National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3803
Committee Secretary Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 By email: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au Submission: National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Dear Committee Secretary, Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. While ensuring the long-term sustainability of the NDIS is important, this Bill contains measures that undermine the scheme’s original participant-centred goals. I urge the Committee to consider the following significant concerns regarding the draft legislation:
1. Shift to Functional Capacity Entry Requirements
The introduction of a standardised assessment tool to govern entry and plan reassessments risks erasing individual nuance. Uniform, objective tools cannot accurately capture the complex, fluctuating realities of disability. Furthermore, as peak bodies have warned, these rigid assessment tools lack cultural validity for First Nations participants and risk entrenching existing inequities.
2. Tighter Definitions of Impairment Permanence
Requiring applicants to prove they have exhausted “all appropriate treatments” before accessing the scheme creates an unfair evidentiary hurdle. Crucially, the Bill allows the NDIA to deem a treatment “appropriate” even if financial, systemic, or geographical barriers prevent the applicant from actually accessing it. This penalises individuals for systemic failures in the broader healthcare system.
3. Broad Expansion of Ministerial Powers
The Bill grants the Minister unprecedented authority to cap or reduce funding for specific cohorts and support types, such as social, civic, and community participation. This top-down model completely bypasses the principle of co-design, strips autonomy from participants, and compromises the individualized nature of NDIS funding.
4. Severe Planning and Funding Restrictions
The proposed restrictions on funding present immediate risks to participant stability: - No budget roll-overs: Eliminating the automatic roll-over of unspent funds punishes participants for workforce shortages or delays in sourcing providers. - Limited plan reassessments: Restricting the grounds for unscheduled plan reviews leaves participants vulnerable when their life circumstances or health conditions rapidly change. - Impairment-specific funding: Limiting funding strictly to a primary recognized impairment ignores the holistic reality of
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3803
comorbid conditions, shifting a heavy burden onto already strained mainstream health systems.
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Automated Decision-Making and Flawed Timelines Allowing automated administrative systems to determine eligibility and plan outcomes introduces severe risks, echoing the failures of previous automated government systems (ROBO DEBT). This risk is amplified by imbalanced statutory timelines that compress the timeframes allowed for participants to respond while extending deadlines for the NDIA.
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Premature Reform Sequencing Restricting access to the NDIS before state, territory, and federal governments have established and funded promised “foundational supports” is a dangerous sequencing error. It creates an immediate support deficit, leaving vulnerable individuals completely stranded without a safety net inside or outside the scheme.
Conclusion and Recommendations
I recommend that the Senate Committee delay the passage of this Bill until: - Genuine co-design has occurred with the disability community. - Foundational supports are fully funded and operational across Australia. - Safeguards are established to protect participant autonomy against automated decisions and broad Ministerial interventions. Thank you for your time and consideration of this submission.
Sincerely,