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Exclusive: NDIS changes secretly brought forward

The federal government has secretly implemented changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme more than a year before they were scheduled to take effect and in advance of consultation promised by Minister for the NDIS Mark Butler.

While these headline changes were to be “co-designed”, at least in rhetoric, a parallel set of arbitrary, swingeing cuts to the scheme, including a blanket 50 per cent reduction to social and community participation budgets within NDIS plans, was released as final policy on Wednesday. The cuts are predicted to save $13.5 billion but will force some participants into group homes or back into the degraded situations that existed before the scheme was established.

As the pace of the largest reforms to the NDIS accelerate, disabled people, their families and advocates are warning of “catastrophic” consequences. Sources have told The Saturday Paper the government is either not listening to, or not understanding the nature of, their concerns and instead is pursuing raw budget savings.

“I think [the government] are just winging it,” the chief executive of a large service provider says. “They are so exposed on so many different areas and there are going to be consequences. Someone in Treasury or wherever has just got a budget spreadsheet and they are working off [it].

“Families are not far off breaking point. Before the NDIS, there used to be a lot of families who relinquished care of their loved ones. We are coming back to that again.”

The government’s communication strategy is to offer reassurances that often do not match reality and then admonish advocates for stirring “fear and misinformation”.

Recent changes to how people access the NDIS provide a useful case study.

In August, the Albanese government passed another tranche of sweeping NDIS reform amendments that, in part, included new definitions of “functional capacity” and what it means for a participant to have a “substantially reduced” capacity. The changes deferred rules, assessment methodologies and evidence requirements to be designed later.

“There will be no immediate impact of the new definition of functional capacity,” the bill’s explanatory memorandum says.

“It is clarifying the current intended application of functional capacity in relation to access decisions. New category A NDIS rules to prescribe methods and criteria to set thresholds relevant to the assessment of functional capacity are expected to commence from 1 January 2028.”

In practice, however, that has not been the case.

On September 25, less than a month after the new NDIS amendments came into force, the Administrative Review Tribunal decided the case of 54-year-old Tavete Riordan, who applied for access to the scheme after a stroke and was refused in early 2025.

Its decision to confirm that refusal relied on the new legislative amendments, even though he had applied for access to the scheme some 18 months earlier.

“Further amendments to the NDIS were made in August 2026, with those amendments coming into force in a staggered process with the first amendments commencing on 27  August 2026,” the tribunal’s general member, John McAteer, said in his decision.

“Those 27 August amendments apply to all matters not finalised before the NDIA [National Disability Insurance Agency] or the Tribunal prior to that date, and therefore to the extent relevant will apply to this matter.”

The Saturday Paper sent a series of questions about the NDIS reforms to Butler but his office declined to respond, citing a statement from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

A spokesperson for the department told The Saturday Paper the new definitions were explicitly designed to mimic a precedent set in the Federal Court in 2023 and that this has been longstanding practice.

“Those amendments do not change the operation of law or practice in force prior to commencement,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“Changes to the operation of the access framework do not commence until 1 January 2028, when relevant NDIS rules are in place.”

This is at odds with a change made the day before the amendments came into force, however, when the NDIA updated its operational guidelines to refer to the legislative amendments, embedding them in access policy across the organisation. This affects all cases, many of which will never make it to a tribunal to become public, like the matter of Riordan.

Taken together, the amendments significantly raise the bar for access to the NDIS, even though the assessment methodologies have not been finalised and despite repeated public guarantees of no change.

“The new section 9B further provides for the making of rules to prescribe methods and criteria setting thresholds relevant to the assessment of functional capacity,” McAteer said in his decision.

“Pursuant to the Explanatory Memorandum to the amending Act, it is understood that the Minister intends to make rules, however, these rules are not expected to commence until 1 January 2028.”

“We don’t qualify right now for the new carve-out because the plan has to be more than $215,030, but the irony is Adam would have a plan bigger than that if we put him in a home.”

