27/5/2026
NDIS Amendment Bill enquiry submission –
My name is , and I am writing in opposition to the proposed NDIS amendment bill. I am a 31 year old disabled artist and have been navigating the disability and healthcare systems since I was born. I am horrified and scared reading about the changes our government is intending to make to the NDIS, and I am demanding that this bill not be passed.
There are many concerns I have regarding the proposed amendments, both for the safety and wellbeing of myself and my community. I fear some (amongst MANY others) of the consequences of this bill will include:
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Decreased autonomy – with changes to types and levels of supports being approved, as well as the possibility of mandatory registration for support workers, I fear disabled people are going to experience a significant decrease in our own autonomy and self-determination over how our access and support needs are met, who is providing that support, and what we might need in order to live our lives the way we want to. How would you feel being asked to justify and ask for permission for everything you need in your life to be safe, comfortable and happy? I fear that a significant reduction in supports being funded, as well as the number of disabled people having access to funding to begin with, will place an already vulnerable and isolated population of people at risk of further isolation and exclusion from society. The NDIS focuses so much on goals and outcomes, with the hope that supports will enable disabled people to ‘contribute to society’. How does making huge cuts to our only source of tangible support encourage this?
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Dehumanisation/depersonalisation – having navigated many different systems of support for my whole life, I already am intimately familiar with the dehumanisation that comes with systems which provide conditional support (for basic human rights which are afforded to every other non-disabled person) and require disabled people to ask for and justify our own needs and to rely on the opinions of professionals with no lived experience of disability to add validity and authenticity to this. By decreasing the amount of decisions
- An increase in mental health crises and suicide rates – there is no doubt that the proposed cuts to the NDIS will pose a serious threat to the physical health and wellbeing of disabled people and their families, and I have no doubt that this WILL result in many deaths; either as a result of people not having access to supports they need to survive, or as a result of suicide because of the distress, grief and trauma caused by being forced to live with a low quality of life. For disabled folks with already minimal supports and access to support from community around them, I believe eliminating or significantly reducing these already minimal resources to begin with will result in significant mental health crisis, hopelessness, and a sense that suicide or VAD might be someone’s only option. There is no word for this other than eugenics.
It’s pretty scary that I’ve been dealing with these systems since 1994, and it’s not been until 2026 that I’ve experienced such a profound sense of fear, terror and worry for my life and the lives of the entire disabled population in Australia as a result of governmental decision-making regarding our lives and supports. These changes will not only impact disabled people and their families – the flow on effects will be huge. From family members of disabled people experiencing greater pressure to provide foundational supports for their loved one and being at risk of burnout, to an impact on the Australian economy as a result of significant decrease in disabled people and their families’ participation/inclusion in the community, to a significant increase in pressure on the medical system including hospitals and emergency services – this cruel and dangerous bill will have flow on effects for everyone.
I’d like to remind every single person reading or listening to these submissions of something critical:
You, and every person you know could become disabled at any moment and in fact, if you are privileged to age, you will become disabled. There is no escaping the fact that every single Australian is or will become impacted (either directly or indirectly) by disability at some point in their lives. I urge you to seriously consider the proposed changes that this bill intends to effect; would you be okay with the consequences
and outcomes if they were to directly impact your life? Your spouse’s life? Your
parents? Your children? You’re humans, I implore you to examine your own humanity
and prevent these changes from coming into effect.