Submission 748 — Soaring Sparrows — NDIS Future Generations Bill | External submission

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

Submission on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

31 May 2026

Soaring Sparrows is an organisation providing Support Coordination and Social Work, to NDIS clients. The Director has more than 11 years of experience in the NDIS sector, as well as lived experience. Most staff have lived experience of disability and all have experience working in the areas of trauma, vulnerability and/or disability. The Support Coordination and Social Work Team comprises of 4 accredited Social Workers and one Psychosocial Recovery Coach. We have undergone and passed audit in order to become an NDIS registered organisation.

This submission focuses on proposed cuts to Participants’ Core: Assistance to Access Social and Community Participation budgets.

Concerns of the collective Soaring Sparrows Pty Ltd Support Coordination and Social Work Team, are explained in this submission, with de-identified examples from our own clients (by consent, past or present clients). The real-life examples provided in italics, use a code to generate artificial participant initials.

We are concerned that the proposed cuts to participants’ budgets to reduce social and community access, breach the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), especially Article 24- Right to leisure and rest and Article 27 -Right to take part in cultural, artistic and scientific life.
People with disability are already more isolated than their peers without disability and reducing their social and community participant by 50%, will further increase isolation.
People with disability already have a higher incidence of domestic and family violence, and abuse, than their peers. In our experience, abuse/neglect/family violence against a person with disability comes to light in one of two ways: i. Deliberate discloser of abuse by the person with disability; OR ii. Observation by funded workers.

Both methods of discovery, can only occur after a trusted relationship is built with the person with disability and away from the informal carer, outside of the family home. Individual instances of family violence or abuse can easily be disregarded by workers, prior to them having a sound knowledge of the person’s regular routine, behaviours, mood, and presentation.

Eg When AA ‘lost’ their bank card and it was found by a family member, it was not recognised as abuse, until a regular pattern was observed and conversations could be

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

held outside of the home that alerted workers to a systematic and deliberate pattern of financial and other abuse.

Eg When YI stated that their partner was ‘rough’ in the shower this morning, it was not known to be a pattern of violence, until it had been heard several times by workers and conversations could be held outside of the home that alerted workers to a systematic and deliberate pattern of physical and sexual abuse.

A person with disability who is being abused has very few-if any- options to go outside of the family home, unless with workers. They generally cannot rely on attending regular social groups independently, as these have already been removed from them, by the perpetrator/s of the family violence/abuse.

Reducing a person’s access to the community with a paid support, by 50%, will effectively double the amount of time that is required, for a person’s abuse to be made known and appropriate supports put in place.

Social and community participation enables a person with disability to learn and practice skills, that cannot be learned in the family home. There are thousands of examples, but some examples are here: a. Learn to read a menu and order a meal;

Eg YH can now approach staff in a bar and indicate which menu item they wish to order, after consistent support and scaffolding from a support worker, over 2 years previously.

b. Pay for any item meal and check change;

Eg AE can now do this if the item costs less than $10

c. Learn to speak to ‘community strangers’ – the people we don’t know, that we need to interact with, such as check out personnel, workers in retail/banking/ government agencies; d. Learn to use public transport; e. Learn what is an appropriate personal social boundary in the wider community;

Eg CO manages their behaviour well when is with a trusted worker 1:1 and also manages their behaviour in line with social norms in predictable situations, such as in line at a supermarket or when eating at KFC. However, when there is a crowd with uncontrollable and unpredictable noise, children and movement of people, they can respond by invading the personal space of others, inappropriate touch, verbal abuse, physically lashing out.

f. Using an ATM; g. Reading community signs and learning community language; h. Learning some elements of time management;

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

Eg OE understands the concept of time in the home, but struggles to understand that trains will not wait to meet their needs, or that shops shut at a certain time no matter how urgent their shopping need is, or that it is not socially acceptable to stand in a newsagent spending 30mins ‘skimming’ one magazine.

i. Using public transport and ride sharing modes; j. Managing discomfort in unfamiliar environments;

Eg IA gradually extended the distance from their house, that they were prepared to go with support workers and has now learnt to walk on an unfamiliar street without having a panic attack, browsing the shops. They also learnt to use new shops to purchase clothing, instead of being confined to one particular outlet.

