Submission 673
Submission to the Senate
Community Affairs Legislation
Committee Inquiry into the
National Disability Insurance
Scheme (Securing the NDIS for
Future Generations) Bill 2026
Exercise & Sports Science Australia
Submission 673
29 May 2026
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs (Legislation)
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au
Re: Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee Inquiry into the National
Disability Insurance Scheme (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Committee’s inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
ESSA is the national peak body of 11,000 members and accrediting authority for exercise and sports science professionals, including Accredited Exercise Physiologists (AEPs). Currently 4555 AEPs provide services to the NDIS. AEPs are recognised allied health professionals delivering evidence-based clinical exercise interventions for people living with disability, chronic disease and complex health conditions. AEPs support people living with physical and/or psychosocial disability to improve functional capacity, maintain independence, enhance quality of life, and achieve participation goals in community and workforce settings through evidence-based exercise interventions, behaviour change strategies and self-management education.
ESSA supports the long-term sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), including measures that strengthen participant safeguards, improve consistency, reduce fraud and ensure public confidence in the Scheme. ESSA recognises the importance of ensuring the NDIS remains viable and continues to deliver supports to Australians living with significant and permanent disability into the future.
ESSA supports Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) submission in full and raises the following additional concerns regarding Schedule 1 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
ESSA is particularly concerned by provisions that expand Ministerial powers to determine categories of supports and reduce funding allocations without sufficient independent oversight, transparency, review rights or parliamentary scrutiny. These provisions risk undermining the intent of the NDIS Act and the principle of reasonable and necessary supports by enabling categories of supports to be excluded or reduced through delegated decision-making processes with limited recourse for participants.
ESSA is also concerned by provisions within Schedule 1 Part 4 that enable reductions to categories of support funding, including capacity building supports. Reductions to preventative, functional and capacity-building interventions risk increasing long-term disability burden, avoidable functional decline, carer strain and downstream demand across the broader health and social services systems as a result.
The 2022 Select Committee on Work and Care found that carers undertake significant unpaid care responsibilities, averaging approximately 55 hours of unpaid care work per week alongside approximately 28 hours of paid employment. The inquiry also found almost half of carers having to reduce or exit the workforce due to the carer demands, with approximately 60% having to rely on government pensions or allowances as their primary source of income.
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These findings highlight the structural reliance of Australia’s care economy on unpaid informal care, and the limited capacity for carers to absorb additional responsibilities without national economic and workforce impacts. In this context, reforms that increase administrative burden, reassessment frequency, or reduce formal supports for people living with disability may have significant downstream effects on carer participation in the paid workforce, household income stability, and broader productivity outcomes.
Further concerns relate to Schedule 1 Part 6 and the proposed amendments to “reasonable and necessary” support considerations. ESSA contends the increased weighting toward narrow interpretations of “effective and beneficial” evidence and expanded powers enabling supports to be excluded where prescribed criteria are not met risks serious physical and mental negative outcomes. Disability care frequently relies on individualised clinical reasoning, functional outcomes and person-centred evidence that may not always be reflected in large-scale peer reviewed disability-specific research. Disability-specific intervention research is limited across many functional and allied health domains, necessitating reliance on a broader evidence base incorporating rehabilitation science, chronic disease literature and clinical reasoning to ensure participants are not disadvantaged by evidentiary gaps. Therefore, the proposed provisions risk diminishing the role of treating allied health practitioner evidence and limiting participant access to clinically appropriate supports. For example, as allied health professionals working directly with people living with disability across clinical, community and home-based settings, AEPs routinely apply whole-person, evidence-based approaches to improve functional capacity, prevent avoidable decline, reduce secondary complications and support long-term independence (Carbone et al., 2021, Castaño et al., 2024, and Liang et al., 2021).
ESSA notes the proposed approaches that require participants to demonstrate that all appropriate treatment options have been exhausted prior to eligibility or ongoing support access. Such approaches risk creating inequitable barriers for the disabled in our society. The Australian Human Rights Commission warns that narrow, prescriptive support models infringe on individual autonomy, shifting the scheme away from a flexible, rights based system back toward a rigid, institutional model.
ESSA urges the Senate Committee to ensure measures intended to strengthen Scheme sustainability do not unintentionally reverse progress toward a modern, rights-based disability system centred on independence, participation and individual choice and control. ESSA welcomes an invitation to attend an upcoming Public Hearing.
