National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 674
L’Arche Australia
Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee
Inquiry into:
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS
for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs — May 2026
Submitted by: L’Arche Australia
Contact: Claire Lawler
Email: Phone: Website: www.larche.org.au
Classification: Public
- About L’Arche Australia L’Arche Australia is part of the international L’Arche Federation, a worldwide movement of inclusive communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities share life together. Founded in France in 1964, L’Arche now operates in over 40 countries. L’Arche Australia has been present since 1978, with communities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Hobart.
Our communities offer a distinctive model of support grounded in the conviction that genuine, mutual relationships between people with and without intellectual disability are transformative for everyone involved. The L’Arche model goes beyond service provision — it centres on belonging, dignity and full participation in civic life.
L’Arche Communities in Australia are also registered NDIS providers. A significant number of our community members are NDIS participants with moderate to severe or profound intellectual disabilities, many with co-occurring psychosocial or physical disabilities. We are a small, specialised, not for profit community-based provider offering a depth of relationship and continuity of support that larger organisations cannot replicate.
We make this submission with deep respect for the Parliament’s role in safeguarding the future NDIS and with an equally deep commitment to ensuring that the people at the heart of the scheme are not left worse off by reforms intended to protect em.
- Executive Summary L’Arche Australia supports the long-term sustainability of the NDIS and acknowledges the genuine fiscal challenges the Government is seeking to address. However, we have serious concerns about several provisions of the Bill and about the compressed consultation timeline within which the community has been asked to respond. Our key concerns are:
- Social, civic and community participation budget cuts — a proposed 50% average reduction (from approximately $31,000 to $26,000 per participant) that would
Submission 674
fundamentally undermine and impact the rights of people with intellectual disability to be included in community life;
-
SIL commissioning approach — a proposed new commissioning model for Supported Independent Living that poses an existential risk to smaller, community based providers like L’Arche;
-
New eligibility provisions — the concept of ‘substantially reduced functional capacity’ and a permanence test that requires exhaustion of all available treatments, provisions that risk disadvantaging people with intellectual disability;
-
Plan management and support coordination commissioning — significant structural changes to how participants’ funding is administered and coordinated, carrying risks of disruption for community members who depend on trusted, personalised relationships;
-
Human rights compliance — the need to assess the Bill against Australia’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD);
-
Consultation adequacy — fifteen days is an insufficient timeframe for the disability community to engage meaningfully with a 109-page Bill of this consequence.
Our full recommendations appear at Section 8.
- Context: L’Arche Australia and the NDIS 3.1 What NDIS funding enables For L’Arche community members, the NDIS is the scaffolding that makes a life of participation possible. Funded supports enable our community members to:
-
Live in shared homes alongside people without disability, in arrangements that are freely chosen;
-
Participate in social, civic and community activities — from local faith communities and neighbourhood associations to arts programs, sporting clubs and volunteer roles;
-
Engage in supported employment and day programs that build skills and contribute to community life;
-
Access support coordination and capacity building that enables genuine self- determination. Social, civic and community participation funding is not supplementary in the L’Arche model — it is central. It enables the relationships and activities that are the foundation of our communities and that Article 19 of the CRPD recognises as a fundamental right: the right of people with disability to be included in the community.
3.2 The people we support The majority of L’Arche community members have moderate to severe or profound intellectual disabilities. Many have lived in L’Arche communities for decades. Their support needs are permanent and significant; their impairments are not amenable to cure or substantial amelioration through treatment. This is not a failure of effort or investment — it is simply the nature of their conditions. This context is critical to our concerns about several specific provisions of the Bill.
Submission 674
- Concerns About Specific Provisions of the Bill
4.1 Proposed Budget Reset for Social, Civic and Community Participation
The Bill, together with the Government’s budget announcements, provides for a 50% average reduction in NDIS budget allocations for social, civic and community participation supports, reducing average individual allocations from approximately $31,000 to $26,000 per year. A 10% reduction to capacity building daily activity allocations is also proposed. These reductions are to be implemented progressively from 1 October 2026 as plans are reviewed or renewed.
L’Arche Australia regards these reductions as the most consequential element of the Bill for our community members. We urge the Committee to consider the following.
The reductions are not clinically or individually calibrated. A blanket fiscal reset does not differentiate between participants who may have over-serviced supports and those for whom community participation is a core, non-substitutable need. For people with intellectual disability living in L’Arche communities, participation in community life is not discretionary — it is the central mechanism through which they experience belonging, build relationships, and live with dignity.
The proposed Inclusive Communities Fund is not an adequate substitute. The Government’s $200 million Inclusive Communities Fund, while welcome in principle, cannot replace individually directed participation funding. Group-based activities are not appropriate or accessible for all people with intellectual disability. At $200 million over three years distributed across some 770,000 participants, the Fund equates to approximately $87 per participant per year. Consultation on the Fund’s design is not scheduled until July 2026 — three months after cuts begin. This is not a responsible sequencing of policy development.