k. Managing sensory input in unfamiliar environments;

Eg MR functions reasonably well in their own home, locations of chosen regular leisure activities (eg community craft group and playgroup) and the homes of family members. However, they cannot manage in different shopping centres, train stations, at busy community events, or Centrelink offices.

l. Gaining an accurate insight into a person’s own abilities

Eg YH in example above – in the confines of their own home, they will state that they can now place an order in a pub. However, without real world experience, they would not have learnt that they do not know what to do if the menu is in a specific font, or if the bar personnel has a certain accent, or if they can smell seafood, or if their chosen menu item is not available and they need to problem-solve on the spot, or if they input the wrong pin number on their card the first time, or if the fluorescent light is buzzing where they place their order.

Each of these skills require consistent, repeated application in the community, to learn and maintain. Reducing a person’s social and community participant budget by 50%, will increase the time that it takes for a person with disability to learn these skills and increase the risk of not being able to maintain them without regular practice.

Acquiring and achieving a community skill once, does not mean that it can be consistently achieved. This is only possible by continued expose, requiring continuing community support across time.

Eg AT can now drive independently to the shops and purchase groceries – on a ‘good day’. Although they have the gross motors skills, they still cannot manage the executive functioning skills required to do this at all times, in all circumstance- eg they cannot, if they: are physically tired, had an in-home appointment and is cognitively tired; is worried about

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

something; has not anticipated that the trip would be needed; has had conflict with a family member; is on a low self esteem day.

Reducing a person’s social and community participant budget by 50%, will not permit the development of the executive functioning skills gained by consistent, repeated practice, to learn how to use the skill reliably across time, environments and the person’s internal state.

Therapists providing capacity building skills, are limited in what they can teach in a structured, clinic setting: if the skills cannot be applied in natural and community environments, then the skill has not actually been learned in a functionally adaptive manner. People without disability do not learn skills in therapy sessions to apply only in those sessions- we learn skills to use in the real world, in real-life scenarios. A person with disability needs to have the opportunity to apply skills taught in a therapist’s office.

Reducing a person’s social and community participant budget by 50%, will reduce the ability of therapists to teach usable adaptive skills, by halving the ‘practice field’ of the real world.

For people with psychosocial disability and mental health challenges, staying home and avoiding going into the community, is often a maladaptive coping mechanism. Reducing their social and community participation budgets will actually enforce functional impairment.

Eg OO did not leave their house for over 4 years until they received an NDIS Plan. It has taken another 5 years to gradually build up their time with support workers and start to access the community. At first it was a brief visit in home by a worker before OO’s anxiety took hold (even with therapeutic support) and they would turn the worker away. They can now complete 3-4 hours at a time with a support worker and leave the house (albeit within a small radius).

Eg HA has a large amount of social and community funding that they are not accessing. Yet, they have plans and is working with therapists to develop the confidence and anxiety management strategies, to implement their plan. Their plan includes being involved with their children’s activities that they have not been able to be involved in previously. They want to, but do not yet have the skills to. However, having the funding sitting there, has been the impetus that they needed to work towards improving not only their social and community participation, but enhancing family relationships by sharing activities with them.

Reducing the social and community participant budget of a person with severe psychosocial disability by 50%, may reinforce their maladaptive coping mechanism and reinforce the behaviours of withdrawal, isolation, and physical ‘disappearing’.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

If a person with disability cannot improve their social and community participation, they are also less likely to be able to contribute to the economic community in the future. A person needs to be able to function efficiently in a variety of environments, with a variety of individuals (personalities, communication styles), in order to hold down a job.

Reducing the social and community participant budget of a person with disability by 50%, limits their ability to develop these skills.

Reducing the social and community participant budget of a person with disability by 50%, shifts the burden onto informal carers. Informal care-givers already experience poorer physical and mental health, poorer financial outcomes, earlier death and are more isolated than those who do not provide a life-long informal care-giving. Especially when the person with disability is an adult, this shift of burden to the care-giver is disproportionate; those providing a higher level of care will carry a greater burden

Eg EE is a 25 yo quadriplegic living at home. They could be in SIL, but their parents have decided to continue to provide a high level of care to then. The parents manage this by designing a tailored 5 day per week 1:1 Day Options program for them that suits EE’s needs and interests. If their social and community participation budget is slashed by 50%, the burden of care will transfer to the parents, who will not be able to provide such a high level of support in an ongoing manner. The parents are already talking of transferring EE out of the family home and applying for SIL, which is not what they really want, but they cannot manage with less support. SIL will be considerably more expensive to the Scheme than EE’s current program of support.

