Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs
Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
July 6th 2026
Dear members of the Committee,
RE: National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment Bill 2026
I am writing to you on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microenterprise People Inc. Microenterprise People is a network of customised employment providers (sometimes referred to as specialised job customisation) who have been working to change employment outcomes for people with disability. Our members have been supporting people to achieve their employment goals since the introduction of customised employment in Western Australia. Our collective lived and professional experiences mean we can no longer stay silent on the damage the proposed NDIS Bill will do to disabled people of working age.
Australians with disability of working age have historically experienced unemployment at twice the rate of their non-disabled peers. Of those who are working, many (10% - higher than their non disabled peers) are underemployed, meaning they have capacity and desire to work more hours, but this isn’t available to them. The outcome of a consistent inability of successive governments to improve these numbers means people with disability are more likely to live in poverty. In addition, people with disability of working age are twice as likely to experience social isolation compared to their non-disabled peers. This cohort have less opportunities to leave home as often as they would like, feel disconnected from their community, and experience loneliness. This is particularly evident among those with severe or profound disability. Social isolation and loneliness are significant drivers of poor wellbeing among people with disability. None of this is our opinion, these are all facts evidenced by a number of government and academic sources.
These sources also tell us that employing people with disability has wider benefits than the greater quality of life from social and financial gains for the employee. People with disability are valuable, loyal employees who bring diverse perspectives and skills to workplaces. They have been shown to improve productivity and morale, while also enchaining a business’s image and helping them better reflect their customer base. Economic modelling also suggests that getting more people with disability into work could increase the GDP, without even taking into account the economic benefit from unpaid carers being able to re-enter the workforce. As a society, we all benefit from opportunities to challenge stereotypes and change attitudes about disabled people.
What does this have to do with the current Bill seeking to change the NDIS we hear you ask? Everything.
As customised employment providers we frequently encounter people seeking support who have already been let down by other long-standing employment support options, namely Australian Disability Enterprises and Disability Employment Services (now known as Inclusive Employment
Australia providers). These systems have different funding mechanisms that do not prioritise successfully building the capacity of people to engage in meaningful and sustainable work. We hear countless stories of people who are deemed ineligible for these alternatives, who have been kicked out due to challenging behaviours, or who have been on a merry-go-round of job placements that end as soon as the wage subsidy does. We hear from people who want to earn more than $3.12 per hour in an ADE so they can afford some simple luxuries. We hear from people with multiple tertiary qualifications who are told that due to their acquired disability they can now only work in a call centre. We hear from people who are told they do not have capacity to work, and in some cases, to even be a volunteer. People continue to come to us, not only unemployed, but damaged by these systems and often unwilling to trust another provider. To date, high levels of government money and resources have been invested into these systems that have had a complete monopoly over disability employment. Only they have government and corporate contracts, can provide financial incentives to employers, and can provide equipment and modifications needed in the workforce. All this, yet they continue to deliver appalling results due to the fundamental flaw in the structure of these employment supports.
The NDIS changed all of this. People suddenly had the option to try something different. To discover what worked for them. To build skills with the 1:1 support they needed so that they could identify and establish and job role that is both based on their strengths and something they enjoy. For some people this looks like running their own microenterprise. For others it is working in a job that is carved out specifically for them. At times, it is working in a job advertised in open employment with modifications to their recruitment process, or even just to build the skills, confidence and experience needed to take part in the same process as other applicants. For some people this looks like full or part time wages, while for others it’s a way to supplement Disability Support Pension income that also gives them opportunities to get out and meet people. Once in work, some people have longer ongoing support needs as they continue to build skills and work towards independence (any progress is valuable progress) or to ensure their other needs are met. For others, transitional support is all that is needed. Every employment story is different because every person is different. What is the same, is that every single story has resulted in an outcome that suited a person’s needs while also improving their sense of purpose and their connection to community.
The NDIS has been constantly changing in recent years. The goal posts for employment supports have continued to move and there is already a tendency of planners to disallow NDIS employment supports in favour of forcing people into different funding streams, often with little understanding of different systems. This has included funding as little as 8 hours of employment support to provide a full discovery document and transition someone to a DES. People are constantly having to fight with planners who provide incorrect information, including that a person is only eligible for 2 years of employment support in their lifetime. People are constantly forced to prove that they are still disabled enough to require employment support and that their employment goals are worthy with an increasing level of evidence - even those who require 24/7 support and should reasonably be able to use this to work if that is their wish. This has included a planner determining that a person was not worthy of support because their progress was slower than the planner thought it should be and deemed a developing microenterprise a “hobby.” We are seeing and hearing daily that decisions are already being made by people who do not understand the reality of disabled lives.
The proposed changes to the NDIS will only result in negative outcomes for people with disability. The rhetoric being spread about the NDIS being a waste of taxpayer dollars is dangerous and threatens to further marginalise an already often vulnerable group of people who deserve the same rights and opportunities as non-disabled Australians. Government and NDIA responses to initial concerns from the disability community have been very dismissive, citing different funding buckets that would be included for different things, and people having flexibility to use funds how they wish. We are telling you, this is not happening now, it will not magically happen if you pass this Bill. Our key concerns are:
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Changes to access and eligibility criteria will mean many people, particularly neurodiverse people, who may require shorter term capacity building supports to be able to engage in the workforce or further study will remain disengaged and only rely more on other government assistance throughout their lives. History tells us other employment support systems cannot meet their needs.
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Replacing evidence supplied by long-term providers who know a person and their ongoing support needs with a standardised assessment completed by a stranger who is not an expert in a person’s disability will result in incorrect funding being allocated, particularly for people with complex needs and co-morbid diagnoses.