Despite the machinery governing access to the NDIS changing immediately, ministers and bureaucrats maintain, in the bill and elsewhere, that the new system would be designed in “deep consultation” with the disability community and other experts. To prop up this claim, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing launched a five-week public consultation round that closed yesterday.

“Access changes will be informed by expert advice from the Technical Advisory Group and consultation with the disability community,” the consultation paper says.

“The department has developed a set of draft guiding principles to help shape the future access decision-making process.

“The guiding principles set the overarching values and objectives that could underpin and guide the design, implementation and ongoing refinement of a new access decision-making process. These principles are provided for consultation and community feedback and do not represent final government policy.”

Announced in July, the Technical Advisory Group will “provide expert, independent, evidence-based advice to the Disability Reform Ministerial Council (DRMC) to support access reforms”.

The department’s consultation paper says the advisory group “will help develop robust and consistent NDIS access decision-making processes and standardised evidence requirements for assessing substantially reduced functional capacity”.

On August 28, the department executed a $663,000 contract with Sententia Consulting to “support” the group in its work.

While future participants in the NDIS will be subject to whatever arrangements result from that work, existing participants who are reassessed or those who apply for the first time before January 1, 2028, will apparently be captured by this interim access regime.

“This creates considerable uncertainty for people seeking access to the NDIS or undergoing eligibility reassessment, their families and representatives, and the professionals who provide functional evidence to support applications,” one advocate tells The Saturday Paper.

“It is particularly concerning where applicants are currently being assessed against amended statutory concepts, while the detailed rules and assessment framework intended to operationalise the future access arrangements are not yet in place.”

Any one of the suite of NDIS reforms currently being rolled out or designed would be significant on their own, but collectively they represent a near total and overwhelming overhaul of the scheme’s original blueprint, its definitions, its laws, rules, practices and integration with other systems of support.

Particularly frightening for disabled people is a wholesale cut of 50 per cent to every NDIS plan’s social and community budget, a portion of funding that is critical to supporting people who need help to leave their homes for day programs, community visits and to be part of society.

On Wednesday, ministerial determinations were released that outline how the government intends these cuts to work in practice, including some last-minute “safeguards” won by the Greens that are supposed to protect high-support-needs participants in Supported Independent Living with a requirement for 24-hour care.

In reality, the instrument will still apply the 50 per cent cut to funding for these participants, but they are among the only ones who have been given a special carve-out to apply for a review of this decision. Such a review might – but might not – result in the NDIA putting back some or all of the money it took out of the plan.

The NDIA is using plan values as a proxy to find out who these people are. If a person has high-support-plan items worth “at least” $215,030 a year, they might be able to query whether the government has gone too far on cutting their plans. The methodology is breathtakingly complex.

“The high-support-needs mechanism is an important safeguard, but it is tightly defined,” says Intrepidus Law principal lawyer Belinda Kochanowska.

“Eligibility depends significantly on what the agency’s records show about the way the participant’s existing supports were funded, including continuous 24-hour care and the specified funding threshold.

“That makes the accuracy of agency records potentially very significant for participants seeking to rely on this pathway. The more complex and data-dependent the decision-making process becomes, the greater the potential for errors – whether those errors arise from human decision-making, incorrect agency records, or the way an automated process applies the methodology.

“That is particularly concerning where an error could directly affect the funding available to a participant who requires continuous 24-hour disability support.”

Elsewhere, the 50 per cent cut to social, economic and community support will apply across the board with few exceptions – notably for those with “high intensity” support and supports to gain or hold employment. Similarly, the government will cut a flat 10 per cent from Improved Daily Living Skills line items in plans, with few exceptions.

The Saturday Paper has spoken with families and providers who are not covered by any of these exemptions but whose children or family members require 24-hour care while still living at home, not in a so-called group home run by a service.

One mother, who asked to be called Margaret, says her 24-year-old autistic son Adam requires round-the-clock care because of his almost total lack of impulse control.

If he loses access to his five-day-a-week program, Margaret says she will have no choice but to “relinquish” the son she loves to a supported living home, away from his family.

