Overarching NDIS Reform Submission
Date: 8 July 2026 Prepared by: Andrew Hartwell Submission purpose: To provide a consolidated rights-based, evidence-informed reform position for current NDIS consultation streams, supported by issue-specific annexures across disability policy, LGBTQIA+ disability inclusion, DDA legislative risk, supplier integrity and the next-phase disability ecosystem.
Executive summary
The current NDIS reform period should be treated as a whole-of-disability-system redesign, not a narrow scheme sustainability exercise. The NDIS cannot be made sustainable by moving people into mainstream, foundational or state systems that are not yet ready, funded, accessible or accountable. The central risk is not only that participants may lose particular funded supports. The deeper risk is that governments may create a fragmented post-NDIS landscape in which people with disability are told that their needs sit elsewhere, while the promised alternative system remains partial, discretionary, underfunded or unavailable in their locality.
This updated submission draws on 94 issue-specific policy packs across five annexure suites. The additional next-phase suite expands the original submission beyond immediate NDIS reforms to cover Foundational Supports, intergovernmental cost-shifting, advocacy, inclusive education, health, psychosocial disability, restrictive practices, supported decision-making, carers, poverty, employment, emergency management, justice, early childhood, Thriving Kids and autism strategy implementation.
The submission supports reform where it improves participant safety, scheme integrity, service quality, transparency and long-term disability inclusion. However, it opposes reform by displacement. No participant should be exited, diverted, constrained or moved to group-based or mainstream alternatives unless the alternative is real, rights-based, accessible, reviewable and available.
Current consultation alignment
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has stated that consultation on Securing the NDIS for future generations will run from July to October 2026 in stages, allowing the community to comment on specific topics. The reform material identifies streams including commissioning home and living supports, SIL, differentiated pricing, the Inclusive Communities Fund, social and community participation market reforms, framework planning, eligibility changes, plan management changes, provider registration, claims and payment uplift, and support coordination commissioning.
This updated package is therefore designed for staged lodgement. The main submission can be used as an umbrella document for the whole consultation period. Individual annexure packs can then be attached selectively to specific streams.
Annexure architecture
| Annexure Suite | Packs | Primary contribution |
|---|---|---|
| A General disability policy risk packs | 18 | Housing, NDIS reform, shared amenities, provider registration, hospital proximity, |
| social participation, accessible housing and mainstream-system risks. | ||
| B LGBTQIA+ people with disability policy risk packs | 18 | Intersectional risks across health, gender-affirming care, conversion-practice safeguards, housing, aged care, mental health, chosen family, data and digital systems. |
| C DDA legislative risk policy packs | 12 | Risks to the practical operation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 arising from NDIS reform, automation, migration, housing, transport, education, aged care and online safety laws. |
| D NDIS supplier integrity, fraud and anti-competition policy packs | 18 | Captive markets, overseas price arbitrage, differential pricing, plan-manager gatekeeping, misleading NDIS claims, shell companies, procurement and product-level price transparency. |
| E Next-phase disability policy ecosystem packs | 28 | Foundational Supports, intergovernmental cost-shifting, advocacy, inclusive education,health, psychosocial disability, restrictive practices, supported decision-making, carers, employment, emergency management, justice, Thriving Kids and autism. |
Core recommendations
No. Recommendation Summary Priority Relevant stream R1 No-transition-without-service Do not divert, exit or reduce supports for any participant or cohort until the High All July–October consultation streams guarantee relevant mainstream, Foundational Support, state, local or community service is operational, funded, accessible, available in the person’s location and subject to review rights. R2 DDA and CRPD compatibility Insert an express requirement that all NDIS rules, support determinations, High NDIS Bill and delegated rules clause planning rules, pricing instruments, commissioning arrangements and automated decision systems be assessed for compatibility with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. R3 Foundational Supports Create statutory or intergovernmental accountability for Foundational High Foundational Supports and Thriving accountability framework Supports, including eligibility transparency, minimum service coverage, Kids quality standards, complaints, review rights, data reporting and independent monitoring. R4 Child and family safeguard Require that Thriving Kids and related early-childhood reforms be High Thriving Kids, children’s pathway implemented as a funded service pathway before any practical reduction in and National Autism Strategy access to NDIS supports for children with developmental delay or autism. R5 Supplier market integrity Adopt product-level price transparency, international reference pricing, safe High Pricing, provider registration and package overseas purchasing pathways, right-to-repair protections, conflict-of-interest integrity reforms disclosure, beneficial-ownership checks and ACCC/NDIS Commission joint enforcement. R6 Disability advocacy guarantee Fund independent individual, systemic and specialist advocacy for all people High All streams affected by reform, including First Nations, CALD, LGBTQIA+, psychosocial disability, children, carers and people in closed settings. R7 Human review and algorithmic Require human review, independent disability-bias audit, explainability, High Planning, claims, aged care and safeguard reasonable adjustment and appeal rights for any automated or semi-automated digital government decision affecting access, planning, payment, pricing, registration, assessment or safeguarding. R8 Mainstream service readiness Before shifting support to health, education, housing, transport, justice, High Intergovernmental agreement and test employment or aged care, require government to demonstrate service Foundational Supports readiness, accessibility, funding, workforce capacity and no-wrong-door escalation. R9 Intersectional risk controls Require specific safeguards for LGBTQIA+ people with disability, First High All streams Nations people with disability, CALD and migrant communities, women and girls with disability, children, older people, people with psychosocial disability and people in regional and remote communities. R10 Independent monitoring and Publish an implementation dashboard tracking access, exits, plan reductions, Medium Implementation and evaluation public dashboard appeal rates, unmet demand, market prices, wait times, service deserts, restrictive practices, safeguarding incidents and outcomes by jurisdiction and cohort. R11 Housing, health and discharge Create binding duties across health, housing, aged care and disability systems High Home and living, SIL commissioning, interface compact so people are not stranded in hospital, aged care, homelessness services or aged care interface inaccessible accommodation because each system denies responsibility. R12 Carer and unpaid support risk Assess whether reform shifts cost, labour or risk onto unpaid carers, families Medium Foundational Supports and all service assessment and kin, and fund respite, navigation, workplace flexibility and crisis support transition streams accordingly.