An adult with disability is entitled to a regular life, with regular, daily time outside of the family home if they choose, just as they would if they did not have a disability and chose to work. They are entitled for example, to attend a Day Options program for the same length of time that they may have chosen to work, if they had the ability to. Day Options are usually charged as social and community participation. Reducing the social and community participation budget for adults who wish to attend a structured group, or tailored day program, is unfair and does not align with how other adult without disability may choose to spend their days..

It is our experience that the difference between ‘assistance with skills of daily living’ and ‘assistance to access the community’ is not well understood, nor consistently defined.

Eg AR, a hemiplegic who needs assistance to toilet, communicate, eat, mobilise using aids: their provider charges ‘assistance to access the community’ whenever they are outside of the home, including at Day Options. In reality, they are still being assisted with basic tasks essential to daily living, such as eating, toileting, transferring, re-positioning, mobilising, communicating.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

Applying a blanket rule and reducing a person’s social and community participation budget by 50%, will result in a skewed negative impacts for the most disadvantaged, for whom every support shift, involves a level of assistance with essential daily living tasks.

In our experience, reducing the social and community participation budget of participants will place a much greater burden on other systems, including: • Mental health (of carers and participants); • Housing and homelessness sectors:

Eg EE above, will end up seeking SIL support, including SDA for high physical support needs, as they will not be able to continue to live at home.

Eg To date, Six of our adult clients have been identified, who currently live with their ageing parents, and their parents will be asking them to move out independently if their social and community participation budget is reduced by 50%, as they will not be able to continue to provide such a high level of care.

• Carer support: due to carer burden and carer burnout; • Criminal justice; • Health; • Emergency services;

Eg AB, OE, EU, AU frequently abscond, or resort to violence when agitated. Agitation will increase when they are at home for longer periods of time. Add to this, the number of participants who will be confined in a home where there is family violence or abuse.

In our experience, social and community participant is often used, to support hobby income (as defined by ATO), or for supported micro-enterprise opportunities (following the models on the NDIS website), and enables a person with disability to contribute to the economic community.

Eg AE runs a supported lawn mowing business with regular, repeat customers. They need support to keep customer records, keep records securely and confidentially, remember to ask for payment, check that payment is correct and not over/under paid and actually speak to their customers at the door.

Eg OE creates visual arts and sells painting and cards with their artwork. They are supported by a worker for all communication (potential customers, customers and at exhibitions); and when in the community so that they do not abscond or engage in unsafe behaviours such as step in front of traffic or pick up things from shops and take them without thinking.

Eg OO has started to make customised items to sell from their own home. They are able to independently secure orders using social medial but requires support workers to engage face to face with customers and to collect/deliver supplies from within the community.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

Reducing the social and community participation budget of participants by 50%, will reduce their ability to contribute to the economic community.

12 Social and Community participation budgets are often used as an alternative to respite for informal carers.

Eg UC has been given formal STR in his budget. However, they prefer to spend 1 long day shift with a worker and come home overnight. This is much cheaper for the Scheme than 24 hours of STR, provides their mother with a satisfactory break from their caring role and suits their needs.

Eg When EU has regular support work shifts in the community, Mum feels able to continue to provide care. When these shifts are cancelled, Mum seeks overnight STR instead.

Reducing the social and community participation budget, is highly likely, to increase the requests for, and costs of short term respite for informal carers.

13 The more isolated that a person with disability is, the more vulnerable they can be, to online and cyber exploitation, when online platforms remain the only option to fulfil a need for connection.

Eg IR started to spend more and time on dating apps when their social and community budget was previously reduced and was groomed into sharing inappropriate photos of themselves, which were then shared. They were also groomed into sharing their banking details.

Eg EA spent the majority of their time in their bedroom playing online games and developing friendships with other gamers. They were enticed to meet a stranger in another city, based on what was shared online, with no verified, true knowledge of the other person.

