National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2982 - Supplementary Submission
2 July 2026
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
By online submission: aph.gov.au
Re: Supplementary submission — National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS
for Future Generations) Bill 2026
To the Committee,
This is a supplementary submission from Accessing Connections Support Services, further to our submission dated 1 July 2026. It adds two points that have come to our attention since that submission was lodged, and which we consider directly relevant to the Committee’s consideration of Schedule 1, Part 4 and the ongoing viability of the Support Coordination sector.
- The scope of the Ministerial power in Schedule 1, Part 4 is not limited to the categories currently announced
Our original submission raised concerns about the Ministerial power in Schedule 1, Part 4 (new section 34A) to reduce funding for groups of supports without individualised assessment. We wish to clarify the scope of this power more precisely. Section 34A is drafted as a general power to make a support determination reducing funding for any specified group of supports — it is not confined to the two categories the Government has so far announced it intends to apply the power to (social, civic and community participation; and capacity-building daily activities). This has been confirmed by other submitters with direct expertise in this area, including a submission from an NDIS Independent Advisory Council member, which states plainly that the same power can be applied to any support category, at any level, in future.
This matters directly for Support Coordination. The Government has separately signalled its intention to replace Support Coordination with a commissioned, capped-expenditure model from 1 July 2028 (via the 2026–27 Budget and the Government’s Impact Analysis, rather than this Bill). Because section 34A is not limited in scope, it could in principle be used to reduce or remove Support Coordination from individual plan funding at any point before that 2028 transition — independently of, and potentially well ahead of, the commissioned model being designed or implemented, without further legislation and without the individualised assessment this submission and others have called for.
We recommend the Committee treat this as a live and specific risk to the Support Coordination sector, not merely a hypothetical extension of a general power, and ensure that any limitation placed on section 34A (including any negotiated as part of the Bill’s passage) constrains its full scope rather than only its currently announced application.
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The NDIA’s own 2026–27 Annual Pricing Review supports an increase in Support Coordination funding, not a freeze or reduction
Accessing Connections Support Services | admin@accessingconnections.com.au | 0420 307 060 | ABN 46 669 442 773
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 2982 - Supplementary Submission
Our original submission referenced the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS’s Workforce Interim Report and the sector’s five-year pricing freeze campaign. We wish to add a more recent and directly relevant piece of evidence: the NDIA’s own 2026–27 Annual Pricing Review, released shortly before this Bill’s Committee hearings. That Review identifies a material gap between Support Coordination’s current, real-world scope of practice — including cross-system navigation, crisis response, non-billable administrative work, and intensive capacity building — and the pricing basis it is currently funded against.
Despite this finding, Support Coordination and Plan Management pricing has been held unchanged for a seventh consecutive year, with any pricing response deferred to a new twelve-month pilot. The Review makes no reference to the commissioned panel model that this Bill and the Government’s associated reform package propose for Support Coordination from 2028.
In other words, the Government’s own current pricing evidence points toward Support Coordination being underfunded for the work it actually involves — the opposite direction to the price freeze, added registration costs, and broad Ministerial funding-reduction power this Bill introduces. We ask the Committee to weigh this finding directly against the sustainability rationale offered for the Bill’s support coordination-related provisions.
Summary of additional recommendations
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Clarify or amend section 34A so that any limitation on the Ministerial power to reduce funding for groups of supports applies to its full scope, not only its currently announced application, given confirmed evidence that the power can be applied to any support category.
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Require the Government to reconcile the Bill’s support coordination-related provisions (price freeze, registration costs, Ministerial funding-reduction power, and the 2028 commissioning transition) with the NDIA’s own 2026–27 Annual Pricing Review finding that Support Coordination is underfunded relative to its current scope of practice.
Thank you again for the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry.
Yours sincerely,
Nicola Fenton
Accessing Connections Support Services
admin@accessingconnections.com.au | 0420 307 060Colac Otway Region, VIC 3249
Accessing Connections Support Services | admin@accessingconnections.com.au | 0420 307 060 | ABN 46 669 442 773