National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3102
I am a severely disabled NDIS participant, and I have many concerns with Labor’s proposed NDIS Bill. It is a dangerous, poorly designed Bill that represents a serious attack on disabled Australians. The government should engage honestly and practically with disabled people, and cease the current rhetoric that demonises disabled people, and is destroying the reputation of the scheme. This demonising is already negatively affecting my experience in the community as a disabled person, and affecting how safe I feel as a visibly disabled person. Furthermore, destroying the reputation of the NDIS will take years of community re-education to repair.
The NDIS must be:
● Fully funded, not a Budget scapegoat ● Equally accessible regardless of disability type ● Flexible — no “one size fits all” ● Led by disabled people ● Should have safeguards including the right to appeal all NDIA decisions through the ART
Key Problems will the bill:
Ministerial power
● The Minister should not be able to change how the NDIS Act operates through Rules, without new legislation going through Parliament
Automated decision-making
● Computers should not be able to make NDIA decisions - such as approving/rejecting access requests, supports or funding, flagging claims as fraudulent, or deciding whether a plan is self, agency or plan managed
Blanket funding cuts
● No support category should face across-the-board percentage cuts
Definition of permanence
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3102
● The proposed changes to the definition of permanence risk delaying essential support and excluding severely disabled people from the scheme. The current definition of permanence should not be changed
Plan management
● Whether a plan is self, plan or agency managed should be the participant’s choice
Community participation, work, study and volunteering
● Social, community and civic participation, as well as having access to work, study & volunteering opportunities must be protected. These are essential, not optional — they’re an investment in independence and dignity
Plan reassessment
● Participants should be able to seek reassessment when they have a change of situation, for e.g supports disappear, plans become insufficient, a participant’s functional capacity deteriorates, or new evidence emerges
REVIEW RIGHTS
● Most importantly, participants should have the right to appeal all decisions made by the NDIA at the ART, for e.g. funding cuts, access to the scheme, access to supports, AT or home modifications, and how a plan is managed