What do our clients say?

We created a survey and allowed only 24 hours for our clients to respond, receiving 28 responses (from Participants and Plan nominees answering on behalf of Participants), in this small time-frame.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

Participants identified the activities that they participate in:

All Participants felt that their skills of independent living had increased in some way:

Participants identified that their skills in Confidence, Social Skills and Communication were most impacted, and other benefits included travel/transport training, money handling and time management skills:

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

25% of Participants felt that the social and community participation support has moved them towards employment, volunteering or education: (note, that 25% of overall respondents were under 18 and not seeking work or volunteering or training, some over 18 were also not wanting to work, volunteer or study):

Comments from participants:

What do you like most about this type of support (social and community participation)?

It allows me to access education, social events and supports skill development that I wouldn’t be able to do without help

I have no friends. I have limited/ no appropriate social skills. This support gets me out of the house to experience the world outside of my bedroom. This support keeps me and my community safe. It helps me to engage in social settings build confidence learn social skills group settings gets me out in community participation helps me to budget my spending money whilst out.

I can stay connected to my community and to Bridge and to babysit my grandchildren

I can go out and do things and not stay at home being bored

How much [my child] has improved

My support worker helps me manage overwhelming social settings in real time, and guides me with the correct responses

Helps me to be a part of my community and develop relationships

I do not feel isolated any more. I feel. I am more connected to my community and I valued

Less isolated, support workers are my mentors and I have learnt so much with them and supported me when out to experience new things and learn more about my interests

Gaining independence

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

Gives me a support to see everyday as I am isolated, gives me confidence

Gives me Freedom

It allows me to get out of my house - otherwise I would not be able to do that because I am extremely disabled (not ambulant/not verbal)

It helps me be able to function with everyday life that I wouldn’t ever be able to do on my own

Helping with confidence

The social and community supports provided to my sibling are absolutely life-changing and essential to her wellbeing, independence and quality of life. [They] are highly social, extroverted and thrives through connection with others, however due to their disabilities, speech impairment and behavioural support needs, they cannot safely or confidently access the community independently. Their support workers assist them with every aspect of daily life including attending medical appointments, shopping, work commitments, social groups, craft activities and community outings such as the cinema. Most importantly, they provide companionship, emotional safety, routine, encouragement and trusted relationships that help [them] feel connected, valued and included in society rather than isolated from it. These supports allow them to live with dignity, purpose and joy.

[They] have [diagnosis] in a wheelchair, non verbal and totally dependent for all their needs. With a 1:1 support worker (SW) they achieve levels of satisfaction with whatever they have chosen to do - everything is down to their choice for creating art pieces to any other crafts or preserve making. Some of the art pieces have sold at the annual SALA events. Their SW’s are required to assist them in everything as they are limited in how much they can hold/grip, and are dependent on their SW’s to be able to read their body and vocal cues as they are learning how to use their [AAC] effectively. The moment they are left alone or [in a group ratio], [they] cannot participate, get daily satisfaction and the attention required to read their cues [in a group ratio] becomes a health & safety risk.

What improvements would you suggest?

NB: we provide here, only the comments that relate the proposed changes and not to the comments that are relevant to operational issues for providers.

Their right to attend their day options (that charge separately) and participate in meaningful and satisfactory accomplishments by their own choices. My fear with the slash (just recently) to [their] funding is that the changes will lead [them] to regressing rather than progressing especially in the area of communication.

I would extra time with my support worker, they help me contribute to my various communities with repetitive training.

Need more funding to help to grow my independence from my mum and become more self reliant

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

Keep my support workers so I can access my community and not lose my friends and groups. My mum would lose her job as she tries to work when I’m with my support worker. We will lose our home and that scares me. I will lose my friends.

We strongly believe social and community supports should be protected and expanded, not reduced. One major concern is transport limitations for participants like [Participant]. ……….Without funded social and community support, [they] would face severe isolation and reduced participation in everyday life. We would like to see greater flexibility around transport supports, improved understanding of the real-life barriers participants face, and stronger recognition that community access is essential for mental health, independence, social inclusion and overall wellbeing for people living with disabilities.

Additional comments

Losing this support will have a large negative impact on my life and capacity to learn and work

This support is needed for safety. Without it will become a prisoner in my bedroom.

