Submission 3366 — Mr Andrew Hartwell — NDIS Future Generations Bill

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    18           Intersectional risks across health, gender-affirming care, conversion-practice

risk packs 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-     18          Captive markets, overseas price arbitrage, differential pricing, plan-manager

competition policy packs gatekeeping, misleading NDIS claims, shell companies, procurement and product-level price transparency.

E           Next-phase disability policy ecosystem     28          Foundational Supports, intergovernmental cost-shifting, advocacy, inclusive education,

packs 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, therapy market capacity and appeal rights are essential.

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.

Source notes  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Securing the NDIS for future generations consultation update: https://www.health.gov.au/news/securing-the-ndis-for-future-generations-update-on-public-consultation  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Securing the NDIS for future generations reforms: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/ndis-legislation-changes/amendments/securing-the-ndis-for-future-generations  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, About the changes to the NDIS Amendment Bill 2026: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/ndis-legislation-changes/amendments/ndis-amendment-securing-the-ndis-for-future generations-bill-2026/about-the-changes-to-the-ndis  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Foundational Supports for people with disability: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/foundational-supports-for-people-with-disability  NDIS, Thriving Kids: https://www.ndis.gov.au/news/11085-thriving-kids  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Thriving Kids: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/thriving-kids  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, National Autism Strategy: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/national autism-strategy  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, National Autism Strategy 2025–2031: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-autism-strategy-2025-2031?language=en  NDIS, NDIS pricing arrangements: https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/pricing-and-payments/pricing/pricing arrangements  ACCC, Consumer rights and the NDIS: https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/specific-products-and-activities/consumer rights-and-the-NDIS  Attorney-General’s Department, Review of the Disability Discrimination Act: https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and protections/human-rights-and-anti-discrimination/australias-anti-discrimination-law/review-disability-discrimination-act  Department of Education, Disability Standards for Education review: https://www.education.gov.au/disability standards-education-2005/consultations/2025-review-disability-standards-education  Department of Infrastructure, Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure-transport-vehicles/transport-accessibility/transport-disability-standards  Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Aged Care Act: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/aged-care act/about?language=en  AIHW, AIHW disability data gaps: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-2026/contents/key data-gaps/existing-data-sources-and-challenges