NDIA Accountability Project

This project is in DRAFT

Proposed cuts to funding for social and community access (Participant experience)

‹ PrevPage 1 of 2 · Source p. 1Next ›

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

Submission 576

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment

(Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs

I’m a qualified support worker with 8 years’ experience in the disability sector. I’ve supported NDIS participants with a range of health diagnoses and varying levels of ‘functional capacity’. I initially worked for a large disability service provider in my local area. I currently provide support to four self-managed NDIS participants as an independent contractor.

The NDIS is a scheme that claims to

  • support the independence and social and economic participation of people with disability, and

  • enable people with a disability to exercise choice and control in the pursuit of their goals and the planning and delivery of their supports.

What is proposed in this Bill does not uphold these assertions in any way.

I have many concerns about how the Bill will impact the participants I support (and all NDIS participants). In my view the Bill will cause an unacceptable level of risk to people with a disability, NDIS participants and their families. I will address two of my concerns in this submission.

  1. Proposed cuts to funding for social and community access These cuts will adversely affect the people with disability that I support. It’s apparent that there’s a grave misunderstanding of what services are provided under this funding. The types of support I provide under this funding include assisting participants to attend their essential medical appointments, assisting them to do their weekly grocery shopping, helping them exercise for physical health, and helping them participate in social activities and outings that are participant-centred and in line with their NDIS goals. These are not things that my participants can do or access without support. It has enabled these participants to build independence, build relationships and improve their health outcomes in a safe and supported way. I agree that unfortunately this funding has been taken advantage of by some unscrupulous service providers, but drastic cutbacks without proper consultation or person centred assessments will lead to dire consequences for the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of NDIS participants, many of whom would be completely house bound without this support.

  2. Compulsory registration for Service Providers I welcome compulsory registration and greater oversight of service providers. I’d apply for registration immediately if there was an appropriate, accessible and affordable pathway for independent support workers to do so. There’s been talk of tiered registration levels, but nothing suitable for independent support workers is currently available. Bring on the checks and balances that strengthen the NDIS against fraud, noncompliance and provider misconduct. However, it makes no sense for a sole trader business with 5 or less participants and no employees to have to jump through the same hoops as a large service provider company that’s earning massive revenue from particpants’ NDIS plans and paying huge salaries to their upper management. There are thousands of independent support workers operating like me, chosen by participants because they’ve been let down and/or

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

Submission 576

overcharged by the big providers and because we built trusted relationships with them, and give them consistent high-quality support. If we’re unable to support participants due to a lack of appropriate registration pathways, who’s going to fill that gap in support? And what happens to the participants’ choice and control that is apparently so key to NDIS practices? Will participants be forced back into unsuitable and unhealthy support arrangements?

I’m asking the committee to reject this bill on the basis that in its current form it grants too much power to the minister to make changes at will without consultation, and there’s too much potential to damage the health and wellbeing of NDIS participants and people with a disability. Cutting the NDIS does not save money. It shifts costs onto hospitals, emergency departments, mental health systems, and the unpaid labour of families. Every day I hear about participants whose NDIS plans have been drastically cut. And that’s before this Bill. Those cuts have already cost the lives of two participants - Noah Johnston and Koa Gibson.

It’s imperative to

  • Curb the sweeping powers given to the minister under this legislation for which no mandate has been given by the Australian people.

  • Stop cuts to social and community access funding for NDIS participants considering the lack of understanding of the essential nature of this funding, and the dire implications cuts will have for current and future NDIS participants.

  • Demand that appropriate tiered levels of registration for service providers be an immediate priority, so NDIS participants don’t lose their highly valued and essential independent support workers.

  • Demand mandatory consultation with people with a disability and their families/representatives and address their concerns in relation to this bill. Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which guarantees genuine participation by people with disability in decisions that affect their lives.

  • Demand mandatory consultation with service providers, particularly those on the ground delivering essential supports on a day-to-day basis to NDIS participants.