“We don’t qualify right now for the new carve-out because the plan has to be more than $215,030, but the irony is Adam would have a plan bigger than that if we put him in a home,” she says.

“Unfortunately, his plan is up for renewal in February, so we will be one of the first this happens to. There is no consideration for the individual’s needs. They don’t seem to have a duty of care.”

Margaret is 64 and her husband is unwell. Younger parents, who she is also speaking with about these changes, have to work. None of them know if they will be able to continue to support their children under the changes.

The Commonwealth is so wedded to its 50 per cent cuts that even where a person has 24-hour support needs in a group home, ministers have rebuffed private lobbying to have a pre-emptive process to prove a person shouldn’t have their plan cut.

Instead, the cuts will go through and then a variation can be lodged. NDIA will have 21 days to decide whether to vary the plan and then yet more time to decide by how much.

“They are making things even more complicated,” the chief executive of the large service provider says. “What they are putting on participants and providers with all of this is criminal.”

Interesting that with nearly 3000 participants they have already fugured they wont make it on the list come october next year.

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Nearly 3,000 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants will need to find new financial plan managers after Geelong disability support provider Leisure Networks announced it would phase out the service.Leisure Networks said on Monday the decision was driven by proposed federal reforms to the NDIS and formed part of its focus on delivering sustainable, high-quality services.

Leisure Networks chief executive David Meade said customers would be prioritised during the transition to minimise any disruptions.

The move will affect about 2,800 participants and 18 staff in the organisation’s plan management team, with Leisure Networks unable to guarantee there would be no job losses during the transition.Under plan management, NDIS participants appoint a registered provider to manage the financial side of their plans, including paying service providers and keeping financial records.

Leisure Networks customers will be transitioned to alternative plan management providers.Chief executive David Meade said it was a significant change to the organisation’s operations as it had offered the service for several years.“The proposed legislative changes actually means it will be impossible for us to continue to offer this service along with any other NDIS services in the future,” he said.He said Leisure Networks customers would be prioritised during the transition to minimise any disruptions.“We recognise the important role plan management plays in helping people get the most from their NDIS plans, and we are committed to ensuring every customer is supported throughout this process and has the information they need to make the choice that is right for them,” Meade said.“We have offered a ‘one-click’ option for those who are happy to transition to our preferred provider while ensuring full choice and control by providing access to the full list of NDIS plan management providers.

”The decision to drop plan management services will also affect 18 staff in Leisure Networks’ plan management team. While the customer transition is under way, Leisure Networks is also working through the impact on its workforce.“Our priority is to support affected employees respectfully and we are working with each of them to determine their best outcome including exploring any opportunities within the organisation where possible,” Meade said.Leisure Networks said it remained committed to delivering high-quality disability supports and creating opportunities for people with disability to participate, connect and thrive in inclusive communities across the region.Under the federal government’s proposed NDIS reforms, which have not yet passed parliament, participants must choose a plan management provider from a list approved by the government from 1 October 2027.Those using a provider not on the approved list will have six months to switch.

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Unions win vehicle allowance increase

Australian Unions have secured an increase in the vehicle allowance paid to community and aged care workers.

The Fair Work Commission has agreed to a temporary increase in vehicle allowances from $1.01 cents a kilometre to $1.05 per kilometre, following an application led by Australian Unions, including the Australian Services Union and the Health Services Union.

Aged care and community sector workers who use their own vehicles for travel during work hours and who are covered by the two industry awards will now receive the higher per-kilometre allowance.

The increase will help compensate these workers for on-going fluctuating fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict, maintenance costs and other expenses tied to using their vehicles for work.

Thousands of workers in aged care and the community sector, including those in home-care disability support will benefit from the temporary increase that will start from 1 September 2026 and remain in force until 28 February 2027.

The uplift will help workers in these female-dominated services travel the longer distances often required to reach clients in outer suburban and regional areas around the country.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President, Michele O’Neil:

“This is positive news for community and aged care workers and means their vehicle allowances will help keep pace with fuel costs at the petrol station bowser for the next six months.

