National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3490
As a Chartered Accountant I had the privilege to work with many individuals & businesses in their dealings with government agencies. In my experience these agencies are staffed by well meaning people who make mistakes like all human beings. These mistakes sometimes have the potential to gravely affect people’s lives. If there are not proper guidelines, appropriate training, supervision and accountability the decisions can lead to major detrimental effects on individuals, businesses & the community.
Without an efficient & fair appeals process the decisions made in relation to vulnerable people under the NDIS will be devastating to them, their family & the community.
I have seen first hand the irrational decisions that have been made in relation to my granddaughter’ s NDIS funding, the wasteful appeals process that then involves & the frustration & angst that causes.
Like any responsible citizen I want to see the spending under NDIS controlled and waste & fraud eliminated.
Developing appropriate guidelines for assessors, with consultation, then providing proper training, supervision , review & accountability to assessors would go a long way to eliminating waste & fraud. An efficient appeals process with appropriate feedback into the process would reinforce that as well as ensuring procedural fairness.
We have all seen the devastating effects that well meaning government programs can have on people if there isn’t accountability, review & appeal processes. Currently this legislation does not reflect the lessons from those experiences.