Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auSubmission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee
Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing
the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submitted by Distinctive Options on 29 May 2026
Introduction
Distinctive Options welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission regarding the
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations)
Bill 2026.
Distinctive Options is a registered disability services provider supporting approximately 340 people with disability across Sunbury, Bendigo, Bairnsdale and surrounding regional communities in Victoria.
For more than 40 years, Distinctive Options has partnered with people with disability, families and communities to strengthen independence, participation, wellbeing and community connection through person-centred and locally responsive supports. Distinctive Options
provides Individual Supports, Group and Community Participation, Supported Independent
Living and Supported Employment and Social Enterprise pathways across regional and rural Victoria.
Distinctive Options supports the long-term sustainability, integrity and quality of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The organisation recognises the need for reform to strengthen safeguarding, improve consistency, reduce fraud and exploitation, strengthen market integrity and ensure the Scheme remains sustainable for future generations.
Distinctive Options also supports important elements of the Bill and broader reform agenda, including expanded mandatory provider registration for higher risk supports, stronger compliance and safeguarding powers, improved provider oversight and greater accountability across the sector.
However, Distinctive Options is concerned that the cumulative effect of the proposed reforms may unintentionally shift the practical focus of the NDIS away from participation, inclusion and independence, and toward a more restrictive administrative and fiscal framework, without sufficient implementation readiness, consultation or evidence regarding broader long-term impacts.
This submission reflects both Distinctive Options’ operational experience supporting participants and families across regional Victoria and broader Australian and international evidence regarding disability, social isolation, participation, mental health and long-term community outcomes.
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auKey Message
Distinctive Options supports reform and recognises the need to strengthen the long-term sustainability and integrity of the NDIS.
However, Distinctive Options is concerned that the cumulative effect of the proposed reforms may unintentionally narrow the practical purpose of the Scheme, away from participation, inclusion and independence, and toward a more constrained administrative and fiscal framework.
Across regional Victoria, Distinctive Options sees every day that the NDIS is not simply about care or supervision. For many people, it is the support that enables them to leave home, build relationships, contribute to their community, maintain mental wellbeing and live with dignity and connection.
A sustainable NDIS must be measured not only by what it costs, but also by what it prevents: isolation, crisis, family breakdown, avoidable hospitalisation and loss of independence.
The NDIS was created to support people with disability to live ordinary, connected and self directed lives within their communities. Distinctive Options believes reform must continue to protect those outcomes alongside financial sustainability and market integrity.
Recommendations
Distinctive Options recommends that the Committee:
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Retain and strengthen safeguarding and integrity reforms Support reforms relating to fraud prevention, provider accountability, mandatory registration for higher risk supports, stronger market oversight and improved safeguarding protections.
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Preserve participation and inclusion Ensure that participation, inclusion, independence and community connection remain central outcomes within planning and funding frameworks.
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Avoid broad support reductions without stronger evidence Publish broader whole-of-government modelling regarding the likely impacts of support reductions on mental health, family wellbeing, hospital systems, crisis services, employment participation and regional communities before substantial reductions are implemented.
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.au-
Ensure foundational supports are operational first No participant should lose practical access to support unless alternative systems are demonstrably available, accessible and adequately funded within their local community.
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Assess regional and rural impacts separately Undertake specific regional and rural implementation analysis, recognising the realities of thin markets, workforce shortages, transport barriers and limited mainstream alternatives.
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Protect review and appeal rights Ensure participants continue to have access to meaningful human review, accessible explanations of decisions and effective appeal pathways where supports are materially reduced.
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Ensure automation remains subject to human oversight Technology and automation should support administration and fraud prevention, not replace transparent, individualised human decision-making where participant rights and life outcomes are affected.
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Implement reforms gradually through consultation and co-design Proceed through phased implementation with ongoing consultation, operational readiness testing and public evaluation of impacts on participation, wellbeing and service continuity.
Reform is necessary, but balance matters
Distinctive Options acknowledges the significant challenges facing the NDIS. The Scheme has experienced rapid growth, workforce shortages, inconsistent planning outcomes, variable provider quality and increasing concerns regarding fraud, over-servicing and exploitation. These issues undermine participant trust and place pressure on the long-term sustainability of the Scheme.