“While we’re disappointed the Fair Work Commission didn’t extend the increase to other workers in fast food and retail delivery, maintenance trades, firefighters and nurses, this is welcome news for aged care and community care workers.

“The higher allowance will make all the difference to aged care and community workers when it comes to deciding if they can afford to fill up their vehicles and make it to work to support often vulnerable clients.

“At the urging of unions, the Fair Work Commission has agreed to lift the allowance for these essential workers so they can better absorb fuel costs.

“This is important to workers, who would have been shortchanged by hundreds of dollars a year depending on the extent of their travel if the allowance had been left to stay at the level it was.

“We urge all employers to make sure workers who are required to use their own vehicle for work are not left out of pocket.”

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Four in 10 NDIS plan reviews now result in funding cuts

Record numbers of participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme are having their funding cut as the federal government moves to rein in the program’s ballooning costs, sparking criticism from the disability sector that Labor is enforcing budget controls before its overhaul even comes into effect.

About 40 per cent of NDIS participants who had a plan reassessment in the first three months of the year – about 18,000 people – had their budgets reduced, according to figures released by Health Minister Mark Butler.

The new package aims to reduce the NDIS’ annual growth rate from 10 per cent to 2 per cent over the next four years by cutting $37.8 billion in costs. Bethany Rae

The figure was sharply higher than the 25 per cent of assessments that led to cuts at the same time a year earlier.

Among participants whose plans were cut in the first three months of the year, the average reduction was 19 per cent – up from 15 per cent one year earlier.

The figures were released in response to a question from independent MP Monique Ryan..

The package, unveiled in the May budget, aims to reduce the scheme’s annual growth rate from 10 per cent to 2 per cent over the next four years by cutting $37.8 billion in costs.

Measures include halving funding for participants’ social and community participation budgets and tightening eligibility criteria, with the government aiming to move 240,000 people off the scheme by mid-2031.

Martin Laverty, one of architects of the NDIS who now runs disability services provider Aruma, said he had seen evidence of participants’ support needs being repeatedly ignored or rejected by the National Disability Insurance Agency during plan reviews.

Laverty said he strongly supported efforts to curb NDIS costs, but Aruma was now absorbing the costs of “indiscriminate cuts” to participant plans, months before the government’s legislative changes were due to take effect, often adversely affecting people with complex and significant disabilities.

“It’s obvious the [NDIA] has been anticipating government’s intent to achieve a 2 per cent NDIS growth rate in the current year through planner-level tightening ahead of legislative change being implemented,” Laverty said.

“While supporting the necessity to reset the NDIS cost curve, it shouldn’t come at the expense of safety of those with the most profound disability.”

Under the government’s reforms, NDIS participants will be assessed on their functional capacity rather than medical diagnosis, which the scheme’s critics say has led to a surge in children with autism and developmental delays joining the program.

The new legislation also requires participants to explore other treatments before they can join the NDIS.

Grattan Institute disability program director Sam Bennett said he believed the NDIA was prioritising agency-initiated reassessments rather than ones requested by the participant.

“[That] could explain the percentage increase in assessments resulting in a reduction, as the agency tends to initiate a reassessment where there is a likelihood that support needs could decrease – particularly children that reach a threshold age, nine, where they may no longer need early intervention,” Bennett said.

“That said, the uptick is pretty material and appears to apply more so to adults and to people with higher levels of need.”

‘Fighting fraud, stopping rorts’

About 70 per cent of the 79,023 people who received funding cuts between January 2025 and March 2026 were aged 15 years or older.

An NDIS plan reassessment can occur at any time at a participant’s request, or at the NDIA’s initiative when their plan expires. Most NDIS plans last 12 months.

Asked about the increase in plan cuts, a spokeswoman for Butler said the NDIA was responsible for implementing current arrangements and the quarterly data included seasonal variations.

