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

                                  Submission 822

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securring the NDIS for Future generations) Bill 2026

25 May 2026

Wite to object to the NDIS Future generations bill 2026 in its current form.

While i support measures that ensure long term scheme sustainability this bill introduces significant structural changes that risk undermining participant safety procedural fairness individualised decision making and the foundational principles of choice and control.

My primary concerns are as follows:

1. Expanded Ministerial Powers and Reduced Oversight The bill allows funding reductions, support caps, and operational rule changes to be made through legislative instruments with limited parliamentary scrutiny and restricted review rights decisions that materially affect participant supports must remain subject to transparent consultation co design and merits review.

2. Narrowing of Reasonable and Necessary Supports the proposed amendments introduce a more restrictive interpretation of disability related need including the insertion of “directly” into the reasonable and necessary test and an increased reliance on financial sustainability as a dominant decisionmaking factor This risks excluding legitimate support needs arising from interacting disabilities and complex functional presentations.

3. Restrictive Access and Reassessment Provisions the proposed all appropriate treatment requirement new functional capacity test and extended decision timeframes will create significant barriers to access and delay urgently needed supports These provisions disproportionately impact participants with degenerative complex psychosocial regional and rare conditions.

4. Risk to Participants With High And Complex Support Needs percentage based reductions to social and community participation funding fail to recognise that for many participants this funding is essential for safety supervision behavioural support communication assistance and prevention of hospitalisation or carer breakdown.

5. Reduced Procedural Fairness the removal of deemed decision safeguards longer reassessment time frames limited appeal pathways and expanded automated decision making powers expose participants to delays uncertainty and potentially harmful administrative decisions without adequate review mechanisms.

6. Disproportionate Burden On Self Managers and Nominees reduced claim windows strict record keeping penalties and automatic debt provisions create unreasonable administrative risk for participants and families who self manage in good faith.

i respectfully call on the committee to recommend amendments that: • Preserve participant meritsreview rights • Remove or amend restrictive eligibility and treatment provisions • Retain the wholeofperson reasonable and necessary test

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

Submission 822

• Maintain timely reassessment pathways, including emergency review mechanisms
• Require genuine disability-sector co-design and consultation
• Limit automated decision-making until enforceable safeguards are in place
• Ensure financial sustainability does not override individual assessed need
• Protect participants with complex support needs from blanket funding reductions

The NDIS must remain a rights-based insurance scheme grounded in individualised support, not a financially constrained administrative system that shifts risk onto people with disability and their families.

The proposed Bill requires substantial amendment before passage to ensure sustainability is achieved without compromising participant safety, dignity, and access to necessary supports.