Submission 320
SUBMISSION
INTRODUCTION:
I am a young adult Autistic NDIS participant with high support needs. I am opposed to the proposed “National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026”. I think that in its current form it will have grave consequences for disabled people including myself. The current proposed NDIS cuts would impact me significantly, reducing my quality of life and negatively impacting my mental health. They would likely result in me having more traumatic
hospital admissions and being confined to my house except for healthappointments. I am doing my best to write this submission, but want to emphasise that the disabled community was not given enough time to respond to this proposed bill and was not engaged in meaningful consultation.
ACCESS TO THE NDIS:
There are currently not adequate supports available outside the NDIS for disabled Australians. Most disabled Australians already cannot access the NDIS. This bill would result in many Australians losing supports that they require to live. Quality of life would be decreased, many will be forced to be hospitalised, and it is realistic that many will also die due to reduced supports.
The increased requirements to exhaust all “treatment” options will unfairlydisadvantage people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and who live outside metropolitan areas. This requirement may also force people to undergo unethical, dangerous and harmful treatments as they try to jump through NDIA requirements with no guarantee that they will meet access at the end. It also doesn’t consider that there may be cultural and/or religious reasons people cannot undergo certain treatments. Disabled people and their health professionals should be able to weigh up the pros and cons of different treatments for their individual circumstances not be forced to undergo a treatment that someone without health qualifications in an NDIA office thinks they should.
Submission 320
INDIVIDUALISED PLANS:
People with the same disability on paper have different individual needs. Some people have informal supports; some only have their NDIS supports. Some people live by themselves, others live with housemates, others with family. Some people
have fraught relationships or have been impacted by family violence,homelessness, poverty, unemployment and many other factors that impact their support needs. Participants in rural areas have access to different services than those in urban areas and there are also cultural considerations. People have different goals and interests. This is why individualised plans are important.
I think it is impossible to separate a disability from a person and any other co
occurring conditions they have. Everything intertwines. Intersectionality isimportant to consider. This is why the NDIA should consider the whole of the person in their environment. It does not make sense to only fund supports for one part of a person’s disability. ________________________________________________________________
REDUCTIONS IN SUPPORT
I think it is ministerial overreach and dangerous for the minister to have the power to reduce the money in NDIS plans for some types of supports. This power does not take into account individual circumstances which could result in deaths. The government has a whole range of other actions it can use to finance the NDIS that
do not include cutting the reasonable and necessary disability supports ofparticipants. For example, reducing spending in other areas like defence or taxing gas exports. The cuts to the NDIS almost exactly match the additional funds the government is paying for AUKUS submarines. Affordability is a political choice.
I already am not able to do things like regularly attend board game groups and go to church due to lack of NDIS funding. If my social and community participation budget was cut by 50%, I would not be able to go to any social events outside my house. My budget would only be able to be used to attend health appointments and go grocery shopping. This would result in a significant decline in my mental health. In the past, this has contributed to multiple hospital admissions. I need support workers to attend these events. I use an Augmentative and Alternative
Submission 320
Communication (AAC) device and am not able to effectively communicate at social events especially when there are any new people or it is an unfamiliar environment. I want friends like other people do.
This power would also further increase the uncertainty I have around my life. As a NDIS participant, my life and what I can do is dictated by a 1-5 year plan. It is already nearly impossible to plan for the future. I currently cannot work and do not
have the NDIS supports to enable me to do so. If I did, I still wouldn’t feelcomfortable applying for jobs because I could not guarantee that in a year’s time, the supports would not be cut. I am not alone in this. These cuts are not good for the economy. This is especially if you consider that Per Capita found that for every $1 invested in the NDIS, $2.25 is put back into the economy. It doesn’t make sense to cut funding from the NDIS.
CHOICE AND CONTROL & AUTISM
It is very important for me to have choice and control over who provides me with support. I only choose neuroaffirming supports for my psychological safety and this is in jeopardy with these changes. The National Autism Strategy emphasises the importance of neuroaffirming supports for the mental health and safety of Autistic people. Supports that are not neuroaffirming pose a significant risk to the Autistic community – we are not broken, we do not need to be “cured” or “fixed”, we just need supports to live full and enjoyable lives. Please protect our full equal human rights as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The unfair targeting of Autistic people by the government has been so harmful to me as an Autistic Australian and the broader Autistic community. The increase in diagnosis rates for Autism has been due to Australia being a world-leader in diagnostic tools and this should be celebrated. Earlier diagnosis is linked with better mental health outcomes among Autistic people. And Autistic people with level 2 support needs are by definition not “mild”. And Autism is a permanent disability and one the NDIS was designed to support. I am worried that this bill will enable the further targeting of Autistic people based on ableist rhetoric.
Submission 320
HOW THE NDIS GETS RUN
Without NDIS, I would have no support. I am very grateful to be a NDIS participant, but all my interactions with the NDIA itself are traumatising and often during these interactions, I am faced with ableism.
Currently, people with no health qualifications frequently do not read extensive reports written by health professionals that NDIA has requested, and if they do, override them as if they know better. So much money would be saved if the NDIA listened and made people’s plans right the first time with meaningful engagement
with participants instead of forcing them to go through reviews and theAdministrative Review Tribunal spending exorbitant amounts on lawyers – more than it would cost to simply grant the reasonable and necessary requests in the first place.
The NDIA cannot keep to their current timeframes; they should not be extended especially when they are also unlikely to be met resulting in extremely long wait times which could cost lives.
I do not feel comfortable at all with the use of artificial intelligence within the NDIA. I do not want a repeat of robodebt and the government should not either.
These changes will not fix the administrative errors, waste and incompetence of the NDIA. So much money is wasted within the NDIA with them sending out physical letters instead of emails, ignoring participants’ communication and access needs, and fighting participants at the Administrative Review Tribunal after clerical errors. They do not need more power.
CONCLUSION
The proposed “National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026” is incredibly harmful. It should not be passed. Please listen to the disabled community before it’s too late.