Submission 725
YOUNG LABOR LEFT NSW
Socialism In Our Time
Submission to the Senate Standing Committees on
Community Affairs Inquiry on the National Disability
Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for
Future Generations) Bill 2026
Young Labor Left NSW welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Standing
Committees on Community Affairs Inquiry on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment
(Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.
Young Labor Left NSW is an organisation of young people dedicated to radical progressive change and building a socialist movement in Australia, as members of the Australian Labor Party. Our members include many who live with a disability or have carer responsibilities and are thus deeply concerned with the changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Young Labor Left NSW is deeply opposed to this Bill. We consider the Bill, in its current form, harmful to the disabled community and should not be passed. 160,000 people are expected to be removed from the NDIS under the changes put forth by the Bill. The reckless removal of support will cost lives.
Young Labor Left NSW believes that the rushed nature of this inquiry does not allow for a careful and considered examination of the Bill by the affected community and experts. The Bill, if passed in its current form, will have wide-ranging and long-lasting effects on the operation and access to the NDIS.
While our submission makes recommendations on the provisions of the Bill, we feel it equally important to address what we do not yet know, including who will lose access to the NDIS, how functional capacity assessments will work, how decisions on the reduction of groups of supports will be made, and what safeguards will be in place for those decisions, what supports exist outside of the NDIS, and a feasible transition plan for people taken off the NDIS.
Young Labor Left NSW is not opposed to reforming the NDIS and measures to safeguard the integrity of the NDIS. However, the Bill in its current form seeks to bar and remove people from accessing the NDIS as a cost-saving measure. The framing of people with disabilities as financial burdens that must be alleviated for the sustainability of the scheme is deeply dehumanising and erodes the trust the community has in the Government to safeguard and the rights and dignity of the disabled community.
YLL Submission, NDIS Amendment Bill 2026 secretary@younglaborleft.org
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Submission 725
Young Labor Left NSW notes that Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and as such have obligations as noted in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 itself.
Young Labor Left NSW recommends:
The removal of the “financial sustainability” clause the Bill seeks to introduce to the Object of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013; The removal of the narrow definition of “functional capacity” under Schedule 1 Part 1; The removal of the onerous and unrealistic definition of permanent impairment introduced by Schedule 1 Part 8; The removal of the broad and safeguarded Ministerial powers in reducing funding for support groups in Schedule 1 Part 4; The removal of provisions allowing the introduction of automation of administrative tasks under Schedule 3 Part 2; The Federal Government undertakes genuine consultation with the disabled community and for any future changes to the NDIS to be genuinely co-designed with affected communities.
Young Labor Left NSW holds many other reservations about provisions introduced by the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, but note that due to the rushed nature of the inquiry, we could not examine all provisions to the depth we desired.
In solidarity,
Young Labor Left NSW
YLL Submission, NDIS Amendment Bill 2026 secretary@younglaborleft.org
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Submission 725
Recommendation 1: Remove Schedule 1 Clause 60 amending Paragraph 3(1)(d) of the National Disability
Insurance Scheme Act 2013
The proposed amendment to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 would amend Paragraph 3(1) (d) to include the line “so far as is consistent with the financial sustainability of the scheme”.
Young Labor Left NSW unequivocally stands against the inclusion of an austerity clause in the Objects of the NDIS Act. We believe such a clause is anathema to the Object of the NDIS which is to help people with disabilities live and participate in economic and social life with independence and dignity. Weighing users of the NDIS as financial burdens is deeply dehumanising and is contrary to the intentions of the Scheme.
Recommendation 2: Remove Schedule 1 Part 1 Defining functional capacity
The Bill introduces a strict definition of “functional capacity” which would be assessed by a standardised test that is yet to be seen.
Young Labor Left NSW does not believe that a standardised assessment is suitable for determining who should and should not access disability support under the NDIS. The nature of disability is complex, nuanced, and fluctuating, and people with disabilities often have more than one condition. Determination of eligibility should not be done by a standardised tool.
In particular, Young Labor Left NSW is concerned with the inclusion of Section 9B(1)(b) where “functional capacity” excludes “as far as possible, the impact of the person’s environmental and personal circumstances”.
