Submission 361
27th May 2026
Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs
Dear Committee Secretary,
All About Autism welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
All About Autism is a registered NDIS provider on the Sunshine Coast, supporting autistic children and their families through small-group, neuroaffirming, capacity-building programs. We have worked in this community for ten years, providing relationship-based supports that build emotional regulation, communication, social connection, executive functioning, confidence and participation.
We are deeply concerned that this Amendment Bill, if passed in its current form, will have significant unintended consequences for autistic children, families, and community-based providers such as All About Autism. The Bill is too far-reaching to proceed without further scrutiny, stronger safeguards, and genuine co design with participants, families and providers.
Our central concern is that the reforms risk cutting or narrowing access to the exact supports that help children build lifelong skills, remain connected to community, and reduce reliance on more intensive crisis driven services later.
- Parliamentary scrutiny and transparency The consultation period for this Bill has been extremely short. This is particularly concerning in the disability sector, where participants, families, carers and providers need time to understand complex legislative change and its practical impact.
For a service such as All About Autism, the short consultation period makes it difficult to properly consult with families, staff and the autistic children who will be affected. Many of our families are already navigating significant administrative, emotional and financial pressure. They need accessible information, time to process the proposed changes, and a genuine opportunity to be heard.
Recommendation: Extend the consultation period to a best-practice minimum of 30 days and ensure accessible consultation processes for children, families, disabled people, carers and providers.
- Key decisions left to ministerial instruments, not law We are concerned that significant decisions affecting eligibility, funding and access to supports may be left to ministerial instruments rather than primary legislation. Decisions about who can access the NDIS, what supports can be funded, and how much support a participant receives should not be changed without parliamentary scrutiny, public transparency and proper notice to affected participants.
For autistic children, this creates real uncertainty. Families may not know whether social participation, capacity-building, emotional regulation, communication or executive functioning supports will remain available until a plan is reviewed or reduced. Providers may also be unable to plan sustainable services if key rules can change quickly and without sufficient consultation.
At All About Autism, our programs rely on predictable funding and continuity. Children do not build trust, regulation and peer connection through short-term, fragmented support. They need consistency, safe relationships and time.
Submission 361
Recommendation: Require that all decisions affecting NDIS eligibility, funding levels and support categories be made through primary legislation, subject to full parliamentary scrutiny, with mandatory advance notice to affected participants, families and providers before changes take effect.
- Existing participants face narrower criteria and fewer rights to challenge decisions We are concerned that existing participants may face narrower criteria and reduced review rights, including restrictions on reassessment requests, automatic plan renewals, and funding reductions that may be difficult or impossible to challenge.
This is not a minor administrative issue. For the children and families we support, a sudden reduction in funding can mean the loss of the only setting where a child feels safe, understood and able to practise skills with peers.
Many autistic children mask in mainstream environments and then experience distress, shutdown, burnout, school refusal or social withdrawal. Neuroaffirming group supports provide a different kind of capacity building. They allow children to practise communication, flexibility, self-advocacy and regulation in a setting where they are not forced to perform neurotypical social behaviour.
These supports should not be treated as optional extras. For many children, they are protective, preventative and essential.
Recommendation: Require a “no harm” safeguard so that no current participant loses access to supports unless equivalent supports are genuinely available and in place. Independent review rights should be preserved before any exit decision, funding reduction or major change to support access takes effect.
- Funding reductions to social participation and capacity-building supports would directly harm autistic children
We are especially concerned about any reduction to social, civic and community participation supports and capacity-building daily activity supports before a replacement system is ready.
All About Autism provides small-group capacity-building supports that are autism-specific, relationship-based and grounded in real-world participation. Children build skills through structured play, shared projects, emotional safety, supported peer interaction, predictable routines and trusted adult relationships.
This work is not duplicated by school or therapy. Schools provide education and reasonable adjustments. Allied health professionals provide important therapeutic input. AAA provides a different and complementary support: regular, neuroaffirming, peer-based capacity-building where children can practise skills in context. Families consistently tell us that their children develop confidence, friendships, emotional regulation, communication and a sense of belonging through our programs. These are not soft outcomes. They are functional outcomes that improve participation at home, school and in the community.
If funding for these supports is reduced before Foundational Supports are operational, children will not simply move into another equivalent system. In many regions, including the Sunshine Coast, there is no equivalent accessible, affordable, autism-specific alternative ready to absorb that need.
The likely consequences are increased isolation, increased family stress, reduced participation, greater school distress, and higher reliance on crisis or clinical services later.
