National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 596
Submission regarding proposed changes to the NDIS Act
The NDIS is not an optional extra in my life. It is what allows me to participate in my community, manage my disability, maintain independence, and protect my mental health. Through the NDIS, I access support workers, therapies, transport supports such as taxis, and community participation supports that help me engage in everyday life in ways many people take for granted.
Without these supports, my world becomes significantly smaller.
The NDIS currently helps me access my community, attend appointments, participate in activities, maintain routines, and reduce isolation. Support workers provide practical assistance that allows me to maintain independence rather than becoming more reliant on family or reaching crisis point. Therapies help me manage the impacts of disability and maintain functioning over time, while transport support allows me to safely get where I need to go when other options are not accessible.
I am deeply concerned about the proposed changes to the NDIS Act and the intention to reduce spending through tighter restrictions around supports. These reforms feel focused on costs rather than the long-term human impact. Disability support should not be viewed only through savings targets. It should be viewed through participation, independence, wellbeing, and quality of life.
I do not believe these proposed changes have been explained clearly enough. Many participants are confused, anxious, and fearful about what supports may no longer be considered reasonable or necessary. Consultation cannot be meaningful when people do not fully understand how changes may affect their daily lives.
For me, changes to the NDIS would affect far more than funding on paper. They would affect my independence, my mental health, my ability to leave the house, engage with my community, attend appointments, and manage the ongoing impacts of disability.
If my social and community supports were reduced or removed, I would likely experience increased isolation and reduced participation in everyday life. Community access is not simply recreational, it is essential for connection, confidence, routine, wellbeing, and mental health. Losing these supports would reduce opportunities to engage with society and increase the risk of loneliness and deteriorating mental health.
If transport supports such as taxis became harder to access, my ability to attend appointments, participate in the community, and maintain independence would be significantly reduced. Accessible transport is often the difference between participation and exclusion.
If support workers, therapies, or capacity building supports were reduced or removed, the impacts would be long-term. Capacity building and therapy supports help maintain skills, independence, coping strategies, and overall functioning. They prevent deterioration rather than simply responding after a crisis occurs. Removing these supports risks increasing
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 596
dependence, worsening mental health, and creating greater costs elsewhere in healthcare and informal care systems.
The NDIS has allowed me to have greater independence and a better quality of life. These supports help me function, participate, and contribute to my community. Reducing access does not remove disability or need, it removes support.
I urge the government to genuinely listen to the lived experiences of disabled Australians before embedding changes into law. Policies should strengthen support, inclusion, and independence, not create fear, uncertainty, and barriers.
Disability support is not a burden on the system. It is an investment in people’s ability to live with dignity, safety, and participation in society.