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Limitations on when people can request a plan reassessment will mean people cannot achieve their employment goals. A person looking to explore work and needing additional funding to do this would have difficulty meeting the criteria of having a significant and ongoing change in their support needs that affects their personal circumstances until they were already in stable work.
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Extensions on NDIA decisions on reassessment requests will mean plans cannot be responsive to change. Waiting 90 days for a response will delay people’s engagement in capacity building supports when they are ready to do so, or potentially their ability to start a new job they have obtained.
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Plan suspensions without reasonable attempts to contact people in ways that are accessible for them will result in people losing access to employment supports even if it is outside of their control that they are able to engage with the NDIA (e.g., they are Deaf, cannot answer a phone call, and are not proficient in English to understand a letter or provide a response).
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Basing funding decisions on what is consistent with the financial sustainability of the Scheme, rather than what is reasonable and necessary, destroys a basic principle underpinning the NDIS – that decisions should be based on individual goals and support needs.
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In addition to this, allowing sweeping cuts initiated by a single person (the Minister), who could have potential to make unquestioned bulk cuts that apply to a particular cohort or budget will not allow people to receive the person centred supports they have already proven they need and have already proven can only be funded by the NDIS. There are no alternate funding systems able to deliver these life changing supports.
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Reductions in social and community participation funding will mean people are forced to use funding they have proven they need to overcome the functional impact of their disability on another area of their life to work. Not everyone has dedicated employment support funding and many people use this budget to engage in work or pre-vocational activities. They will be forced to decide, for example, between having a shower and going to work or going to learn
skills they need for work. People will lose the right to have choice and control over the supports they receive and how they live their lives.
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Changes to funding ratios for social and community participation supports will mean people have less choice and control over the supports they receive. This will be particularly detrimental to those living in regional areas who have access to reduced support options. Someone who would benefit from attending an activity that will build skills they need to develop a microenterprise but who can’t find 2 other people who want to go to the same place at the same time, or who needs 1:1 support to attend, will have to decide between going for significantly less time (e.g., the 1/3 of an hour they are funded) or no longer attempting to prepare for work.
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For those who cannot use their Core budget as flexibly as is spoken about by those not living in the scheme due to a basic lack of funds, they will be forced to stop attending activities of economic participation in their community. They will return to the isolation of their homes and continue to become increasingly different to and separate from their non-disabled peers.
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Parents and family members will be forced to give up paid work and return to an unpaid caring role, putting more stress on family finances in an already challenging economic climate.
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People with disability and their families will lose hope that things can be better. There will be an increase in incidence of severe carer burden and poor wellbeing (including mental health) across people with disability and their informal supports. People will die by suicide.
Just to reiterate, ultimately our concern is that people will lose their capacity to engage in work in their communities and will suffer across multiple domains as a result. We ask you to think about what it is like to lose your job. Even as a non-disabled person, this is soul crushing. Now add to that the existing isolation and poverty people with disability experience. We ask you to sit in that space and contemplate. Not all social and community participation is taking people out for “community tourism.” For us it looks like co-working, sharing skills, developing skills together and building connections crucial for a strong sense of belonging and improved wellbeing.
We are already receiving calls from distraught parents who are having to make tough decisions due to funding cuts and who are worried that any progress their child made towards being an included and valued member of their community will be undone as they are forced to stay at home. We’re hearing from people who are exhausted from having to continually re-prove that they are disabled and terrified that they will be part of the next lot of cuts. We are hearing from people who have received notice that their plan change request took longer than 21 days, making this an automatic “no,” who were then afforded no opportunity to take part in an internal review process, so are left without any avenue but the ART. We are hearing that people cannot handle any further changes to the NDIS and cuts to their supports. We have even heard from people who are so overwhelmed that they no longer want to be part of a scheme that has been life changing for them, despite the inevitable negative outcomes this would result in. Most concerningly, we are hearing that decisions are being made and being justified by planners as complying with the new Bill, which is not currently law.
The current Bill can be described as nothing other than punishing people with disability in attempt to save money, whatever the real human cost of this. From an employment perspective, this Bill will set
the economic participation of disabled Australians back even further. From a human perspective, this will perpetuate the assumption that disabled lives are worth less and disabled people are all rorting the system. This is despite the government being aware that people with disability make up a very small percentage of NDIS fraud cases and having numerous other avenues to make up a budget short fall. Making sweeping changes to the reasonable supports that people with disability receive is not the solution to this fiscal “problem.” As providers and participants, we experience endless inefficiencies within the agency itself, including the financial and time investment made by the agency to fight people all the way to court rooms at a cost far greater than the essential supports people are seeking to help them overcome the functional impact of their disability. If fraud is truly a key concern, more work needs to be done to ensure that changes target the right people and will have the desired outcome, and not unfairly harm people with disability.
We implore the Government to not pass this Bill. As it stands, this will do nothing but harm people who have already had to fight to get the support they have. Any changes to the NDIS must be codesigned with people with disability and cannot be made until there are other systems and services in place to support those who may no longer benefit from the scheme. If you are making these decisions feeling that you have already consulted enough, we are here to tell you that you are listening to the wrong voices. As award winning leaders in this space with a clear understanding of inefficiencies in current employment supports and the impact changes to the NDIS will have on us, our families, and the people we support, we would love a seat at the table. Decisions cannot continue to be made about us without us.
Yours sincerely,
Samantha Powell
Chairperson, on behalf of the Board of Directors Microenterprise People Inc.