Safeguarding risks from reductions to preventative supports (DRO advocacy)

Submission 401 - Supplementary Submission

NDIS Amendment (Securing the

NDIS for Future Generations) Bill

2026 Supplementary submission to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee extended inquiry, 10 July 2026

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Submission 401 - Supplementary Submission

Contents

About Inclusion Australia ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 House of Representatives amendments improve the Bill but significant risks remain ……………………………… 4 Inconsistency with the findings and recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission …………………….. 5 Emerging evidence from people with an intellectual disability and families ……………………………………………. 5 Emerging themes from across Australia …………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined. Reports from advocacy organisations ……………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined. Safeguarding and health risks ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined. Loss of independence …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined. Increased justice system risks ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined. Reduced opportunities for children and young people ………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined. What these examples demonstrate ………………………………………………………….. Error! Bookmark not defined. Concerns regarding implementation prior to legislation passing ………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

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Submission 401 - Supplementary Submission

About Inclusion Australia

Inclusion Australia (IA) is the national peak organisation representing the rights and interests of Australians with an intellectual disability and their families. Founded more than 70 years ago in 1954, our mission is to work with people with an intellectual disability, their families and our members to make positive change. Our strength is in our national representation and our connection to our community. We have a member organisation in every state and territory across Australia:

• ACT Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability (ACT DSID)
• Council for Intellectual Disability (NSW)
• Developmental Disability WA (DDWA)
• Inclusion Northern Territory (Inclusion NT)
• Parent to Parent (P2P, Queensland)
• South Australian Council on Intellectual Disability (SACID)
• Speak Out Advocacy (Tasmania)
• Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability (VALID). Our governance is supported by Our Voice, an official subcommittee of our Board comprised of people with an intellectual disability. Our work is further guided by our Policy Reference Group, also led and comprised of people with an intellectual disability across Australia. The Policy Reference Group members come from diverse backgrounds, including First Nations people, people from multicultural communities, and LGBTIQA+ people. They bring combined decades of experience in advocacy and direct experience of many government services and reform processes. Additionally, more than half of our internal team are people with an intellectual disability or family members, embedding lived experience across all aspects of our work.

Inclusion Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country on which this submission was written and throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connections to land, waters and skies and pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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Submission 401 - Supplementary Submission

Introduction

Inclusion Australia supports reforms that strengthen the long-term sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). People with an intellectual disability and their families rely on a strong, sustainable Scheme, and we recognise the importance of ensuring the NDIS remains available for future generations. We also support reforms that improve planning, strengthen safeguarding and enhance regulatory oversight. These objectives are particularly important for people with an intellectual disability, who the Disability Royal Commission found experience disproportionately high rates of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The NDIS is central to Australia’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and we are committed to working with Parliamentarians to ensure reforms are fit for purpose, including measures that support Scheme sustainability while protecting the rights, safety and inclusion of people with an intellectual disability. While we welcome amendments passed by the House of Representatives that improve aspects of the Bill, significant concerns remain. We are increasingly hearing reports from people with an intellectual disability, families and our member organisations around Australia that reductions to Social, Community and Civic Participation (SCCP) supports are already occurring, with some families being told those reductions are occurring due to the NDIS Bill, which Parliament has not yet fully considered or enacted. These reports raise serious questions about procedural fairness, transparency and consistency in decision making. They also suggest that some people may already be experiencing the practical consequences of proposed reforms before Parliament has determined whether, or in what form, those reforms should become law. This submission outlines the emerging evidence we are hearing from across Australia and explains why further legislative safeguards remain necessary.

We have also joined Down Syndrome Australia, Disability Advocacy Network Australia, National Disability

Servies and Ability First Australia in a joint submission highlighting important changes required to safeguard people with high and complex support needs through this reform process.

House of Representatives amendments improve the Bill, but significant risks remain We welcome amendments passed by the House of Representatives that seek to embed some protections within the Bill, including the explicit removal of restrictive practices from what may constitute “treatment”, and measures intended to protect employment-related supports from reductions through Support Determinations. However, it remains unclear how these protections can operate consistently in practice for people with an intellectual disability. Many people with an intellectual disability receive employment-related supports through broader SSCP rather than through separately identified employment supports, particularly outside Australian Disability Enterprises. Supports that enable someone to build work readiness, develop routines, travel independently, participate in community-based volunteering, or receive on-the-job assistance are frequently funded within broader SCCP budgets rather than being separately identified. Without a practical mechanism to identify and preserve these supports during planning, supports that are essential to obtaining, maintaining or preparing for employment could still be reduced, despite Parliament’s clear intention that employment supports be protected. More broadly, the House of Representatives amendments do not address the practical risks already emerging through NDIS planning decisions. Inclusion Australia and our member organisations are receiving consistent reports from across Australia that people with an intellectual disability are already experiencing significant reductions to SCCP supports, with serious consequences for their health, safety, independence and inclusion.