“The bill we’ve passed will secure the NDIS by fighting fraud and stopping rorts, slowing rapid cost increases, making clearer eligibility requirements, and delivering quality supports to participants,” the spokeswoman said.

The latest quarterly report for the NDIS, released last week, showed that the scheme had 782,013 participants at June 30, a 6 per cent increase on the previous year.

It also revealed that 10 per cent of Australian children aged five to seven were NDIS participants.

People with autism as their primary disability accounted for 45 per cent of the total participants on the scheme at 350,651. Another 55,691 people with autism joined the scheme in the last financial year, a 19 per cent jump and similar to the increase in the previous year.

The government hopes to stop the surge in the number of children with autism receiving generous funding packages by moving them into a state-backed Thriving Kids scheme by 2027.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston on Wednesday called on Butler to provide more detail to the states about the Thriving Kids program.

“There are so many Australians who live with disability who were left completely anxious because they had no detail [about the government’s reforms],” Ruston said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/health/caring/labor-cracks-down-on-ndis-providers-billing-millions-for-horse-therapy-and-golf/news-story/bb09bde8c443d67ef7efc40766b69327?amp&nk=5cec1c3385ea85fdfd1ceaf5e5c1093e-1785440420

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Labor cracks down on NDIS providers billing millions for horse therapy and golf

The Albanese government has moved to stop dodgy providers billing taxpayers millions for unapproved treatments.

After the government more tightly regulated what NDIS providers could and could not claim – such as banning “animal therapy” or wellness treatments – unscrupulous providers had been passing off their costs under the “other professional” support item, the Albanese government said.

Since then, providers have been charging up to $194 per hour – the cap for the category – for “treatments” such as decluttering, personal training, golf lessons and “horse therapy”, the government claimed.

It said one provider had claimed more than $1m in inflated payments by charging more than 11,000 people $193.99 per hour for personal training.

That provider had also been fined $19,800 by the Australian competition watchdog for allegedly making a misleading statement on social media about NDIS funding, the government said.

Other examples included “equine therapy” – that promised a “horses as teachers program” where “participants discover how horses survive and thrive and use this learning to adapt to their daily lives to improve health and wellbeing”.

“In this equine-assisted learning program we will be observing and interacting with horses with plenty of touching, grooming and leading the horses,” a screenshot of its website said.

“The program is run outdoors, in nature, and provides the opportunity for participants to learn new skills.”

Another provider offered “decluttering and organising” for $193.99 per hour with a “professional organiser” for a recommended four hours. The government said over 60 participants had billed over $220,000 to this service in the past year.

The Albanese government claimed this loophole had been open since 2019, under the Morrison government.

It said analysis by the National Disability Insurance Agency found nearly 40 per cent of the more than 10,000 providers who had used that “other professional” support item had incorrectly claimed for an NDIS support, claimed for services the NDIS does not cover, or where no information was able to be found about the business or services offered by the provider.

“We want to make sure every dollar spent on the NDIS is going to meaningful supports that deliver good outcomes for participants,” NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister said.

“We are closing this loophole and our bill before the parliament provides new powers for the NDIA to investigate and prosecute wrongdoing.”

The government bill, which passed the House of Representatives in the last sitting period, is the broader reform package that seeks to rein in the runaway growth of the NDIS.

That bill is being met with left-wing opposition, and the Albanese government had to accede to Greens demands to hold the Senate inquiry on the bill for longer in return for the minor party’s support for its controversial tax changes in the Senate.

“We need a fraud response that is evidence-based, properly resourced and focused on those committing the fraud, not one that creates fear and unnecessary barriers for disabled people accessing the supports they need,” Greens NDIS spokesman Jordon Steele-John has said.

The bill is part of a range of measures, the government says, to guard the NDIS against dodgy providers from exploiting the “other professions” loophole.

This year’s pricing review lowered the cap from $194 to $156.16, hence lowering the incentive to rort the system.

The government also gave the NDIA expanded ability to differentiate between fraudsters and legitimate providers, it said, by splitting genuine professionals such as orientation and mobility specialists into a category of their own.

