National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 708
To The Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee
My name is and I live on the Sunshine Coast in Qld.
I am writing about the NDIS Future Generations Bill 2026. I am 65 years old and this is the first time I have written a submission to a Senate Inquiry. The reason for my submission is due to my substantial concerns about this Bill and I am therefore asking you to oppose this Bill.
The NDIS matters to me because:
- my 58 year old brother lives with significant and permanent disabilities (cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability and epilepsy).
- the NDIS, a world class scheme, was designed so that people with significant and permanent disabilities would have the opportunity to live an ordinary life with the correct funding and supports.
- I believe that in a country as wealthy as ours, we are only as good as the way in which we treat the most vulnerable people in our society. When vulnerable people are looked after, we all win.
While I agree that the NDIS needs to be fixed, I am outraged by this Bill in its current form and therefore strongly oppose it. Here are some of my reasons:
- The savings that need to be made within the NDIS (without impacting on participants) need to be shared with the community. For example, if the NDIS planners made the correct decisions in the first place, then the NDIS would not need to spend the outrageous amounts of money on lawyers to fight participants at the ART. Has the waste within the NDIS even been addressed?
- Everyone deserves a right to appeal. Is it not discrimination against people with a disability to lose their right to appeal when everyone else can appeal other government decisions that affect them?
- Reassessment of everyone from 2028 is a waste of money and will cause unnecessary stress to those people with disabilities who have already proven that their disabilities are permanent and significant, as is the case with my brother. My concern also includes the implementation of the “all appropriate treatments test” being applied to everyone.
- People with disabilities are individuals. Automated decisions and algorithms can never replace human decision making. Let’s not go down the ‘robodebt’ path again.
- Hasn’t it been proven that for every dollar spent on the NDIS, the return to the economy is over two dollars per one dollar spent? We should be celebrating this fact.
One of the main issues that causes me immense concern is the proposed cuts to social, economic and community participation (SECP) funding:
- I was shocked to hear Minister Butler say at the recent National Press Club address that people tell him that support workers are seen ‘sitting on their phone’ while supporting someone in the community. This is such a narrow observation and statement. Is this the main reason for the cuts to SECP funding? Most support workers do not ’sit on their phone’ while supporting someone. There could be many
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 708
reasons why a support worker is using their phone e.g. my brother’s support worker might be texting me a photo of something that he’s achieved that day, or the support worker might be texting me to say that my brother has just had a seizure. While I agree that support workers must provide quality supports, let’s not make sweeping assumptions and let’s not bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator. I don’t believe in punishing everyone because the minority of participants and providers do the wrong thing; most are actually doing the right thing. 2) How does my brother live an ordinary life if his SECP funding is cut? How does he attend his many health appointments? How does he go out for a coffee (one of the main pleasures in his life)? How does he have a weekend away now and then? How does he come to visit his family on a regular basis? Funding to support these ordinary aspects of life are reasonable and necessary. Most people without a disability do not have to schedule and limit their participation in the community. If SECP funding is cut, then our society is going to be presented with other problems which will cost the taxpayer money e.g. my brother will have to prioritise health appointments if there is no-one to take him, he will become more isolated and his mental health will deteriorate.
The continual ‘attacks’ on the NDIS cause us ongoing and extreme distress. We are exhausted.
Please, vote against this Bill in its current form.
The amendments specifically need to address:
- the cuts to SECP funding,
- the right to appeal,
- the process of automated decision making, and
- the reassessment of all NDIS participants, including those who have already proven their permanent and significant disabilities several times.
Yours faithfully