Saturday 30th May 2026
I thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on
Community Affairs about the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing
the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
I believe the Bill requires substantial amendments before it is passed. I would ask that it be withdrawn to allow for proper scrutiny and for further consultation with the disability community and the states to occur. These steps are important to ensure any changes to the legislation
- Upholds the aims and purposes of the NDIS
- Respects the rights and needs of disabled people and their families
- and ensures genuine sustainability into the future. I am an NDIS participant, I also have four nephews who are accessing NDIS supports, and for over 25 years I have worked with people with disabilities and their families. My role for many years has been to support people to develop a positive vision for the future, and to imagine and create strong support arrangements that ensure people can living an ordinary life embedded in their local community.
Right now, I feel worn down and weary. Betrayed, scared and so very, very disappointed.
I had hoped that once the NDIS was established it would finally be possible for people with disabilities to live an ordinary life, a good life, and that this would be supported and encouraged. To do the everyday activities of working, of joining the local club, volunteering alongside other community members, living as neighbours in an ordinary house, in an ordinary street. I had hoped that the time of segregation, of isolation, of stigmatisation and institutionalisation was in the past- surely things would get better.
And they have for some. Many people with disabilities and their families, their supporters and others in the community have stepped up and stepped out. Many of us have gotten jobs we could not do before, we have joined clubs, been able to meet friends and family for coffee, volunteer, participate in our local communities and contribute in rich and meaningful ways. We have been able to access allied health services, have our homes kept clean, and had our daily and personal care needs seen to. And our informal supports, partners, parents- they have been able to do this as well. This is what we all hoped would happen. The proposed changes to the NDIS legislation threaten to take this away.
There have been significant challenges and problems with the system, whilst some people have been funded with the supports they need, others have missed out. I have seen in my own family, and even more so when I worked as an NDIS appeals advocate - many people
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were denied the essential funding they needed to be safe, to be supported, to be included. This seems to be especially so for people needing 1:1 support and those with complex support needs. For people with insufficient plans, the review and the appeals process have proved to be time consuming, frustrating and often adversarial- I see this area and the way the NDIA conduct their reviews of internal decisions as needing urgent attention. But as this is not really a part of the legislation before the committee, I will not go into my many concerns about that here.
I like many others agree that changes do need to be made to the NDIS to improve it- to help build sustainability, accountability and to ensure people are receiving value for money from their supports.
We have been told the amendments will deliver this much needed change- I am afraid this is a deception and instead it will again fail people with a disability, their families and the wider Australian public.
More work needs to be done to ensure any changes to the legislation will reduce the risk of harm to people with disabilities rather than increasing it.
And so I ask all politicians who will be reviewing this legislation to please look at what people are saying, listen to our voices and consider what other options you have before making these changes. Because there will be many other options and ways to deliver savings and sustainability without eroding key aspects of the scheme or handing additional powers to the Minister.
I can’t possibly list all of my concerns here – I don’t have the energy, time, or capacity- so I will instead focus on my key concerns and the proposed changes that I worry about the most.
Key Concerns
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Ministerial decisions. This Bill will allow Ministers to decide and make changes to who gets NDIS support (Schedule 1 Parts 8 and 9) and how much funding people can receive (Schedule 1 Part 4; Schedule 3) without proper scrutiny. I believe all decisions affecting NDIS eligibility and funding levels should be made through primary legislation where they are subject to full parliamentary scrutiny, with mandatory advance notice to affected participants before any changes take effect.
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Changes to the review process. 2 of 4
This will impact NDIS participants and makes it harder to challenge some decisions about supports and funding. It also restricts when people can request a reassessment, removes review rights for automatic plan renewals, and makes funding reductions unreviewable (Schedule 1 Parts 1 and 8).
Combined with restrictions on reassessment requests (Part 2), automatic plan renewals without review rights (Part 5), and unreviewable funding reductions (Part 4), existing participants face narrower criteria with significantly fewer avenues to challenge decisions about their supports.
The impact and risk: This change will reduce the ability for people to request a change of circumstances to access additional support when it is needed the most. Given the NDIS only funds a person’s current supports- not potential supports, I wonder if this change is something of a contradiction.
In addition, if someone’s funding is reduced or their plan is renewed automatically, they may have limited or no ability to challenge that decision.
I believe there should be a “no harm” safeguard ensuring no current participant loses access to supports unless equivalent supports are in place, with independent review rights before any exit decision and access to unscheduled reassessments preserved.
- Unreviewable ministerial powers. The Minister can reduce funding for any support or group of supports by a specified percentage through an instrument that cannot be challenged (Schedule 1 Part 4). This applies across all budget categories. Unspent funds will no longer carry over at plan renewal (Schedule 1 Part 5).
The government has announced it will use these ministerial powers to reduce funding for social, civic and community participation supports by 50 per cent and capacity building daily activities by 10 per cent for all participants from the 1st of October 2026.
The Foundational Supports system intended to fill that gap has no confirmed implementation date and is not yet operational. In addition, this support may not be appropriate or suitable to many people.
I believe this is one of the most alarming parts of the proposed legislation and it should be removed entirely.
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- Requirement to exhaust treatment options before eligibility. The change will mean a person with disability will need to exhaust treatment options before they can be eligible for the Scheme (Schedule 1 Part 8).
This change gives no consideration to the real availability or accessibility of treatment or therapy that may impact or reduce a person’s condition. This will disadvantage and limit access for people in regional or remote areas, and people who might face financial, or other barriers to pursuing treatment or therapy options.
In order to gain access to the scheme a person already needs to provide extensive evidence that their disability and the level of impairment is permanent- this part of the legislation should not be changed.
Closing remarks
If passed, this legislation will cause harm to people across the country- and I am concerned that those who are most vulnerable will be the most impacted. This includes people living in regional, rural and remote areas, those who have complex disabilities and co-morbidities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people from CALD backgrounds, and those who have housing and financial instability.
This legislation, as it is written, risks eroding people’s rights, threatens their day to day wellbeing, their engagement in the community and again places families in a position of needing to plug the gaps that will be left when supports are reduced.
I ask the committee to consider the above when making their recommendations.
Yours sincerely,
Joanne Walters.
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