National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3327
Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Via community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au
Submission to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
To the Committee,
My name is Oliver Caruana-Brown. I am an independent support worker primarily supporting young participants aged 17-30 with psycho-social disabilities. The participants I support and their families rely heavily on the NDIS for the provision of care, helping to build participants’ independence and to access the community. I am writing to express my deep concern about how the proposed amendments to the NDIS will impact the lives of the participants I support.
Everyone, including disabled people, deserves basic safety and dignity. Rather than focusing on improving the quality of care delivered by NDIS providers and other failures of the system, the
proposed cost cutting measures instead cruelly punishes disabled folks directly, with theproposed changes to eligibility criteria and reassessment requirements impacting or denying entirely current and potential participants’ access to support workers, specialist appointments and aids.
The proposed changes will also increase the administrative barriers to apply for an NDIS plan and access reviews. For disabled people, low income families and/or culturally and linguistically diverse people, navigating and accessing the application and review process is already extremely difficult. The NDIA also already regularly fails to complete reviews on time, forcing people to either go without care or pay out of pocket for care, and placing huge amounts of stress on participants’ and their families awaiting a decision that determines how they can live their lives.
The proposed changes also make it harder for participants and applicants to dispute decisions. This will make the NDIA even less transparent and accountable, an area which is already in desperate need of improvement. The increased reliance on automated systems for decision making is also gravely concerning. The Government has a recent example in the Robodebt scandal that shows how automated systems can cause grievous harm. While the Government has budgetary concerns, for disabled people themselves, accessing care and community can be a matter of life and death.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3327
As outlined, the proposed changes to the NDIS will shift the burden of care onto the families of disabled people. This does not just mean more unpaid care work however. To provide care, families and other carers will be unable to participate in paid work like they would if the participants’ were receiving care through the scheme. The impact for families and loved ones of disabled people will be massive, driving many already dealing with exorbitant housing prices and a cost of living crisis into poverty.
Finally, as an independent support worker reliant on the NDIS for my sole income, these proposed changes also make me concerned for my own future. The likely reduction in funding for current clients will make my work and income more insecure, potentially forcing me to move away from the sector despite my deep commitment to my participants. Supporting participants in distress due to a lack of care and dignity provided by the scheme will also carry increased psycho-social risks as a worker. Support workers, just like the disabled people we support, deserve basic security - and it is job security that underpins both the provision of high level care and the continuity of care that is so crucial to recovery and support.
In conclusion, the NDIS needs to be protected and improved, rather than gutted in the name of budgetary concerns. The proposed changes will negatively impact hundreds of thousands of people, not just participants and disabled people, but also their families and the workers that provide care.