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Submission 401 - Supplementary Submission

Inconsistency with the findings and recommendations of the Disability Royal

Commission

Through the thousands of testimonies of evidence given at public hearings, private sessions, community engagements, in submissions, and through its robust research program, the Disability Royal Commission showed that inclusion is most evident where: An individual is made welcome, where they feel welcome, where they know they belong, where they know they are safe, and where their voice is heard and acted upon … it is where people live in close personal relationships with others, where they have friends and advocates and where they are free to express their philosophical/religious beliefs, sexual and cultural identities, that people can live a quality life free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.1 A significant research report commissioned by the Disability Royal Commission addressing outcomes associated with ‘inclusive’, ‘segregated’ and ‘integrated’ settings for people with disability notes that access to inclusive settings alongside people with and without disability in the context of freely entered, unpaid relationships “… situate people with disability in authentic and meaningful reciprocal relationships with others. These significant others may extend to people with disability relationships that provide safeguards to counter the risk of violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation and, where instances occur, to provide advocacy to seek redress.”2 The Disability Royal Commission repeatedly identified social isolation, segregation and exclusion from community life as key drivers of vulnerability to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Commissioners described social isolation and exclusion from the wider community as “forms of abuse and neglect”3 in and of themselves, and emphasised the critical importance of inclusion, community connection and independent relationships as critical safeguards against harm.

Emerging evidence from people with an intellectual disability and families Inclusion Australia is receiving consistent reports from people with an intellectual disability, families and our member organisations across Australia that SCCP funding is already being significantly reduced during plan reviews. The reports we are receiving point to an emerging systemic pattern. Importantly, these reports demonstrate the findings of the Disability Royal Commission cited above: that supports categorised as “social and community participation” are far more than opportunities for recreation or social inclusion. For many people with an intellectual disability, these supports enable them to:

• Manage health conditions and prevent deterioration

• Access healthcare and attend medical appointments

• Take essential medications safely

• Shop for groceries and prepare meals

• Maintain daily routines and independent living skills

• Build relationships and informal support networks

• Take part in employment and community life

• Avoid preventable crises that lead to hospitalisation, homelessness or contact with the justice system. These supports are often preventative. They play a critical safeguarding role by reducing the likelihood of avoidable harm, family breakdown and reliance on more intensive and costly services. In addition, we are hearing reports that some participants are being told their plans are being reduced because of the proposed reforms contained in the Bill, despite Parliament not yet determining whether the legislation should pass, the Community Affairs Legislative Committee still considering the Bill, and Government and the NDIA publicly indicating that current legislation and policy settings continue to apply. These reports raise serious questions about whether planning decisions are being influenced by proposed legislative reforms before Parliament has completed its consideration of the legislation.

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Submission 401 - Supplementary Submission

Conclusion

Inclusion Australia supports reforms that strengthen the long-term sustainability of the NDIS. However, sustainability cannot be achieved by reducing preventative supports that protect people’s health, safety and independence. The emerging evidence from people with an intellectual disability, families and advocacy organisations indicates that reductions to SCCP supports are already increasing safeguarding risks, shifting responsibilities onto ageing families and providers, and creating greater reliance on hospitals, justice systems and other crisis services. These outcomes are likely to intensify for many people with an intellectual disability, including those with the highest support needs, if Support Determinations are implemented in their current form. Parliament should also strengthen the Bill’s safeguards by explicitly protecting participants requiring 24-hour supports and employment-related supports from future Support Determinations, establishing escalation pathways where implementation creates safeguarding risks or unintended consequences, ensuring transition arrangements address existing planning anomalies for people with complex needs, and improving transparency and accountability around future Support Determinations. These issues are explored in greater detail in the joint submission by Inclusion Australia, Down Syndrome Australia, Disability Advocacy Network Australia, National Disability Services and Ability First Australia. Further action is required from the Government, including from the National Disability Insurance Agency, to ensure planning decisions continue to be made according to the law as it currently stands, rather than on the basis of anticipated future reforms.

1 McVilly, K., Ainsworth, S., Graham, L., Harrison, M., Sojo, V., Spivakovsky, C., Gale, L., Genat, A., Zirnsak, T. (2022). Outcomes associated with ‘inclusive’, ‘segregated’ and ‘integrated’ settings: Accommodation and community living, employment and education. A research report commissioned by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. University of Melbourne, Australia. Page 120. 2 McVilly, K et al. 2022. Outcomes associated with ‘inclusive’, ‘segregated’ and ‘integrated’ settings: Accommodation and community living, employment and education. A research report commissioned by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. University of Melbourne, Australia. 3 Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, 2023. Final Report – Volume 3: Nature and Extent of Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation https://.disability.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/final report-volume-3-nature-and-extent-violence-abuse-neglect-and-exploitation, page 6.

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