National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 3917

Personal Submission, 1 June 2026

CONSULTATION

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Disabled People (2019), and Australian Bureau of Statistics data on social, education, and employment participation, shows the Disability Community is one of Australia’s most vulnerable communities.

The Bill proposed includes changes that have life-changing consequences for our daily living, social participation, and employment participation. It requires more than 15 days consultation.

STANDARDISATION, CAPS, AND I-CAN

The Bill proposal seeks to remove the individualised assessment of support needs – and, concurrently, individualised funding of support needs - that was core to the design of the NDIS.

The Bill proposal seeks to replace this with standardised frameworks and capped funding. The Bill proposed – and the NDIS website – propose standardised funding, determined by unqualified assessors, using automated tools, not designed or verified for this purpose. With no mechanism to adjust unanticipated outcomes. This will not ensure allocation of funds is aligned with demonstrated impairments in functional capacity to undertake daily living, social, or employment tasks.

The Bill proposal must require assessment by qualified Occupational Therapists, to accurately assess individual functional capacity, and ensure defensible expenditure of public monies.

CONTACT METHODS AND TIMELINES

The Bill proposal provides NDIA up to 90 days to action participants applications. This does not make sense in a context where the Bill proposal also states that participant applications for change will be for major changes in circumstance, where updates to plan are required to address immediate needs.

The Bill provides that participants who do not respond to NDIA in 90 days may be removed from the scheme. The Bill does not concurrently require NDIA improve historically problematic communication accessibility – for example, requiring d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing participants make contact via phone.

The Bill proposal must ensure contact methods and timelines align with Australia’s broader Disability Discrimination Act (1992) and Human Rights (1986) legislation.

MINISTERIAL POWER

This Bill proposal provides the Minister power to change – including the power to cut – a category of support, across all plans, across all NDIS participants, by stated percentages.

\nThis appears to provide the Minister the power to cut a life sustaining category of support such as daily living by 60%, 70%, 80%. Without assessing safety on individual participant-by-participant basis. Without actioning individual requests for changes to then address issues this change creates in under 90 days. If the Minister deems it necessary to meet a financial sustainability target in the budget. Ministerial power to make a decision to prioritise budget targets over disability services already assessed as both necessary and reasonable requires a time limit, for example a time period similar to the two year period to make modifications to the Aged Care Act 2024.

– Teacher, Researcher, Arts Leader, Activist, and NDIS Participant