National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3681
Submission Regarding the NDIS Amendment Bill
My name is and I am the mother of a seven-year-old boy named .
I am writing to oppose the proposed NDIS Amendment Bill because I am deeply concerned about what it could mean for my son’s future and the future of children like him.
We are not a family looking for extras. We are an ordinary Australian family trying to help our child overcome significant developmental disabilities and have a chance at a meaningful life. I work as a Family Violence Coordinator and my husband works in the paint industry. We work hard, pay our taxes and contribute to our community. Yet there is absolutely no way we could afford to privately fund the occupational therapy, speech pathology and psychology that requires.
Without NDIS-funded assessments and therapies, I would not even fully understand the extent of my son’s disabilities. It was through NDIS-funded supports that we discovered ’s challenges were not simply behavioural difficulties or parenting issues, but significant developmental disabilities affecting nearly every aspect of his life. Those assessments identified substantial impairments in communication, learning, emotional regulation, self-care, social participation, motor skills and daily functioning. His adaptive functioning was assessed as below the 1st percentile for children his age.
Earlier this year, the demands of mainstream schooling became so overwhelming that experienced severe distress, escalating meltdowns, regression in functioning and a significant deterioration in his mental wellbeing. We ultimately had to withdraw him from mainstream education because we were genuinely concerned for his safety and wellbeing.
The NDIS has given us more than funding. It has given us answers. It has given us hope. It has given us access to professionals who understand our son and are helping him develop the skills he needs to communicate, learn, participate in his community and work towards independence.
What concerns me most about this Bill is that it appears to focus on reducing expenditure without considering the long-term consequences of removing support from vulnerable children.
Children like do not become less disabled because funding is reduced or removed. Their needs do not disappear. The costs do not disappear. Those costs are simply transferred elsewhere.
They are transferred to families already experiencing carer burnout. They are transferred to schools struggling to support children with complex needs. They are transferred to mental health services, hospitals, welfare systems and crisis services.
As someone who works in the family violence sector, I see every day what happens when vulnerable people do not receive adequate support early enough. The long-term outcomes can include poor educational attainment, chronic unemployment, mental illness, homelessness, family breakdown and involvement with the justice system.
I do not want that future for my son.
Right now, NDIS-funded therapies are helping us change the trajectory of his life. They are helping him build skills, confidence, resilience and independence. They are helping us address problems while he is still a child rather than waiting until those problems become lifelong barriers.
Investing in children like now is not only the compassionate thing to do; it is the economically responsible thing to do. Supporting children early costs far less than paying for the consequences of unmet need later in life.
If these supports are removed, I fear that the progress he has made will be lost and that the gap between him and his peers will continue to widen. I fear he will face greater barriers to education,
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3681
employment, relationships and community participation. I fear he will be denied the opportunity to reach his potential.
My son is intelligent, funny, caring and full of potential. The NDIS gives him the opportunity to develop that potential and become a contributing member of society despite the significant challenges he faces.
Please do not take that opportunity away from him.
Please remember that behind every budget line and policy decision is a real child, a real family and a real future.
Yours sincerely,