National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 360 ft 116-118 Fairy Street, Warrnambool ~ 03 5561 5360 i1lltii hello@findyourvoicecollective.com COLLECTIVE m PO BOX 636, Warrnambool, VIC, 3280
National Disability Insurance Scheme amendment : Securing the NDIS for Future Generations
Bill, 2026
Find Your Voice Collective Inc, 01/06/2026
Submitted to: Committee Secretary, Community Affairs Legislation Committee
Lead representatives: Dr Sean Kenny & Tom Richardson, Co-CEO’s
To whom it may concern,
As strong supporters of the NDIS, we view this inquiry as an opportunity to constructively engage with the government to ensure the scheme’s sustainability for future generations.
Find Your Voice Collective (FYVC), based in Warrnambool, unites over 300 humans from 12 rural and regional Southwest Victorian communities. The Collective supports people to engage in arts experiences in an environment that fosters dignity, equity and respect. Our stated purposes are to:
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Promote a more culturally inclusive society through the function of a choir and creative arts and career development programs;
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Support people with a disability through the delivery of arts programs that build both professional and personal capacity, and;
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Advance human rights by advocating for people with a disability in relation to their rights under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The flagship Find Your Voice Choir is believed to be the largest ensemble of its kind in the world. Gaining world-wide acclaim following 2019 ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ (70million views online), FYVC collaborations include the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), The Wiggles, Mama Kin Spender, Snuff Puppets and Electric Umbrella (UK). In the past two years, FYVC has produced Triple J feature artists, national festival headliners and songwriting credits with Golden Guitar winners. Links to our February show with the MSO show at the Sidney Myer Music bowl can be found here: Short reel: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iH7M-dJJtJY - Full show: https://www.youtube.com/live/rjRrgFD9c9U?si=rZfdAtwXbGKJlF8a
Championing legitimate opportunities for artists with perceived disabilities, FYVC utilises the arts as a platform to advance social capital, public welfare, creative activism and human rights. Each week, FYVC engages over 40 artists who each receive 240 hrs of mentorship annually. Led by industry professionals, including those with lived experience of disability, these programs stretch across music, studio arts and theatre. FYVC is led by a seven person board, artist advisory committee and executive team with extensive experience in the arts, disability support and business management (20 staff, 8 FTE).
FYVC was established through volunteers in 2019 with a modest contribution from local philanthropic trusts. In the 2024 financial year, FYVC’s turnover was $774,000. This grew to $1,028,000 in the 2025 financial year and will be over $1.2 million in FY 26.
63% of our revenue currently comes from NDIS funding of our creative arts programs, with the primary line item being Access Community and Social/Rec activities. Other major sources of funding are philanthropy (17%) and projects/grants (13%)
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 360
Under the amendments in this Bill, the Minister can reduce NDIS funding for specific groups of supports by determining a percentage reduction (lower than 100%) to ensure the financial sustainability of the scheme. It has been directly stated by the federal government that budget allocations for social, civic and community participation supports will be reduced by 50 per cent from September 2026. This represents a $350,000 shortfall for our organization and significant disruption for our community.
As staunch supporters of the scheme, we support efforts to make it sustainable. targeting specific line items for such a drastic cut in a relatively short period time does however raise some concerns that we would be happy to expand upon through public hearings:
Disruption and distress for families,support teams and individuals who identify with a disability
As both a Director of FYVC and parent of an individual who identifies with Down Syndrome, I am acutely aware of the undeniable impact that these proposed changes will have on families. Families, individuals and support teams struggle to effectively engage with the administrative dimensions of the NDIS in its current form. With the prospect of a 50% cut to the element of NDIS plans that enables meaningful engagement with the world, we expect significant upheaval and distress amongst an already disadvantaged community. More consideration needs to be given to how individuals transition to the new resourcing environment.
Reduction in small, innovative service providers
FYVC directly represents what the NDIS was intended to deliver – choice and control for individuals with a disability, delivered in a way that meets the aspirations and needs of those individuals. These changes risk losing small, yet targeted organisations like FYVC, and reducing service offerings to those of the past, setting very low expectations for service delivery and hence the lives of those they engage with. The outcome of these changes will be that the larger, national scale companies will survive, while smaller organizations will fold due to an inability to resource 1:1 negotiations to access NDIS funds. As a direct result, diversity of service provision will be reduced, along with the quality and standards of services. Furthermore, innovative organisations like FYVC, foster representation and visibility for disabled individuals throughout wider industries (ie: Arts, hospitality). Such representation should not reside exclusively in disability sector settings. Greater efforts need to go into protecting such organizations from changes planned for the NDIS.
We propose that the committee consider:
- More deliberate transitional arrangements for small service providers to enable them to support NDIS participants through this transition. - Ongoing incentives to stimulate innovation within the sector with particular focus on small to medium enterprises in rural and regional areas.
We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these suggestions and provide more detail to the committee in person.