A definition of functional capacity that excludes environmental and personal circumstances is highly detrimental and unrealistic. Two individuals who have the same condition may have vastly different needs depending on socio-economic class, housing, access to transport, family conditions, culture, and geography. A definition of functional capacity that excludes such conditions will be highly detrimental as determining access to supports should not be based on an unrealistic scenario.
If the Bill is to proceed with the functional capacity assessments, Young Labor Left NSW recommends that s9B(1)(b) under Schedule 1 Clause 4 be omitted such that a functional capacity assessment accurately reflects the nature of the user’s impairment.
YLL Submission, NDIS Amendment Bill 2026 secretary@younglaborleft.org
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Submission 725
Recommendation 3: Remove Schedule 1 Part 8
The proposed provisions in s24(5) and s25(1B), requiring an individual to have “undertaken all appropriate treatment for the impairment or impairments” to have their impairment be considered permanent, in conjunction with s25A(2) defining “appropriate treatment” as access blind poses a significant barrier to accessing the NDIS. Young Labor Left NSW believes that these provisions limiting the definition of permanent impairment are highly detrimental and should not be included in the Bill.
Rule 5.4 under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Becoming a Participant) Rules 2016, defines the impairments as permanent for satisfying disability requirements “if there are no known, available and appropriate evidence-based clinical, medical or other treatments that would be likely to remedy the impairment”. The Federal Court in National Disability Insurance Agency v Davis previously ruled that “available” under this definition means what is realistically available to an individual.
The proposed changes to the Act under Schedule 1 Part 8 of the Bill will significantly alter the definition of “permanent” by widening the definition of “appropriate treatment”. The proposed changes will significantly disadvantage people where treatments may be unaffordable, unavailable, or culturally inappropriate.
Recommendation 4: Remove Schedule 1 Part 4
Schedule 1 Part 4 gives the Minister broad powers to cut funding for groups of supports by applying a percentage reduction through a legislative instrument. The Bill only requires the Minister to “have regard to the safety of participants”, a ludicrously lax and vague safeguard against misuse of Ministerial powers granted by the Bill.
The Government has already proposed to cut social, civic and community participation budgets by 50%, and capacity building daily activity budgets by 10% should the Bill be passed.
At the minimum, if such a power were to be conferred to the Minister, the Bill should provide robust safeguards such as extensive consultation with participants and stakeholders and a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of such a reduction and any long-term impacts it might have.
Recommendation 5: Remove Schedule 3 Part 2 on
Automation
Young Labor Left NSW expresses deep concern with the proposed introduction of automated decision making systems for “administration actions”. The definition of “administration actions” under s59B(3) is excessively broad and can include any matter of decision or task.
Young Labor Left NSW views the introduction of automated decision making systems without sufficient detail and safeguards on what specific processes are automated to be reckless in light of recent history around the Robodebt debacle.
YLL Submission, NDIS Amendment Bill 2026 secretary@younglaborleft.org
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Submission 725
Recommendation 6: Changes to the NDIS should include genuine co-design with affected communities
The proposed austerity measures to the NDIS, evidently done without adequate consultation with the affected community, signals that people with disabilities are viewed as financial burdens rather than people deserving of rights and dignities.
Young Labor Left NSW believes that any change to the NDIS should be done in co-design with affected communities. The refrain “Nothing about us without us” means that the needs of the disabled community should be at the core of any reform process around the NDIS and disability care more broadly.
Conclusion
Young Labor Left NSW reiterates our opposition to the framing of people with disabilities accessing the NDIS as financial burdens that must be managed. Such a framing erodes the trust the community has in the Government to safeguard and the rights and dignity of the disabled community.
Young Labor Left NSW considers the Bill, in its current form, harmful to the disabled community and believes the Bill, in its current form, should not be passed. Young Labor Left NSW is not opposed to reforms that would safeguard the integrity and sustainability of the NDIS, but believe that any reform must be co-designed with affected communities rather than an exercise in austerity.
YLL Submission, NDIS Amendment Bill 2026 secretary@younglaborleft.org
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