Distinctive Options therefore supports stronger safeguarding and compliance measures, expanded mandatory provider registration for higher risk supports, stronger action against fraud and exploitation, improved provider oversight, stronger market stewardship and greater consistency in planning outcomes.
The proposed expansion of mandatory provider registration is an important reform direction. People with disability should be protected from unsafe and exploitative practice, and public funding should be directed toward high-quality and accountable supports.
However, Distinctive Options believes there is an important distinction between reforms that strengthen quality, integrity and safeguarding, and reforms that unintentionally reduce
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.aupractical access to support, narrow participation outcomes or shift risk back onto participants, families and communities.
The Bill introduces tighter access and permanence frameworks, increased sustainability considerations within funding decisions, expanded Ministerial powers regarding support determinations, increased automation of administrative actions, tighter reassessment arrangements, plan end dates, removal of carryover arrangements and substantial reliance on future delegated rules and operational guidance.
In addition, the Government has separately outlined planning reform measures expected to result in significant reductions to some social, civic and community participation and capacity-building supports from 1 October 2026 as plans are reassessed or renewed.
Individually, many of these measures may appear administratively reasonable. Collectively, however, they represent a significant shift away from participant flexibility and toward greater administrative control and expenditure management.
This concern is not simply resistance to change. It reflects growing uncertainty among many people with disability and families about whether the Scheme will continue to support the broader outcomes it was originally designed to achieve, namely inclusion, participation, independence and ordinary life opportunities.
Sustainability and long-term reform
Distinctive Options recognises that the rapid growth of the NDIS over recent years has created genuine fiscal and operational pressure for governments, participants and the broader sector. The organisation understands the concern regarding long-term Scheme sustainability and accepts that expenditure growth at previous levels is unlikely to be sustainable indefinitely.
Distinctive Options also recognises that governments have a responsibility to ensure public funding is used effectively, consistently and transparently, particularly within a Scheme of this scale.
However, Distinctive Options is concerned that sustainability risks being framed too narrowly as a question of reducing annual expenditure growth alone.
The long-term sustainability of the NDIS should also be measured by whether the Scheme is helping people maintain independence, participate in their communities, reduce reliance on crisis systems and build more stable long-term lives.
There is a significant difference between improving efficiency, consistency and safeguards within the Scheme, and reducing supports that may ultimately prevent isolation, deterioration in mental health, family breakdown and increased pressure on other government systems.
Distinctive Options believes the central policy question should not simply be how to slow Scheme growth, but how to ensure the NDIS remains both financially sustainable and effective in achieving the social and economic outcomes it was created to deliver.
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auReforms that are perceived as overly rapid, insufficiently targeted or disconnected from lived experience risk further undermining confidence in the Scheme and creating unintended long term costs elsewhere across the health, mental health, housing and community sectors.
Fraud, integrity and participant trust
Distinctive Options recognises the seriousness of fraud, exploitation and non-compliant practice within parts of the NDIS market. Organised fraud, false invoicing, overcharging, misuse of participant funds and exploitative provider behaviour undermine confidence in the Scheme and divert funding away from people who genuinely need support.
Distinctive Options supports stronger safeguarding, expanded mandatory provider registration, improved market oversight, stronger compliance capabilities and greater action against exploitative and fraudulent practice.
At the same time, it is important that fraud and integrity concerns are not conflated with the legitimate support needs of people with disability themselves.
There is clear evidence that serious fraud and exploitative practices exist within parts of the NDIS market. The Australian National Audit Office previously found that the NDIA lacked several foundational fraud prevention and compliance controls, while more recent investigations by the Fraud Fusion Taskforce have identified organised criminal activity and systemic misuse of participant funds.
Distinctive Options strongly supports action to address these issues.
However, Distinctive Options is not aware of publicly available evidence demonstrating that broad reductions to participation and capacity-building supports are the appropriate primary response to fraud and integrity risks.
Fraud should be addressed primarily through stronger provider regulation, digital payment controls, registration, market oversight, data integrity, enforcement capability and targeted compliance activity, not through broad reductions to supports that enable participation, independence and inclusion.
People with disability and their families should not feel that they are carrying the burden of earlier system failures created by weak market regulation or inadequate safeguards during periods of rapid Scheme expansion.