The timing is arbitrary and harmful. Cuts from October 2026 will take effect before the functional capacity assessment framework exists, before the Inclusive Communities Fund is designed, and before any independent evaluation of impact. Relationships, routines and community connections built over years cannot be paused and resumed.
4.2 The SIL Commissioning Approach — A Fundamental Threat to Smaller
Providers
The Government has indicated that a consultation process on the design of a commissioning approach for Supported Independent Living (SIL) will run from July to October 2026. The stated intent is to address provider viability challenges and ensure 24/7 support participants receive quality supports. In practice, the clear implication is that the NDIA will move to dealing with a smaller number of SIL providers, concentrating contracts with large national organisations.
L’Arche Australia is deeply concerned about the implications of this approach. If the commissioning model results in the NDIA contracting exclusively or primarily with large providers, organisations like L’Arche — small, registered, specialised, and community embedded — face an existential risk. No large provider replicates the L’Arche model. The relational, community-of-belonging approach that defines our communities cannot be scaled through a conventional commissioned service model.
We submit that any commissioning approach for SIL must:
- Expressly preserve the capacity of small, specialist and values-driven providers to operate within the NDIS market;
Submission 674
-
Recognise that quality of life outcomes for participants in settings like L’Arche cannot be measured solely through cost-efficiency or standardised service metrics;
-
Provide for genuine choice and control — including the choice to live in a community model — rather than channelling participants toward a small number of approved provider types;
-
Be informed by evidence about what models of support actually produce long-term wellbeing outcomes for people with intellectual disability, including international evidence on L’Arche and similar community-based models. L’Arche Australia will engage actively in the July–October 2026 consultation process, and we urge the Committee to recommend that the terms of that consultation expressly include consideration of the impact on small, specialised providers.
4.3 New Eligibility Framework: Substantially Reduced Functional Capacity
The Bill establishes a new legal framework for determining NDIS access based on ‘substantially reduced functional capacity’, with implementation from 1 January 2028 for new access decisions and a phased reassessment of existing participants over three years thereafter.
L’Arche Australia supports the principle of more consistent, objective assessment. However, we raise the following concerns with the current drafting.
The permanence test is problematic for people with intellectual disability. The Bill provides that an impairment is not considered permanent unless the person has tried every appropriate available treatment in Australia, and explicitly states that whether a treatment is ‘appropriate’ may be assessed without regard to the individual’s financial or geographic circumstances. For people with intellectual disability whose conditions are lifelong and not amenable to treatment that would restore functional capacity, this provision creates unnecessary and potentially distressing gatekeeping requirements.
The assessment threshold remains undefined. Parliament is being asked to legislate a new eligibility architecture without knowing what functional capacity threshold will be applied or how the assessment tool will work in practice. The Technical Advisory Group charged with designing the tool has a budget of $3.3 million and its recommendations are not expected until late 2027. The disability community deserves to see the full framework before it is legislated.
Reassessments create risk for existing community members. The phased reassessment of existing participants from January 2028 could result in reduced funding for some L’Arche community members. We urge the Committee to ensure that reassessment processes are genuinely person-centred, that existing plans are not reduced without a thorough individual assessment, and that robust review and appeals mechanisms are in place.
4.4 Plan Management and Support Coordination Commissioning
The Bill includes provisions to introduce a commissioned panel model for plan management (from 1 October 2027) and a new commissioned framework for support coordination (from 1 July 2028). L’Arche Australia supports improved quality and integrity in both functions. However, we are concerned about the following.
Payment continuity during transition. Based on our experience of previous NDIS payment system changes, transitions of this kind frequently generate delays, errors and cash-flow disruptions. For a small provider with limited financial reserves, payment disruptions can be operationally destabilising. We urge the Government to ensure robust
Submission 674
transition arrangements, including clear communication timelines and a mechanism for expedited resolution of payment disputes.
Continuity of relationships. Many L’Arche community members have established trusted, personalised relationships with their plan managers and support coordinators. A commissioned model that limits participant choice of provider risks disrupting relationships that have taken years to build. For people with intellectual disability, for whom trust and familiarity are not preferences but prerequisites for effective support, this is not a trivial concern.
The support coordination model signals the SIL commissioning direction. The design of the commissioned support coordination framework, when it becomes clear, will likely signal how the NDIA intends to structure the SIL commissioning approach. L’Arche Australia will monitor these developments closely and encourages all L’Arche communities nationally to do the same.
