Submission 3381 — Ms Lucia Wang — NDIS Future Generations Bill | External submission

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future

Generations) Bill 2026

Submission date: 10 July 2026

Good Public Policy Requires More Than Cost Containment

I am the parent and primary carer of a young child with a significant lifelong disability who requires substantial and extensive daily support. My son, currently 5 years old, is an NDIS participant, and the Scheme has fundamentally changed his opportunities to access therapy, develop functional skills and participate in the community. I have also studied and worked in public policy across different countries and continents, and I understand the importance of ensuring that publicly funded schemes remain financially sustainable. My interest is not simply in protecting current reasonable and necessary supports for my son, but in ensuring that the NDIS remains effective, accountable and sustainable for future generations of Australians with disability.

I appreciate that every publicly funded scheme operates within finite resources. Fiscal sustainability, accountability and responsible stewardship of public funds are essential.

However, expenditure alone is not an appropriate measure of policy success.

Effective public policy requires:

1. sound policy design; 2. effective implementation; 3. strong regulation and accountability; and 4. ongoing evaluation of outcomes.

Reform   that  focuses   primarily  on  reducing  expenditure  without  addressing

implementation failures risks treating symptoms rather than causes.

The key policy question is not simply whether the NDIS costs too much. It is why costs are increasing, which aspects of the scheme are performing well, which are not, and where reform will achieve the greatest benefit.

If cost growth  is driven by provider  fraud, weak compliance, inconsistent quality

standards, inadequate auditing or ineffective enforcement, then reducing participant

supports may  deliver  short-term savings  while  leaving  the  underlying  drivers  of

expenditure unchanged.

The long-term sustainability of the Scheme depends on strengthening its integrity. This

includes  effective  provider  regulation,  robust  auditing,  proportionate  compliance

mechanisms, safeguarding, transparent accountability and ongoing evaluation of

outcomes.

The objective should be to improve efficiency while preserving the core purpose of the NDIS: enabling people with disability to participate in society with dignity, independence and choice.

A sustainable NDIS is not simply one that spends less. It is one that directs resources effectively, minimises waste and misuse, and delivers better outcomes for participants and the broader community.

Disability Policy Should Be Trauma-Informed and Future-Focused

My concern  is  that discussions surrounding NDIS reform are increasingly framed

around expenditure rather than long-term social and economic outcomes and impact.

Australia has long recognised the  lasting  effects  of exclusion and disadvantage.

Disability policy should be guided by the same understanding.

The purpose of the NDIS is not merely to fund services. It is to reduce barriers that

prevent  people  with  disability  from  participating  in  education, employment and

community life.

Trauma-informed policy requires governments to consider not only immediate budget impacts but also the long-term consequences of decisions for individuals, families and public systems.

When  disability supports are reduced,  disability-related needs do not disappear.

Instead, those responsibilities are often transferred to unpaid carers, families, the health system, education providers and other government services.

As the parent of a young child living with a very rare genetic condition and significant

lifelong  disability,  I experience these  realities every day. For my son, therapy and

disability supports are not discretionary services. They enable him to communicate, learn, develop independence and participate in his community.

Well-targeted disability supports also benefit society more broadly. They strengthen families, reduce long-term reliance on crisis services, improve participation and help ensure that people with disability can contribute to their communities to the greatest extent possible.

The NDIS should therefore be assessed not only by its annual expenditure, but by whether it delivers better long-term outcomes for participants while maintaining the integrity and sustainability of the Scheme.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,