The long-term sustainability of the NDIS will ultimately depend not only on reducing misuse of funding, but on maintaining trust that the Scheme continues to exist to support people with disability to live meaningful, connected and self-directed lives.
Participation and inclusion are preventative supports
The NDIS is not solely a funding mechanism. It is one of the primary ways Australia gives practical effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auparticularly the right of people with disability to live independently and participate fully in community life.
For many participants, NDIS supports are not simply services. They are the practical means through which people leave home, maintain relationships, participate in education and employment, build confidence and life skills, volunteer and contribute to community life.
Australian and international evidence consistently demonstrates that participation and social connection are protective factors for long-term wellbeing, independence and mental health.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) reports that people with disability aged 15–64 experience social isolation at approximately twice the rate of people without disability. AIHW also reports that approximately 38,000 people with disability do not leave home at all and that 27% of people with disability do not leave home as often as they would like.
The World Health Organisation has identified social isolation and loneliness as major contributors to poorer mental health, reduced physical wellbeing and increased risk of premature mortality.
The NDIA’s own research regarding social inclusion and community access found that community participation contributes to increased belonging, stronger social networks, reduced isolation, improved confidence and stronger pathways to employment and education.
In addition, the Office of Impact Analysis accompanying the reform package acknowledged that reductions to social and community participation supports may disproportionately affect participants with psychosocial disability, intellectual disability, visual impairment and Down syndrome.
This evidence is critically important because associated reform measures are expected to result in significant reductions to some social, civic and community participation and capacity-building supports from 1 October 2026 as plans are reassessed or renewed.
Distinctive Options strongly believes participation-based supports should not be reframed as discretionary or secondary supports. Participation is often preventative, capability-building and protective of long-term wellbeing.
For many participants, these supports are what allow them to remain connected to their community and maintain confidence, routine and relationships.
For a participant with psychosocial disability in regional Victoria, a reduction in participation support may not simply mean attending fewer activities. It may mean leaving home less frequently, increased social withdrawal, greater reliance on ageing parents, deterioration in mental health and eventual escalation into crisis support systems.
For many participants engaged in supported employment, volunteering or community-based pathways, participation supports are often the practical bridge toward confidence, capability and greater independence.
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auThese concerns are not theoretical for many of the people Distinctive Options supports.
Across recent weeks, participants and families have increasingly spoken about fear, uncertainty and exhaustion. Many people are worried that supports which allow them to participate in ordinary community life may gradually disappear or become harder to access.
For some participants, this is about being able to do the same kinds of things many of their peers without disability take for granted, meeting friends for coffee, attending local sporting clubs, volunteering, going to the gym, participating in community groups, learning new skills or simply leaving the house with confidence and support.
Families have spoken about worrying that their loved ones may become more isolated again after years of progress building confidence, routine, independence and connection.
Distinctive Options is also hearing from parents who have spent years fighting for appropriate supports for their children, navigating systems, advocating through reviews and appeals, managing uncertainty and carrying enormous emotional and practical responsibility. Many describe feeling tired and emotionally drained at the prospect of preparing for another prolonged period of uncertainty and advocacy.
At the same time, these families consistently express that they will continue to fight for their children and loved ones because they know what is at stake: quality of life, independence, dignity, belonging and future opportunity.
These experiences are important because they reflect the human reality behind the reforms. For many people with disability and their families, the NDIS is the framework that has allowed people to build safer, more connected and more independent lives within their communities.
The reforms may shift pressure onto families and other systems
One of the original drivers of the NDIS was recognition that unpaid family care systems were becoming unsustainable.
Distinctive Options is concerned that if supports become harder to access, more constrained or less flexible, much of this burden may shift back onto ageing parents, family carers, siblings and informal support networks. This has broader implications for workforce participation, financial security, family wellbeing and carer mental health.
At the same time, reducing NDIS expenditure does not automatically reduce whole-of government expenditure.
Where people lose supports that maintain participation, stability and wellbeing, costs are often transferred into hospital and emergency systems, mental health services, housing and homelessness systems, justice systems and unpaid family care.
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auDistinctive Options notes that the Office of Impact Analysis acknowledged that aspects of the reform package would benefit from stronger quantification and implementation analysis.
