Submission 443
Submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs
Inquiry: National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations)
Bill 2026
Date: 27 May 2026
I am writing this submission to raise my concerns in to the new NDIS Bill 2026. I recognise that the NDIS needs to be made sustainable and that there are areas of spending which could be decreased. I also recognise that there are those who have taken advantage of the scheme, that fraud is committed – in a small number of cases. However, the sustainability of the scheme and the eradication of fraud should not come at the cost of the lives of the disabled community.
I am a parent first and foremost of 3 children with disabilities who are all participants on the NDIS. I am also an NDIS provider – qualified Social Worker and Specialist Support Coordinator, working primarily with families and children with complex needs and significant disabilities.
In their early years, my 3 children had significant needs and the intense therapy that they were able to access through the NDIS alongside additional core support funding has meant they have been able to attend mainstream school, make significant progress in all areas of their lives. Without this intensive support it is likely that they would need significnalty more support in adulthood.
I support families everyday who are overwhelmed by the disability related needs of their children. These are children whom have significant behavioural needs, need constant support to undertake the simplest of tasks. These parents are often referred to me by the child protection system – in an attempt to connect the families and children with the supports they need to prevent them being relinquished into state care. These are not parents who haven’t tried, who haven’t cared for their children intensively. These are parents who have lost jobs due to their children’s disability needs; parents who have had to live separately to ensure the safety of their non disabled children. Without the significant support afforded to them these children would end up in the child protection system, separated from family and community, their needs increased by trauma. I also support adult participants with significant needs, who are afforded the opportunity to engage in their communities, in employment, to develop their skills, by the NDIS. The proposed cuts to social and community budgets and therapy budgets will see these participants isolated from the community, unable to access things due to lack of support and making them more reliant than ever than home based supports.
Submission 443
It is therefore with my own children, the families and children I support and the adults whom I support that I make the following submission:
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Summary The proposed amendments outlined in the NDIS (Securing the NDIS for the Future) Bill 2026, mark a significant shift away from individual rights and person-centred support, towards a model focused on fiscal constraint through automated means. My submission draws on both personal experience caring for three children with complex needs and professional work supporting families at risk of burnout. The Bill’s measures enable whole-of-cohort funding reductions, introduce automated and unproven assessment systems, and remove meaningful community input. These changes threaten widespread collapse among disability service providers, reduction of allied health and clinical expertise within the sector, and risk shifting vulnerable children into state-run care or institutions, and adult participants isolated, unable to engage in meaningful employment or activities outside of the home risking decline in their wellbeing and functioning.
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The Reality of Multi-Disability Households and Parental Capacity The proposed changes are based on the incorrect presumption that disability is an isolated circumstance. In reality, families like mine, with multiple children requiring complex care, face challenges that multiply-not just add up-logistically, financially, and emotionally. While the legislation focuses on “parental responsibility”, it fails to define the boundary between standard parenting and the high-level, clinical care required for children with significant disability. Imposing round-the-clock, specialised care on parents-without clear support or resources disregards human limits. Early intervention funded by the NDIS has demonstrably reduced overall care needs for my children. If similar support is cut in the future, children will require far more intensive care, undermining the cost-effectiveness and intent of early NDIS investment.
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Concerns About Centralised Power and Algorithmic Assessments The Bill provides the Minister with the authority to reduce funding for entire groups or categories, potentially by up to 100%, irrespective of individual need. Under the new framework, person-centred assessment is being replaced by automated evaluation tools that are neither fully developed nor appropriately trialled. Removing the requirement for genuine legislative co-design with the disability community diminishes trust and overlooks lived experience and professional expertise.
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Legal Conflicts with the NDIS Act 2013
Submission 443
Section 34 (“Reasonable and Necessary” Supports): The proposed Bill allows for the Minister to block or limit lawful supports, even where these meet existing statutory criteria. Section 3(1)(a) (“Choice and Control”): Automating and capping supports removes the capacity for individuals and allied health professionals to make evidence-based, person-centred decisions. Section 99 (Review Rights): Moving to broad, cohort-level changes eliminates individual review rights, including access to the Administrative Review Tribunal, leading to reduced accountability.
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Impact on Allied Health Workforce and Provider Sustainability Leading allied health professionals will exit the sector if their skills and assessments are routinely overridden by automated tools, resulting in loss of clinical expertise and increased administrative burden. Providers, particularly those operating in regional, rural or thin markets, risk closure as the threat of rapid, large-scale funding cuts disrupts their ability to maintain safe and effective services and retain staff.
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Human Rights Concerns and Risk of Re-Institutionalisation Automated budget reductions and provider exits will erode the right to live independently, participate in community, and be supported as an individual. The lack of community consultation breaches both the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the principles enshrined in domestic legislation. If essential supports are removed, families will face breakdown, resulting in children being relinquished to state care, and adults being directed to institutional settings, undoing years of progress in disability inclusion.
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Conclusion and Recommendations This Bill, in its current form, does not achieve genuine cost savings. Instead, it shifts the financial and human burden from the federal to state systems, intensifying the strain on crisis, health, and child protection services.
I recommend that the Committee:
Submission 443
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Remove Ministerial powers to unilaterally enact cohort-wide support cuts outside of proper assessment and review.
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Place a moratorium on any automated assessment framework until it is robustly co-designed and trialled with sector input.
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Set clear statutory definitions for ‘parental responsibility’ distinguishing ordinary duties from clinically intensive lifelong care.
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Mandate that individual assessments and planning remain under the direction of allied health professionals, not algorithms.
These proposed legislative changes place the integrity and effectiveness of the NDIS at considerable risk, undermining long-standing principles of choice, control, and inclusion for people with disability and their families. I urge the Committee to consult meaningfully with those with lived experience and sector professionals, and to amend or reject any measures that threaten to erode the rights and opportunities of NDIS participants. Protecting the NDIS now is essential to securing the safety, dignity, and future of all Australians living with disability.
Christy Brown
27/05/2026
Submission 443