NDIS overhaul will ‘harm’ Australians with disabilities, government’s own committee warns

The submission, authored by co-chairs, El Gibbs and Dougie Herd, added the savings could be achieved through focusing on provider integrity, fraud enforcement and pricing reform – rather than cutting support services for Australians with disabilities.

“The community has, repeatedly, asked for that change to be done with us, not to us. The community has not been listened to in the design of this bill,” it said.

“The bill in its current form does material harm to current and future participants. It misrepresents the founding intentions of the NDIS. It inverts the [2023 NDIS] review on which the government relies. It demolishes the federated joint venture and concentrates unprecedented power in the Commonwealth minister.

“It is, on the government’s own admission, retrogressive against the rights framework the NDIS Act exists to give effect to. And it has been progressed under a timetable that breaches Australia’s binding obligation to consult.”

The committee was established in 2025 to advise the federal NDIS minister and state and territory disability ministers about the real-world impacts of any changes to the scheme.