I do like the changes to promotion and adding auditors to the list of people who can be banned.

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Bill to restore human override to assessments passes Senate

 

The Coalition, the Greens and Independent Senator David Pocock have teamed up to pass a bill to restore human override to the Integrated Assessment Tool.

Anne Ruston addressing the Senate during debate on the Bill to restore human override for the IAT (taken from the Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal)

The government has lost a vote in the Senate on the passing of a bill to restore human override in aged care assessments.

The Coalition, the Australian Greens and Independent Senator David Pocock teamed up to pass the Aged Care Amendment (Restoring Human Override for Aged Care Needs Assessments) Bill 2026 introduced last week on behalf of Liberal senator Anne Ruston, Mr Pocock and Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne.

Earlier in the day, the government announced it will be creating an additional option for assessment organisations to seek a review of decisions made by the Integrated Assessment Tool – an algorithm that applies the Aged Care Rules to clinical notes made by human assessors to determine funding levels.

Mr Pocock told Australian Ageing Agenda: “The government has been forced by the Senate into announcing these changes today.”

“Through multiple inquiries, the Senate has heard consistent evidence that the algorithm has not been clinically validated and has been under-assessing the support older people need to stay at home safely and with dignity,” Mr Pocock told AAA.

“There is very little detail in what the minister has announced. It appears to be an eleventh-hour announcement, made only because the government knew it was about to lose a vote on the floor of the Senate.”

Mr Pocock told AAA he would “take the minister at his word that he wants to work with older Australians, clinicians and advocates to fix this,” but that if the change simply creates a new escalation pathway to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing after the algorithm gets it wrong, he struggles to see how it will “materially address the concerns that have been raised.”

“I urge the minister to look carefully at the bill the Senate has passed today and seriously consider restoring clinicians’ ability to override decisions made by this unvalidated algorithm,” Mr Pocock told AAA.

“This is an important test for the Senate on the broader issue of human oversight over automated decision-making. We are yet to see the government implement the Robodebt Royal Commission’s recommendations of legislated guardrails for the use of algorithms in the public service and an independent expert body that can evaluate these algorithms and any automated decision making.”

Ms Penny Allman-Payne, Greens Older People Spokesperson, said: “Piece by piece, the parliament is forcing this Labor government to unwind its disastrous reforms, yet they keep pretending everything’s okay.”

“How can older Australians trust Labor when they still act like the system is working fine?” Ms Allman-Payne said.

“Minister Rae is clearly out of his depth and older people are paying for it, some with their lives.”

Peak body Ageing Australia has welcomed the decision to bring human oversight to the IAT.

Ageing Australia chief executive officer Tom Symondson said that it is important a machine or algorithm does not have the final say on how much support an older person with complex care needs requires.

“We were able to provide the government with over 150 examples of older people struggling with the system, thanks to help from our members,” Mr Symondson said.

“Every situation is different, and everyone’s needs are different. Allowing a System’s Governor to have the final say on assessments brings that much-needed human element back to the process. It’s people making decisions about people.”

“We thank the government and especially Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae, for listening to our concerns and acting. We also welcome the opportunity to be part of the design and the implementation of the changes.”

He also congratulated Senator Ruston for helping shine a light on the issue through her bill. “It’s wonderful to see the government and the opposition putting older people first.”

Speaking to ABC Radio National Breakfast Thursday morning prior to the bill passing, Mr Rae said human override in IAT outcomes would be made possible in certain circumstances.

“We’re creating an additional option here where, if in the assessment organisation’s clinical view the needs of the older person aren’t catered for through the tool, then they have this option to escalate that to the system governor,” Mr Rae told ABC Radio National Breakfast.

During Senate debate of the bill, Ms Allman-Payne said “every older person in this country has a right to have a human make the decision about their care needs and any tool that is used in that process should be simply that, a tool, not the decision maker.”

“The Labor Government has outsourced the decision-making for [older people’s] complex care needs to a computer algorithm with no ability for human override and that is unconscionable.”