Yours sincerely,
Elyse HockingScot MacDonald
Policy & Advocacy Manager
General Manager, Policy & Advocacy Exercise & Sports Science Australia
Exercise & Sports Science Australia
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Submission 673
ESSA Priority Recommendations to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee
- Parliamentary Oversight of NDIS Context: Expenditure on the NDIS is expected to reach $56Billion in 2025-26. This represents approximately 7% of total Commonwealth Government cash outlays. The Scheme has recorded annual growth rates as high as 22% and is currently 11%. The Government aims to bring this down to an average of 2% over the next few years and then return to 4 to 5% growth trajectory. There have been forecasts of ‘no change’ scenarios leading to NDIS expenditure reaching $100Billion within a decade.
The case for reform is financially centred and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 establishes a framework that includes structural changes to reign in plan reassessments; reductions in expenditure in areas like community activities; fraud controls; digitisation of payments; expanded risk based mandatory registrations and higher barriers to eligibility to the Scheme. Additionally, new Ministerial control will be elevated with powers to create budget method rules to identify support types; powers regarding the information assessors must or must not consider; power to incorporate NDIS operational documents into legislative rules; responsibility for NDIS price setting ; power to make funding reduction determinations; controls over differentiated pricing regulations and a range of transitional powers.
Reform is necessary; however, the Bill clearly provides wide ranging, unprecedented Ministerial powers over the NDIS with no new Parliamentary oversight.
Parliamentary oversight of the NDIS Currently one of the primary tools for Parliament to regularly review the Scheme is through the Joint Standing
Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/National_Disability_Insurance_Scheme
“Australian Parliament website- The committee is tasked with inquiring into the following: the implementation, performance and governance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme; the administration and expenditure of the National Disability Insurance Scheme; and such other matters in relation to the National Disability Insurance Scheme as may be referred to it by either House of the Parliament. After 30 June each year, the committee is required to present an annual report to the Parliament on the activities of the committee during the year. The committee also undertakes inquiries into specific aspects of the National
Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).“
ESSA proposes the work of the JSC be supplemented with a standing reference into the NDIS to the Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee which would undertake regular inquiries into the Scheme. Upper House Standing committee references are an effective oversight strategy in state and federal parliaments across the country. They generally carry out biannual reviews of government schemes and undertake additional targeted inquiries as directed by the Committee, Parliament or a Minister. The rationale for additional oversight is the extensive reform of the NDIS underway that will impact the national economy; participants including those who will become ineligible to access NDIS; the preparedness and capacity of the states to stand-up Thriving Kids Initiative and additional foundational support programs (both funded in part
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by the Commonwealth) and the unusual level of Ministerial powers added in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
The social and economic consequences of the reformed Scheme warrants regular, comprehensive review by the Senate that generally undertakes more rigorous, independent reviews of government programs. The risks of heightened executive power will be mitigated by ESSA’s proposed broader Parliamentary review mechanism in the Community Affairs References Committee and will help retain the social licence of NDIS as described by Minister Butler as one of the triggers for the reform of the Scheme.
Recommendation
ESSA requests the Senate Community Affairs Legislative Committee recommend the Senate amends Standing Order 25 to add - (2)(c) There shall be a standing reference to the Reference Committee to regularly inquire into and report on the National Disability Insurance Scheme on matters including use of Ministerial powers ; disability community impact, national social and economic impacts.
- Urgent, exceptional and clinically required plan reassessment
Context
The growing volume of NDIS reassessments, appeals and tribunal matters is creating substantial administrative, legal and financial burden across the disability system and broader government responsibilities.
“One in five plans are currently subject to an unscheduled reassessment each year… And the average result of these reassessments is a 20 per cent increase in plan value.”
- Minister Mark Butler, National Press Club speech on 22 April 2026 These trends reinforce the importance of clinically informed planning processes and accurate participant plans from the outset to reduce avoidable reassessments, disputes and appeals. ESSA recommends embedding allied health professionals, including AEPs, within initial NDIS assessment and planning processes to ensure plans are clinically informed, evidence-based and appropriately aligned to participant need from the start. This would reduce the significant financial and administrative burden associated with inaccurate plans, avoidable reassessments, appeals and tribunal escalation resulting from decisions made without appropriate clinical expertise or multidisciplinary input.
ESSA is concerned that increased reliance on standardised assessment tools without adequate clinical oversight may result in inaccurate or insufficient participant plans and increased reliance on reassessment and appeals processes. Disability support needs are highly individualised and frequently influenced by complex interactions between physical health, psychosocial wellbeing, chronic disease, environmental barriers and functional participation.
ESSA notes recent Federal Court decisions have reinforced the importance of individualised and contextual assessment within the NDIS framework. In Chief Executive Officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency v Eastham [2026] FCA 147, the Federal Court confirmed the NDIA must consider the interaction between impairments, functional impact and environmental factors when assessing support needs, rather than assessing impairments in isolation.