I have been very happy with NDIS and the support we have received since 2017. I have watched my child slowly progress (it has been a long road) and become more confident and seeing her sense of pride at her achievements. The recent slash to their NDIS funding has left myself devastated. The mental and emotional impact on myself, their main carer and NDIS plan nominee, has definitely taken a worse turn with my stress levels being very high – wanting the best for my child and what they have always had to continue. Everyone has the right to be able to achieve and have a sense of self satisfaction and to watch that be taken away is soul destroying.

Our [child] lives with ASD and ADHD, and while they are fiercely independent and highly motivated to engage socially, they still experience very real and significant challenges with social literacy, communication processing, emotional regulation, and interpreting social situations safely and appropriately. Their support worker is not simply a “social support” service. They are an essential protective and developmental presence in [child’s] life. [Child’s] support worker acts as their mentor, trusted guide, emotional anchor, social filter, prompter, role model and safe support person across both home and community settings. They help [child] navigate situations that neurotypical young people often manage instinctively, but which can otherwise leave [child] vulnerable to misunderstanding, isolation, poor judgement, anxiety, or social withdrawal. The relationship they have built over time is founded on deep trust, consistency and emotional safety — something incredibly important for a young person with ASD. [Child] does not easily form trusted connections, yet this support relationship has become one of the healthiest, most stabilising and influential relationships in their life. Reducing social and community supports may appear minor administratively, but for families like ours, the impact would be profound. These supports are preventative supports. They reduce mental health decline, social isolation, family stress, vulnerability, and future crisis intervention needs. They build capacity, resilience, confidence and long-term independence. [Child’s] support

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

worker is helping him become a capable, connected and contributing young person. Removing or reducing this support risks undoing years of growth and stability. We cannot overstate how integral this support is to [Child’s] wellbeing, development, confidence, safety and future independence. Please do not underestimate the life-changing value these supports provide to neurodivergent young people and their families.

NDIS funding has helped me to get out of my bedroom and out into the community.

This category is imperative to my daily well being

Without this support the only time I would leave my home would be for medical appointments therapy.

I need this support

Please don’t stop this funding.

I want to go on holidays

[Participant’s] social and community supports are not luxuries — they are essential supports that allow them to safely participate in life, maintain emotional wellbeing and remain connected to their community. Without these supports, [participant] would experience profound isolation, declining mental health and reduced independence. Due to their speech impairment and behavioural support needs, they rely heavily on trusted support workers who understand their communication style, routines and vulnerabilities. The long-term relationships they have developed with their support workers provide stability, confidence and emotional safety that cannot simply be replaced or reduced without significant impact. As a family, we are deeply concerned that cuts to social and community funding fail to recognise the reality many participants face — particularly those who are socially motivated and capable of meaningful participation when appropriate support is in place. These supports do not create dependence; they create opportunity, inclusion, dignity and a far better quality of life for vulnerable Australians living with disabilities.

What positive changes have you noticed?

More likely to try new things, engage in learning opportunities and has more resilience during difficult situations.

A sense of independence wanting to have a life away from mum and dad.

Goes out to shops & budgets money works out what their wants are vs needs. Able to participate in group settings. Starting to talk about emotions back a forth conversation increased around this. Seeing how much it helps their confidence when successful in group settings being included and creating connections in peer their age & community.

severe MH but does some tasks independently now

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

has progressed slowly and improved their confidence in their use of their eyegaze and with identifying their choices

confidence

connection to extended family

It gives them purpose

happy and more confident

Since receiving consistent support, we have noticed significant positive changes in [their] confidence, emotional wellbeing, social engagement and independence. They are more willing to participate in community activities, communicate with others and step outside of their comfort zone in ways that previously caused them considerable anxiety. Their support worker has helped them develop safer social awareness, improved emotional regulation, stronger decision-making skills and increased confidence navigating everyday situations. [Their] support worker also supports both [them] and our family with important life-skill development within the home, including helping [them] learn how to clean and organise their bedroom, categorise and complete their laundry, and carry out age-appropriate household responsibilities such as sorting rubbish correctly and understanding why different waste belongs in different bins. While these are tasks shared by [the] family, the strong mentor relationship and trust [they] have with [support worker] means this guidance is often received with far greater openness, motivation and gratitude than when delivered by Mum and Dad — although, ………… that is very age appropriate. Most importantly [they] feel understood, supported and encouraged, which has had an incredibly positive impact on both their personal development and overall quality of life.