Policy position
The reform task should be governed by seven principles: no service cliff, no unfunded handover, no administrative disappearance of need, no digital exclusion, no provider market extraction, no intersectional erasure, and no rights without enforcement. These principles should apply to all primary legislation, delegated rules, operational guidance, pricing decisions, commissioning arrangements, provider registration requirements and automated systems.
1. Foundational Supports must be rights-based, not residual
Foundational Supports should not become a residual bucket for people no longer considered appropriate for the NDIS. They require defined service offers, local availability, workforce capability, funding certainty, access pathways, complaints, review mechanisms, data reporting and independent monitoring. If a person is directed to Foundational Supports that are unavailable, inaccessible or not clinically or functionally adequate, the handover has failed.
2. Thriving Kids must not become a premature diversion mechanism
Thriving Kids may become a valuable early-childhood support pathway if properly funded and locally delivered. However, children with developmental delay, autism or complex developmental needs should not experience reduced NDIS access before the new system is demonstrably operational. Family navigation, rural access, culturally safe supports, neuroaffirming practice, terapy market capacity and appeal rights are essential.
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3. Supplier integrity must be treated as a scheme-sustainability issue
Participant budgets should not be treated as open procurement accounts for suppliers able to exploit information asymmetry,
captive purchasing rules, plan-manager caution, artificial localisation, quote inflation or misleading NDIS language. Scheme sustainability should focus not only on participant eligibility, but also on commercial extraction, pricing opacity, product bundling, conflicts of interest, shell companies, repair monopolies and international price disparities.
4. The DDA must be the floor for all reform
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 should not sit outside NDIS reform as a separate complaints mechanism available only after harm occurs. Reform instruments should actively require DDA compatibility, reasonable adjustment, non-discrimination, accessible information, human review, and safeguards against indirect discrimination. The DDA must be built into the design of NDIS reform, not left as an after-the-fact remedy.
5. Mainstream systems must prove readiness
The NDIS should not be narrowed on the assumption that health, education, housing, justice, transport, employment, aged care or local community systems will absorb unmet need. Governments should publish readiness assessments for each system expected to carry additional responsibility. These assessments should address funding, workforce, wait times, accessibility, complaints, review rights, service gaps, regional availability and intersectional safety.
6. Advocacy and review rights are implementation infrastructure
The reforms will be experienced through individual decisions: access, planning, reassessment, support categorisation, provider choice, pricing, payment, compliance, safeguarding and review. People with disability need funded advocacy, supported decision-making, plain English materials, accessible communication, independent legal assistance and fair review pathways. Without these, reform may look orderly on paper while becoming unmanageable in the life of a participant.
7. Intersectional cohorts require direct design attention
LGBTQIA+ people with disability, First Nations people with disability, CALD communities, children, older people, people with psychosocial disability, women and girls with disability, people in regional and remote communities and people in closed settings should not be addressed only through general statements of inclusion. Each cohort requires specific safeguards, data, consultation, implementation responsibilities and funding pathways.
Recommended use of annexures
The annexures are attached according to the consultation topic. Suggested usage follows.
Consultation topic Attach annexures
Home and living / SIL commissioning General disability risk packs; DDA legislative-risk packs; Next-phase health, housing, supported decision- making and restrictive-practices packs. Differentiated pricing and group-based Supplier integrity packs; general disability packs on social participation; LGBTQIA+ disability packs on safety supports and inclusion. Inclusive Communities Fund Next-phase packs on arts, civic participation, community infrastructure, advocacy, First Nations, CALD and LGBTQIA+ disability inclusion. Framework planning and eligibility DDA legislative-risk packs; Foundational Supports packs; advocacy and legal assistance packs; psychosocial disability and children’s pathway packs. Thriving Kids / early childhood Next-phase children, Thriving Kids and autism packs; inclusive education packs; carers and family supports packs. Provider registration and integrity Supplier integrity packs; participant vulnerability packs; data standards and market monitoring packs. Digital, claims and automated systems DDA automation pack; next-phase digital inclusion and data governance packs; supplier data standards packs.