She also flagged that the Greens did not vote for the Aged Care Rules, nor did the rules include notice that human override would not be possible in the case of the IAT making an incorrect assessment.

“The royal commission said that we needed a person-centred rights-based system. There is nothing person-centred in outsourcing the assessment of people’s care needs to a computer algorithm,” Ms Allman-Payne said.

Penny Allman-Payne addressing the Senate during debate on the bill to restore human override for the IAT (taken from the Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal)

Also speaking in the Senate, Mr Pocock said that while the government has said humans are involved in the assessment process, it is by way of inputting the data and then “we pay someone to rubber stamp whatever the algorithm says.”

“The person who’s rubber stamping can’t actually change the outcome – that’s not proper oversight and that needs to change,” he said.

David Pocock addressing the Senate during debate on the bill to restore human override for the IAT (taken from the Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal)

The IAT is currently under investigation by the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

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Legislation update: Interim Senate Inquiry report and amendments to the Bill

Chris and Sara examine the recommendations from the interim report of the Senate Inquiry into the NDIS bill, the dissenting report, and the amendments secured by the Greens.

By Chris Coombes and Sara Gingold

Last Tuesday, while we were anxiously anticipating the final report of the Senate Inquiry into the ‘Securing NDIS for future generations’ bill, it was announced that the government had reached an agreement with the Greens to extend the Inquiry by 8 weeks. The Inquiry will now conclude on August 14, and the Greens secured key amendments to the bill (which we will discuss later in this article). In the meantime, the Senate Inquiry has published an interim report, and the results are… well… it’s hard to find words to do it justice. But this was the vibe of the reader experience:

The Inquiry reportedly received a whopping 4,000 submissions, despite being open for just over a fortnight. These included some pretty damning submissions from the government’s own Reform Advisory Committee, the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Young Labor Left and the state and territory governments. There were also 3 days of hearings during which we heard well-considered, compelling and emotionally powerful evidence exploring the potential real-life consequences of this legislation. DSC has got its hands on exclusive, unseen footage from inside the Department of Health, Ageing and Disability on the week of the hearings, which you can find here.

Turns out the disability community is pretty good at rising to a challenge.

In this article, we’ll cover the interim report, the dissenting reports, the Greens’ amendments and what’s happening next. But if you want a refresher on what’s being proposed bill, DSC has previously covered the changes to Access and Planning and Registration, Fraud and Governance.

Interim report

The Senate Inquiry’s interim report made only 4 recommendations. Which is kind of remarkable given the scale of the evidence they received, but let’s not go there (at least not yet).

The recommendations were:

Recommendation 1: Create a roadmap that shows the timeline and consultation requirements for all reforms in the bill. If there’s one thing governments love, it’s a roadmap. So this recommendation is basically threatening the Department with a good time.

Recommendations 2: Amend the government’s explanation of the bill in the explanatory memorandum, to include ‘further clarification’ on:

how the proposed test of permanency will have regard to a person’s choice and autonomy

the ‘extensive consultation’ that will happen before implementation

the safeguards on automated decision making

how the Minister must have regard for the safety of participants when making support determinations, and what safeguards and monitoring will be in place

how critical supports will not be impacted by reductions in social and community participation and therapy budgets

how the reforms will be monitored in thin markets to ensure there aren’t unintended consequences

how employment support budgets won’t be impacted by changes to social and community participation funding.

This was the continuation of a theme from the government during the hearings- that people with disability are scared because they don’t properly understand the reforms. Actually, we’re scared cause we do. It’s like a niche corner of hell, listening to politicians with only a surface-level understanding of the NDIS lecture us on being misinformed.

Time to take some deep breaths and remind yourself that yelling at a computer screen doesn’t tend to produce results.

Recommendation 3: Is effectively the Commonwealth giving the middle finger to the states and territories: “The committee recommends that state and territory governments fulfil their commitments under the National Cabinet agreement to support the long-term sustainability of the NDIS, including through the delivery of the jointly agreed $10 billion investment in foundational supports outside of the Scheme.”