- Human Rights Considerations Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The NDIS was designed, in significant part, as an expression of those obligations. L’Arche Australia submits that the Committee must assess the Bill against Australia’s CRPD commitments, including:
-
Article 19 (Living independently and being included in the community): The right of people with disability to live in the community, choose where and with whom they live, and access community support services. A 50% reduction in community participation funding directly engages this right. The proposed SIL commissioning approach, if it results in market concentration, further restricts the choices available to participants.
-
Article 26 (Habilitation and rehabilitation): The right to support services that enable maximum independence and full inclusion and participation.
-
Article 12 (Equal recognition before the law): Changes to plan reassessment, the new eligibility framework and the commissioning of support coordination must be assessed for their impact on supported decision-making and equal access to review processes.
-
Article 4(3) (General obligations): The obligation to closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities in the development of legislation and policies. A 15 day submission window on a 109-page Bill does not meet this standard. L’Arche Australia urges the Committee to call for a formal human rights impact assessment of the Bill, conducted in partnership with representative organisations of people with disability, including people with intellectual disability.
- Concerns About the Consultation Process L’Arche Australia wishes to place on record its deep concern about the adequacy of the consultation process for this Bill. The inquiry period — from referral on 14 May 2026 to submission close on 29 May 2026 — provides fifteen working days for the community to respond to 109 pages of complex legislation affecting the lives of over 770,000 Australians with disability and thousands of provider organisations.
Many of the people most directly affected — people with intellectual disability, those with complex communication needs, and those who rely on supported decision-making — face
Submission 674
particular barriers to rapid engagement with dense legislative material. This compressed timeline is inconsistent with the Government’s stated commitment to meaningful engagement and with Article 4(3) of the CRPD.
L’Arche Australia recommends that the reporting date be extended and that the Government commit to ongoing, accessible, structured co-design processes for the subordinate instruments and operational frameworks that will give effect to the Bill’s provisions — particularly the functional capacity assessment tool, the SIL commissioning model, and the Inclusive Communities Fund.
- Summary of Recommendations L’Arche Australia makes the following recommendations to the Committee:
The 50% reduction in social, civic and community participation budget allocations do not proceed, until the Inclusive Communities Fund is Rec 1 fully operational, individual participant needs assessments have been completed, and the functional capacity assessment framework is in place.
The terms of the July–October 2026 SIL commissioning consultation expressly include consideration of the impact on small, specialised and Rec 2 community-based providers, and that the resulting commissioning model preserve participant choice and the viability of diverse provider types.
The Bill be amended to clarify that the permanence test does not require people with intellectual disability to undergo treatments that are Rec 3 not clinically indicated or that cannot meaningfully restore functional capacity to the point of NDIS ineligibility.
A participant’s individual circumstances — including financial circumstances and geographic location — be expressly relevant to the Rec 4 assessment of whether a treatment is ‘appropriate’ for the purposes of the permanence test.
The Government commit to genuine, accessible co-design — including meaningful participation of people with intellectual disability — in the Rec 5 development of the functional capacity assessment tool, eligibility threshold, and reassessment process.
Robust transition arrangements and expedited payment dispute mechanisms be put in place ahead of the October 2027 plan Rec 6 management commissioning transition, to protect cash-flow continuity for small providers.
Transition provisions for both the plan management and support coordination commissioning models explicitly protect continuity of Rec 7 existing trusted support relationships for participants who wish to retain them.
A formal human rights impact assessment of the Bill be conducted in Rec 8 partnership with representative organisations of people with disability, assessed against Australia’s CRPD obligations.
Submission 674
The Senate inquiry reporting date be extended to allow for meaningful, accessible community consultation, and that the Government commit Rec 9 to ongoing structured engagement for subordinate frameworks and instruments.
- Conclusion L’Arche Australia shares the Government’s commitment to a sustainable NDIS that can support Australians with disability for generations to come. We also share the conviction that the NDIS is one of Australia’s great social achievements — a scheme that has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and their families, including the people who call our communities home.
Sustaining the NDIS requires not only fiscal discipline but fidelity to its founding values: choice, control, dignity and genuine inclusion. Several measures in this Bill, taken together and at pace, risk causing serious and lasting harm to some of the most marginalised Australians — and to the smaller, values-driven organisations that have spent decades building the kinds of community that no large provider can replicate.
L’Arche Australia urges the Committee to recommend amendments that protect the rights and wellbeing of people with intellectual disability, preserve the diversity of the NDIS provider market, and ensure that the scheme remains worthy of the trust placed in it.
We welcome the opportunity to appear before the Committee at any public hearing and would be glad to facilitate direct engagement with L’Arche community members who wish to share their experiences.
We thank the Committee for the opportunity to make this submission.
L’Arche Australia L’Arche Australia
Claire Lawler Philomena Billington
National Leader Chair
National Board
29 May 2026