ESSA urges the Senate to ensure reforms do not unintentionally undermine the person-centred and rights-based foundations of the NDIS, including principles of choice and control, individualised support and equitable access to clinically appropriate care.
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Recommendation
Require all I-CAN informed assessment and planning decisions to incorporate multidisciplinary allied health input, including from Accredited Exercise Physiologists, to ensure participant plans reflect whole-person need, functional capacity, individual goals and clinically appropriate supports consistent with the principles of choice and control underpinning the NDIS.
ESSA further recommends establishing a legislated independent clinical escalation pathway, modelled on Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) At Risk Client Framework, enabling urgent reassessment where a General Practitioner certifies acute functional decline, changed circumstances or inadequate supports requiring expedited, independent review and decision-making to protect NDIS Participants, and uphold the integrity of the Scheme.
- Urgent, exceptional and clinically required plan reassessment pathway
Context
ESSA is concerned that the proposed reassessment provisions under Section 21, Subsection 48A Part 1(b) provide insufficient clarity regarding the weighting of clinical reasoning, treating practitioner evidence and changes in participant circumstances when determining whether reassessment is warranted.
ESSA recommends amending the Bill to require the CEO to have regard for clinical reasoning and evidence provided by treating practitioners, including multidisciplinary allied health professionals, when making decisions relating to reassessment, functional capacity and support adequacy.
The current drafting risks creating inconsistent interpretation of “personal” and “environmental” circumstances and may allow clinically significant changes in physical health, psychosocial wellbeing or functional capacity to be undervalued within reassessment decisions. ESSA is particularly concerned that the provisions do not adequately recognise the complex interaction between physical disability, psychosocial disability, chronic disease and environmental barriers in determining participant need.
Recommendation
Amend Section 21, Subsection 48A Part 1(b) to:
-
Require the CEO to consider clinical reasoning and evidence from treating practitioners when determining reassessment decisions;
-
Require reassessment processes to consider physical, psychosocial, and functional impacts collectively rather than in isolation; and
-
Remove the words ‘either or both’ to any of the following for clarity Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme 6
Submission 673
References
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2025, August 8). NDIS support rules. Australian Human Rights
Commission
Australian Society of Parliamentary Governance. (n.d.). Home page. https://www.aspg.org.au
Butler, M. (2026, April 22). Minister Butler speech at the National Press Club – 22 April 2026. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark butler-mp/media/minister-butler-speech-at-the-national-press-club-22-april-2026
Carbone, P. S., Smith, P. J., Lewis, C., & LeBlanc, C. M. A. (2021). Promoting the participation of children and adolescents with disabilities in sports, recreation, and physical activity. Paediatrics, 148(6), Article e2021054664. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-054664
Castaño, P. (2024). Effects of physical exercise on gross motor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06031-5
Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Home page. https://www.cambridge.org
Chief Executive Officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency v Eastham [2026] FCA 147. https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2026/2026fca0147
Department of Veterans’ Affairs. (n.d.). At risk client assessment form for use by GPs. Australian Government. https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/dva-forms/risk-client-assessment-form-use-gps
Department of Veterans’ Affairs. (n.d.). Treatment cycle information for GPs: When the treatment cycle does not apply. Australian Government. https://www.dva.gov.au/providers/information-for-gps-other-primary-care providers/treatment-cycle-information-for-gps#when-the-treatment-cycle-does-not-apply
Liang, Y. (2021). The effects of exercise interventions on executive functions in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 51, 2497–2516. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01545-3
National Disability Insurance Agency. (2026). Participant datasets. NDIS Data and Insights. https://dataresearch.ndis.gov.au/datasets/participant-datasets
NSW Public Service Commission. (n.d.). State Employment Framework. https://sef.psc.nsw.gov.au
Schofield D, Zeppel MJB, Tanton R, Veerman JL, Kelly SJ, Passey ME, Shrestha RN. Individual and national financial impacts of informal caring for people with mental illness in Australia, projected to 2030. BJPsych Open. 2022 Jul 18;8(4):e136. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2022.540. PMID: 35848155; PMCID: PMC9345331.
Parliament of Australia. (n.d.). Home page. https://www.aph.gov.au
Parliament of Australia, Senate Select Committee on Work and Care. (2023). Final report: Work and care. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Work_and_Care/workandcare/Report
Parliament of New South Wales. (n.d.). Home page. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au
Parliament of Queensland. (n.d.). Home page. https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au
Victoria University Law and Justice Journal. (n.d.). Home page. https://vulj.vu.edu.au
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