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

Submission 853

Submission to NDIS Committee

Writeto you as a husband and father of NDIS participants in South Australia. I am genuinely dismayed and disillusioned by the proposed NDIS reforms, and I suspect I am not aloneinthat feeling.I writetoshare my strongest concerns abouttheproposed changes tothenNDIS,and Itrustthatyouthwillconsiderandactto mitigate them.

Giving Equality With One Hand, TakingItAwayWiththeOther

I acknowledgeandsupporttheGovernment’seffortsto address inequality throughtaxand fiscal reform. But equalityofopportunity cannot be selectively applied,andinnot reconcile that commitment withchanges to thenNDIs that will pushAustralianswith disability further from equal participationinsociety. Agovernment that championsafairerAustraliainone breathcannot,inthe next, condemnourmost vulnerable citizensandtheirunpaidfamily carerstorealess equallife.

Reform… on the BackOfWomen’sUnpaidLabour

The proposedreforms will haveapredictableandan unfair impactnotinjuston NDSParticipants themselves,butalso,andonforthe mostpart,onwomen. The Governmentrightly championreducingthe unpaidcareburdenon women. Yetthepractical consequenceofthese cutsisthat Australianswithdisabilitywillincreasingly dependupon unpaidad familycarers,who areoverwhelmingly women.

AbandoningParticipantsToNon-ExistentStateSupports

the government has justified somecutsby pointingtostatebasedsupportsthatpredatedthenndis I acceptthatin afederation responsibilitiescan besharedacrosslevels ofgovernment What Icannotacceptiscuttinfederal supportswithoutfirstensuring adequate statealternatives actuallyexist Those serviceswerelargely dismantledafterthen ndisasestablished Directingt peopleto State supports thnolongerexist isnota Support pathway;itis sendingalready heavily burdenedpeopleintoavoid

LawsAreNotWrittenForTheGovernmentsWeTrust;TheyShouldBe WrittenForThe Governments We Fear

thebills proposes to makethe purposesoffundingreviewablewhile explicitlyplacingfunding amountsbeyond review severingtwothings thatare inpractice inseparable Fundingamountsare integral toa fundingdecisionandcannotbemeaningfully separatedfrom thepurposestha tfundinismanttoserve Makingpurposereviewable whilequarantining amount fromreview isa structural gap tha twillinvite bureaucratic trickery andproduce pooradministrative outcomes .

thisis concern isn’tabstract. NDIAd decisionsarcurrently overturnedat external review approximately75 percent ofthetime,the highestoverturnrateofany government agency.

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

Submission 853

Australia. Removing review rights is not a solution; if anything, it makes the underlying problem less likely to ever be addressed.

Compounding this, the proposed reforms grant the Minister expanded powers with insufficient oversight or parliamentary scrutiny. While the Government may regard itself as a trustworthy steward of these powers today, the Australian people rightfully expect that laws are written not for the governments we have, but for the governments we might get.

I trust that you share these concerns. I ask that you consider the adequacy of alternative supports before cuts commence, the gender equality contradiction at the heart of this reform, and the absence of meaningful review rights, and act accordingly.

Let not short-term expedience jeopardize the real aspirations of our fellow Australians with disabilities and of their families, now and in the future.

Thank you.