This comes after the states and territories’ joint submission to the Inquiry, urging the process to slow down and arguing they aren’t in a position to support all the people the government plans to remove from the NDIS.

Recommendation 4: Pass the bill in its current form.

And that’s it. You’ll notice that none of the recommendations changes the contents of the bill itself.

But, this Inquiry was led by the government so you can see why it has a very slight, almost undetectable, bias in favour of the government’s legislation.

The Greens and independent Senator David Pocock were not at all happy with this interim report. Both published dissenting reports.

The Greens’ report recommends withdrawing the bill. It raised concerns about the amount of power the bill gives the Minister, and argued that plan funding should continue to be determined on an individualised basis. The Greens also said that nobody should be removed from the NDIS until foundational supports are in place. The report suggested the bill’s proposed changes to eligibility requirements be rewritten to ensure people aren’t forced to undergo unwanted medical treatments and that testing functional capacity considers individual circumstances. The report also recommended removing the stricter definition of parental responsibility and putting in place greater transparency and safeguards for automated decision-making. The Greens argued that the bill should include more measures to target fraud and regulate provider conduct.

Senator Pocock recommended that the inquiry into the legislation be extended. He was not impressed by provisions in the bill that allow ‘indiscriminate’ cuts to social and community participation budgets and recommended that any reduction to that funding be made on an individualised basis. He recommended the government undertake a gender analysis of the impact of the bill. His report also suggested the government implement the recommendations of the Robodebt Royal Commission, before implementing another automated decision making process.

Greens amendments

On Tuesday 23rd June, the Greens secured an 8-week extension to the Inquiry in exchange for support on Labor’s tax reforms.

The Greens also secured the following amendments to the bill:

Support determinations can only apply to social, civil and community participation and improved daily living skills.

Cuts to social and community participation can’t affect the funding people use to manage their daily health or to get to work. It’s not clear how this will be implemented in practice, or how the government will determine the proportion of a person’s social and community participation budget that goes towards those purposes. Initial wording in media releases suggested the carve-out would include support to attend medical appointments. But the wording in the amendments is 'disability related health supports'

People will not be required to undergo restrictive practices, such as forced medication, to demonstrate they have tried all appropriate treatments and are eligible for the NDIS.

Treatments that people must undergo before being eligible for the NDIS must be available through Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or the public health system.

The government must make public a decision-making framework for automated decisions before these processes are implemented.

The Minister can only make transitional rules that last for 6 months, rather than the 12 months in the initial legislation. This is to reduce the Minister's executive power and ensure that rules are put before parliament.

You can find the Greens' amendments here: Amendments.

What’s next?

The Inquiry has been extended to the 14th of August, and the bill can’t be passed before then. NDIS Minister Mark Butler has previously said a 12 month delay to NDIS reforms would cost 17 billion dollars. But Treasury modelling shows the bill is only projected to save the government $2bn in the first year.

The Senate Inquiry has reopened submissions. Click here to make a submission: NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026- Community Affairs Legislation Committee.

This is a complex piece of legislation, and hopefully, the longer inquiry gives the government time to thoroughly explore the impacts across all parts of the community. It means more time to hear from witnesses and to communicate the impact of the changes to the public. We’ll have to wait and see whether the extension will result in any substantial changes to the bill itself.

The bill needs support from the cross-bench or the liberal party to get through the Senate. The Greens are calling for the bill to be scrapped altogether. The LNP has noted community concern about the timeline and extent of the powers, but has not ruled out supporting the bill.

If you want to follow the Inquiry, read the Interim report or some incredible submissions, check out the Inquiry’s website.

Yesterday this popped up in case anyone wants to get on the hub.

They do mention differentiating price for unregistered providers so I wonder if this is an early backing down from everyone needing to be fully registered to provide services.

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/workplace-laws/award-changes/major-award-changes/changes-to-sleepovers-in-the-schads-award