National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3323
Submission to the Senate Standing Committee
on Community Affairs regarding the National
Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment
(Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill
2026
Date: June 1st,2026
Submitted by: Astrid (AJ) Watts (NDIS participant)
- Summary of Position I strongly urge the Committee to oppose the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 in its current form. The Bill
risks undermining the fundamental principles of the NDIS—choice, control, and
individualised support—and will cause significant harm to participants and their families by
weakening appeal rights, enabling essential support cuts, and potentially forcing hundreds of
thousands of people off the Scheme before genuine alternatives are established.
- Key Concerns Regarding the Proposed Amendments Risk of Arbitrary Funding Reductions and Removal from the Scheme
The proposed amendments appear to grant the Minister broad powers to reduce funding
across the Scheme without sufficient individual review. This is deeply concerning, as it shifts
the focus from individual ‘reasonable and necessary’ needs to financial targets. If people are
pushed out of the NDIS without real foundational supports available, their need for support
will not cease. Instead, they will be shifted onto hospitals, homelessness services, mental
health services, and crisis systems that are already over-burdened, causing further societal
harm and ultimately increasing overall costs.
Weakening of Appeal Rights and Choice and Control
Any measure that weakens appeal rights or limits a participant’s choice and control over
their supports fundamentally contradicts the NDIS’s core design. Maintaining genuine
choice, control, and a robust right to appeal is essential to ensure plans are fit for purpose
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3323
and genuinely reflective of a participant’s needs. The Scheme’s sustainability must not be
achieved by cutting essential supports or sacrificing the safety and independence of people
with disability.
3, people’s engagement and assesment needs to be done by people with experience in what disabilities are and how they may affect every individual not go off pre fabricated forms or lists
- Personal lived experience, in my journey I’ve been fighting four years for the chance to be on the program but every time we submit an amendment to my condition we get told more evidence is required for my lifelong conditions. For example we got a functional capacity assesment stating that I desperately need a wheelchair as I use a walker at the moment , they deem me an ohs risk walking
I thank the committee for reading this submission
Warmest regards,