Recommendation: Require that no reductions to community participation or capacity-building supports take effect until Foundational Supports are fully operational, adequately funded, accessible in regional and local communities,
Submission 361
and demonstrably able to meet the needs of the children and families who would otherwise lose NDIS supports.
- Whole-of-person assessment must be preserved We are concerned by any move away from whole-of-person assessment toward narrower consideration of a single eligible impairment.
Autistic children’s support needs are rarely captured neatly through one diagnosis or one point-in-time assessment. Needs can fluctuate depending on sensory load, communication demands, anxiety, environment, relationships, fatigue, transitions and expectations. A child may appear to cope in one setting but be highly distressed or unable to participate in another.
This is particularly true for children who mask. A narrow assessment may miss the hidden cost of participation, including exhaustion, shutdowns, meltdowns, school refusal, sleep disruption and family strain. At All About Autism, we see children who may not present as “high need” in a short assessment but who require consistent, skilled support to participate safely and meaningfully with peers. A whole-of-person view is essential to understanding what support is reasonable, necessary and preventative.
Recommendation: Retain whole-of-person assessment and ensure that functional assessment considers the child’s real-world participation across home, school and community settings, including fluctuating needs, masking, sensory distress, communication differences and the cumulative impact on families.
- Assessment tools must not misidentify need We are concerned about reliance on any functional capacity assessment tool that has not been clearly validated for autistic children, fluctuating needs, communication differences, masking, and culturally diverse families.
Assessment must capture the actual support a child needs to participate, not just what they can appear to do in a structured or unfamiliar assessment environment. Children who are anxious, minimally speaking, demand avoidant, highly masking, or reliant on trusted relationships may be especially vulnerable to under assessment. If assessment tools undercount need, children may lose access to supports that are keeping them connected, regulated and engaged.
Recommendation: Do not proceed with any functional capacity assessment tool unless it has been independently validated for autistic children, children with fluctuating or context-dependent needs, children with communication differences, and First Nations and culturally diverse families.
- Foundational Supports must not replace specialist NDIS supports before they exist We support the idea that more children and families should have access to early, affordable, community based supports. However, Foundational Supports must not be used as a reason to remove NDIS supports before a real alternative exists.
The experience of All About Autism shows that children and families thrive when supports are: neuroaffirming and strengths-based; affordable and accessible; delivered in small, relationship-focused groups; embedded in local community networks; and connected with schools, allied health and families. These conditions do not happen automatically. They require skilled staff, sustainable funding, careful group design, trusted relationships, and long-term continuity.
Submission 361
If Foundational Supports are underfunded, generic, short-term or disconnected from existing community providers, they will not meet the needs of autistic children. They may also increase inequity, with families who can afford private services receiving support while others are left with long waitlists or no meaningful option.
Recommendation: Foundational Supports should be co-designed with autistic people, families and experienced community providers. They should build on existing effective models rather than replacing them with generic or fragmented services. Stable, long-term funding is essential.
- Impact on All About Autism and the families we support The proposed changes would directly affect All About Autism. Our model depends on families being able to access NDIS-funded capacity-building and social participation supports. If these supports are narrowed, reduced, or moved into an uncertain replacement system, children may lose access to a setting that is already working.
The children we support are not simply attending a recreational activity. They are developing the skills and confidence to communicate, regulate, connect, self-advocate, manage flexibility, participate with peers and build a positive autistic identity. For some children, AAA is the first place they feel safe to be themselves. For some families, it is the first support that reduces isolation rather than adding pressure. For many, it is the bridge between therapy, school, home and community life. Weakening access to these supports would be a backwards step.
Summary of recommendations All About Autism recommends that the Committee:
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Extend the consultation period and ensure accessible, meaningful consultation.
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Require parliamentary scrutiny for decisions affecting eligibility, funding and support access.
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Introduce a “no harm” safeguard for existing participants.
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Preserve independent review rights before funding reductions or exit decisions.
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Prevent reductions to community participation and capacity-building supports until Foundational Supports are fully operational and proven.
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Retain whole-of-person assessment.
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Ensure any functional capacity assessment tool is independently validated for autistic children and fluctuating needs.
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Co-design Foundational Supports with autistic people, families and experienced community providers.
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Protect access to neuroaffirming, small-group, relationship-based capacity-building supports.
Closing
All About Autism supports reform that makes the NDIS sustainable, fair and effective. However, sustainability cannot be achieved by cutting early, preventative and community-based supports that are already helping children participate, connect and build lifelong skills. The NDIS should invest in what works. For autistic children, that includes neuroaffirming, relationship-based, small-group supports that build capacity in real-world settings. We urge the Committee to recommend that this Bill be amended before it proceeds.
Yours sincerely,