if I am no longer able to advocate for them.
That is a terrifying thought for any parent.
If my cancer returns, I may not be here to fight for them. Who will ensure they have the support they need? Who will protect their opportunities, their independence, and their quality of life?
These are not abstract policy questions for me. They are questions that keep me awake at night.
My family is not asking for special treatment. We are asking for fairness, dignity, and the opportunity for our children to live meaningful lives. We want them to have friends. We want them to belong in their communities. We want them to continue learning and growing. We want them to contribute in whatever ways they can. Most importantly, we want them to have hope for the future.
The NDIS was created to provide people with disability with choice, control, and the opportunity to participate fully in Australian society. These proposed changes risk taking us backwards.
I urge the Committee to reject this Bill in its current form until genuine and meaningful consultation has occurred with people with disability, families, carers, and representative organisations.
I also urge the Committee to:
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Protect participant choice and control.
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Preserve meaningful rights of review and appeal.
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Maintain funding for community participation and capacity-building supports.
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Ensure decisions are made by skilled, experienced, and compassionate people who properly consider individual circumstances.
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Focus on addressing fraud, waste, and exploitation by providers rather than reducing supports for genuine participants.
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Reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape that consume resources while adding little value to participant outcomes.
The sustainability of the NDIS matters. However, sustainability cannot be achieved by making the lives of people with disability smaller, harder, and more isolated.
Please listen to the people whose lives will be affected by these decisions. Please consult with the disability community before implementing reforms that may have lifelong consequences.
My children deserve the chance to build fulfilling lives. They deserve the chance to belong. They deserve the same hopes and opportunities as every other Australian.
Thank you for considering my submission.
Yours sincerely,