Submission 852
Submission regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing
the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
To the Senate Committee
I am writing as a parent of two children who rely on supports through the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I am deeply concerned that proposed legislative changes will reduce access to therapies and supports that are critical to my children’s development, school participation and my ability to remain in the workforce.
In particular, my submission relates to:
-
Amending the eligibility criteria to attempt to remove people with moderate disability needs oƯ the scheme, i.e., people requiring “substantial support” or formally diagnosed ASD level 2 by a multidisciplinary team
-
Reducing therapeutic capacity building supports that promote independent living
-
Proposal to give the Minister sweeping powers to arbitrarily change funded supports, without any review channels for participants, as a function to provide budget savings
How the NDIS has helped my family
Despite many behavioural and communication flags during his early childhood education, my son was formally diagnosed ASD level 2 at 12 years old. The capacity building therapy my son now receives has made a significant diƯerence to his daily functioning. Before accessing support, he struggled to regulate emotions, communicate his needs, and cope with the school environment. Due to the lack of individualised therapeutic support, he experienced autistic burnout leading me to homeschool him for his later primary years. After being accepted onto the NDIS and thankfully receiving an individualised plan with funded capacity building support that enabled consistent access to services, he was able to transition back into the school system and improve his ability to participate in school, manage routines, and engage in learning.
My daughter (ASD level 2) also relies on capacity building therapy to support development of her emotional regulation, social boundaries and communication. Without this consistent and individualised support specific to her needs, I believe she would struggle to regulate emotions, cope with the demands of the classroom, and sustain full school days. If her supports are reduced or removed, I will need to reduce my working hours to care for her during school hours, manage increasing behavioural and emotional challenges, and personally provide the support she currently receives because there is no community health support that meets her needs.
Submission 852
The capacity building supports my children receive have enabled me to increase my workforce participation. As a sole parent, I already balance employment around their appointments, school supports and my children’s additional needs while I support them to access the community. Therapy reduces the intensity of day-to-day care and helps my children function more independently, which means I can maintain work and financially support our family. Without these supports, I would likely have to reduce my hours further or stop working altogether.
Impact of the proposed legislative changes
Removing access to the NDIS for children and adults with “moderate” support needs is a short-sighted approach to cost reduction that risks creating far greater social and economic costs over time. Individualised funded supports — particularly therapeutic capacity-building supports — are essential in enabling people with disability to participate in education, employment, and community life. The NDIS’ own quarterly reports have demonstrated increased levels of participant employment and improved social participation over recent years, reflecting the long-term value of early and appropriate intervention for both participants and carers.
The proposed changes to scheme eligibility and restrictions on capacity-building supports risk undermining these outcomes. Supports that build functional capacity, independence, emotional regulation, communication, and daily living skills are not optional extras; they are preventative measures that reduce long-term reliance on crisis systems, health services, education supports, and informal care networks.
These reforms will also place a significant and disproportionate burden on unpaid carers, most often female family members, without adequately recognising the cumulative impact of caring responsibilities. As a sole parent and primary carer, my responsibilities do not end after school hours, appointments or therapy sessions. Caring for children with additional support needs requires ongoing supervision, advocacy, emotional support, behaviour management, and constant coordination with schools, therapists, medical professionals, and support services.
Without adequate funded supports, this workload increases substantially and directly aƯects carer wellbeing, workforce participation, and family stability. The demands of sole parenting children with disability while attempting to maintain employment place families at significant risk of burnout, financial hardship, and deteriorating mental health. The emotional strain associated with escalating behaviours, disrupted schooling, uncertainty around support access, and continuous advocacy can lead to chronic stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and reduced capacity to sustain both caregiving and employment safely.
Therapeutic supports do not only benefit my children; they protect the sustainability of the entire family unit and underpin our nation’s social ecosystem. These supports help
Submission 852
prevent crisis, improve school engagement and attendance, reduce pressure on education systems, and enable carers like me to remain employed and financially independent. Removing or limiting access to these supports may produce short-term budget savings, but the long-term consequences are likely to include poorer outcomes for children, increased family stress, greater carer burnout, reduced workforce participation, and higher demand on other government-funded systems.
Restricting access to therapies and supports without adequate clinical oversight risks undermining the intent of the NDIS as an individualised, needs-based scheme. Changes that reduce eligibility or narrow supports for people with disability, despite established evidence regarding the long-term benefits of early intervention and capacity building, will result in poorer outcomes for participants and increased pressure on families, health systems, schools, and carers. Legislative reforms should ensure that decisions aƯecting functional capacity and disability supports remain grounded in independent professional expertise, transparency, and participant wellbeing rather than administrative or fiscal priorities alone.
I urge Parliament to ensure that any legislative reforms to the NDIS properly recognise the functional impact of disability and the interconnected impact on families and carers. Eligibility decisions and funding frameworks must account for the critical role therapeutic and capacity-building supports play in developing independence, supporting education participation, maintaining family stability, and protecting carer mental health and economic participation.
Without these supports, many families like mine will face increased hardship, reduced income, and significant emotional strain. The costs will not disappear — they will simply be transferred to families already under immense pressure, and ultimately to other overstretched service systems.
Finally, this submission also expresses concern regarding the concentration of discretionary ministerial power within the proposed reforms, particularly where decisions about eligibility, therapeutic necessity, and capacity-building supports will be legislated to be at the influence of ministerial direction rather than independent clinical expertise. Decisions about disability support needs should be informed by qualified health professionals, allied health practitioners, and evidence-based functional assessments — not by politically driven cost-containment measures.