They now love to be out and about rather than staying in their bedroom all day.

They are more independent they interacts with their peers and the community better

first time that they have voluntarily left the house in several years, with their support worker

Communication has increased. Social skills have improved.

Since receiving consistent social and community support, we have seen significant positive changes in [their] confidence, emotional wellbeing, independence and overall quality of life. [They] are naturally very social and thrives when they are connected to her community, and her support workers help make this safely possible. They are more engaged in activities, maintain regular attendance at work and community groups, attends appointments with reduced anxiety and feels far less isolated. The trusting relationships they have developed with their support workers have also strengthened their confidence, communication and emotional stability. [Their] support workers are compassionate, caring people who take a very respectful client and family-centred approach to their care and support. They maintain [participants] dignity and confidentiality while still appropriately communicating with family if concerns arise regarding

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

their wellbeing or decision-making. They are highly valued not only by [participant], but by our entire family.

Good for wellbeing

They have became more independent and is engaging more with services to help their overall being

Happiness

Additional comments/feedback?

We would like to see this service strengthened rather than reduced, with greater recognition given to the critical role support workers play in the social, emotional and developmental wellbeing of neurodivergent young people. Consistency of support staff is incredibly important for participants with ASD, so maintaining long-term trusted support relationships should be prioritised. We would also like the NDIA to better recognise that social and community supports are not simply recreational — they are essential capacity-building supports that foster independence, emotional regulation, safety, communication skills and community participation. Increased flexibility in funding, reduced administrative barriers, and decision- making that genuinely considers the lived experiences of families and participants would greatly improve the effectiveness and long-term outcomes of these services.

That you look at the individual and what they do with their supports rather than a blanket across the board decision

We would strongly encourage the continuation and expansion of social and community supports, particularly for vulnerable adults living with disabilities who rely on these services to safely access the community and avoid isolation. Greater flexibility around transport supports is urgently needed, as many in-home care providers are unable to transport participants due to insurance restrictions, leaving participants financially burdened by taxi costs that are often unsustainable on a Disability Support Pension. We would also like to see greater recognition of the importance of long-term trusted support worker relationships, as consistency and familiarity are incredibly important for participants with communication, behavioural and social support needs. Reducing these services would have devastating impacts on many participants’ independence, mental health and community participation.

Give as many opportunities as possible don’t restrict them

Losing this support will have a major impact on this persons quality of life and may increase feelings of worthlessness and apathy.

We respectfully ask that the voices of participants and families be genuinely heard before making changes to supports that have such significant real-life impact. For children and teenagers living with ASD and ADHD, social and community supports are often the difference between isolation and connection, vulnerability and confidence, dependence and growing

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 748

independence. [Participant’s] support worker has become a trusted, stabilising and deeply positive influence in their life, helping them safely navigate social situations, build emotional resilience and develop the skills needed for adulthood. These supports not only benefit the participant, but also strengthen families, reduce long-term crisis intervention and contribute to healthier communities overall. We strongly believe reducing these supports would have unintended and deeply harmful consequences for many vulnerable young people and their families.

[Participant’s] supports are not simply about attending outings or activities — they are about preserving dignity, connection, emotional wellbeing and inclusion within society. Without these supports, [they] would become increasingly isolated and vulnerable despite their strong desire to participate in life and remain socially connected. Their support workers provide encouragement, advocacy, emotional safety and practical assistance that enable them to continue engaging meaningfully with the world around them. As a family, we are deeply grateful for the dedication, compassion and professionalism shown by [their] support workers and strongly believe these supports are preventative, life-enhancing and essential to maintaining their wellbeing and independence long term.

Without this support, my adult child who is extremely disabled, would never be able to leave their SIL house apart for medical appointments.

Please don’t cut the funding. My child needs it. I would worry what would happen to them if not been able to have supports to teach and guide them. They would be lost.

Kathryn Soar BA, MSW, Member of AASW Director, Soaring Sparrows Pty Ltd Specialised Support Coordinator and Social Worker