The Disability Royal Commission showed us that people with intellectual disability are among the most likely to experience violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, and for many the NDIS is key to enabling people to live inclusive lives free those things.
There must be a consistent commitment to transparency from the government, including the public release of draft legislation and clear opportunities for the disability community to understand and respond to proposed changes before decisions are finalised. Any changes must not occur in isolation – reform of the NDIS must progress alongside the Disability Royal Commission recommendations and NDIS Review recommendations.
The government must commit to continuity of supports and ensure that sustainable alternatives to NDIS supports are built first.
An overall plan for foundational supports must be created, to work alongside Australia’s Disability Strategy and set out the plan for a joined-up approach to the disability service ecosystem. This includes general foundational supports, as first recognised and suggested by the NDIS Review, which are essential for building the capacity of people with an intellectual disability to live a good life.Â
This plan should also consider other separate programs like the ILC, the newly announced Inclusive Communities Fund, and the current Disability Peer Support and Connections (DPSC) Program. Together, all governments – at the federal, state and territory level – must commit to a unified approach, with clear pathways between programs.
We welcome the Minister’s commitment to genuine community inclusion for people with disability. For our community of people with an intellectual disability, social and community participation funding is an important part of this. We agree improvements are needed in this space, and we want to see people with an intellectual disability included and able to access public spaces and local communities, not further removed from them. We look forward to working closely with the government to ensure changes are measured and well-targeted.
We welcome recognition from Minister Butler that when we hear about fraud in the NDIS, we’re not talking about people with disability; we are not talking about families. Public discussion about reform must clearly distinguish between protecting the integrity of the system and unfairly placing blame on participants or those who support them.
Significant reform cannot be delivered without meaningful consultation, which must include people with an intellectual disability and their families. Changes of this scale must be developed in genuine partnership with people with disability from all communities, with their leadership at the centre of decision-making.
We support moves toward mandatory registration to ensure safeguards where people with disability may be at greater risk, particularly in closed settings and for those with higher risk supports. We have worked closely with the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce and continue to work closely with the NDIS Quality & Safeguard Commission on these reforms.
There must be a clear plan for continuity of support while mandatory registration is introduced, especially for those with complex support needs.
Inclusion Australia stand ready to engage constructively in reforms that are transparent, accountable and are grounded in genuine consultation. Reform legitimacy depends on respecting people with disability as key partners that bring valuable lived expertise and experience to achieve transparent, fair, and rights‑consistent policy design.