Distinctive Options believes broader whole-of-government modelling should be publicly available before substantial reductions to supports are implemented. This modelling should include mental health impacts, carer impacts, regional service impacts, hospital and crisis system impacts and long-term participation outcomes.
Regional and rural communities face different realities
As a provider operating across regional Victoria, Distinctive Options is concerned that the reforms do not sufficiently account for regional and rural realities.
Participants in regional communities often face fewer provider options, reduced transport access, thinner workforce markets, fewer allied health services and fewer mainstream alternatives.
In regional communities, even relatively small reductions or administrative changes can have disproportionate impacts because there may be no practical substitute available.
The assumption that foundational or mainstream systems will absorb unmet need is particularly concerning in regional areas where many services are already overstretched or unavailable.
The NDIS Review itself recognised persistent market gaps in remote and regional communities and the need for different approaches where ordinary market mechanisms do not function effectively.
The Bill also introduces a 90-day claiming timeframe, stronger record-keeping obligations and greater pricing control. While stronger financial integrity is important, implementation must carefully consider the realities of regional workforce shortages, participant cancellations, transport challenges and thin-market service delivery to avoid unintended impacts on provider viability and continuity of support.
In many regional communities, there is no alternative provider if a service withdraws. A participant may simply go without support.
A sustainable NDIS also requires sustainable providers. If quality registered providers withdraw from thin regional markets, participants will face reduced choice, weaker safeguards and greater instability.
Foundational supports and mainstream systems
Distinctive Options acknowledges the Government’s broader direction toward foundational supports and stronger mainstream inclusion.
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auHowever, there is currently significant uncertainty regarding how these systems will operate in practice, particularly in regional and rural communities where many mainstream systems are already under pressure.
Distinctive Options is concerned that participants may lose access to NDIS supports before equivalent alternatives are available, accessible and operational within their communities.
The practical reality in many regional communities is that allied health services remain difficult to access, mental health systems are overstretched, transport remains limited and mainstream inclusion pathways remain inconsistent.
No participant should lose practical access to support because another system is theoretically responsible unless that system is demonstrably available, accessible and accountable in practice.
Consultation, implementation and trust
Distinctive Options is concerned that the speed of the legislative and consultation process has undermined confidence across parts of the disability community.
The Bill was introduced and referred to inquiry on 14 May 2026, with submissions initially due within approximately two weeks and the Committee due to report by mid-June.
Given the scale and complexity of the reforms, Distinctive Options believes this timeframe has been insufficient relative to the significance of the proposed changes and the accessibility needs of many people with disability and families seeking to understand them.
Distinctive Options is concerned that consultation has at times felt more like a legislative process to be completed than a genuine opportunity for people with disability, families and providers to help shape reforms of this scale. Across the community, many people are not expressing opposition to reform itself; they are expressing fear that decisions affecting their lives are moving too quickly, with too little clarity and insufficient opportunity to genuinely influence the outcome.
The NDIS is one of the largest social reforms in modern Australian history. Changes of this scale require careful implementation, operational readiness, staged consultation and genuine co-design with people with disability and the organisations that support them.
Many participants and families are not asking for a perfect system. They are asking for stability, fairness and confidence that reform will strengthen, rather than narrow, their opportunity to live connected and meaningful lives.
Trust is not a peripheral issue. The long-term success of the NDIS depends on it.
Submission 451
Distinctive Options
40 Macedon Street, Sunbury VIC 3429
Phone: 03 9740 7100 | Email: info@d-o.com.auConclusion
Distinctive Options supports the need to strengthen and stabilise the NDIS for future generations.
The organisation supports stronger safeguarding, provider accountability and action against fraud and exploitation.
However, the long-term success of the NDIS must be measured not only by reduced expenditure growth, but by whether people with disability are able to live connected, meaningful and self-directed lives within their communities.
The evidence strongly demonstrates that participation, inclusion, stability and social connection improve long-term wellbeing and reduce pressure on crisis systems.
Distinctive Options urges Government to ensure reforms strengthen both the sustainability of the Scheme and the human outcomes the Scheme was created to achieve.
Distinctive Options remains committed to working constructively with Government, the NDIA, participants, families and the broader sector to help shape reforms that are evidence informed, financially sustainable and grounded in the realities of regional and rural Australia.