The Australian Physiotherapy Association shares the deep concern expressed by people with disability, families, carers and organisations across the sector following passage of NDIS Amendment Bill.

Parliament today passed the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill, giving government new powers to reduce funding for groups of supports, restrict reassessments and reshape how people qualify for and receive NDIS support.

The NDIS was built on choice, control and individual need. That foundation has transformed lives, enabled participation and given many Australians with disability greater independence and control over their future. Today's legislation undermines that foundation.

The goal of a sustainable NDIS was never in dispute. What is deeply contested is whether the legislation has pursued that goal with sufficient regard to the risks borne by participants, families and carers.

Despite amendments made in both Houses, including changes that recognise the need for greater scrutiny of NDIS pricing and indexation decisions, the core concerns remain. The legislation retains powers that could fundamentally change where risk and responsibility sit within the NDIS. It allows funding to be reduced across groups of supports without establishing that an individual participant’s needs have changed, and expressly permits supports assessed as reasonable and necessary to be funded below their actual cost.

The legislation also repeals section 31’s dedicated participant-centred planning principles, and establishes a new statutory definition of functional capacity, opposed by experts, before the assessment tools, thresholds, assessor requirements and safeguards underpinning it have been settled.

New treatment, impairment and alternative-support tests have also been introduced that will tighten access to the Scheme, alongside narrower pathways for participants seeking reassessment when their circumstances and support needs change.

While debate continues about the value and risks of automated decision making in health and welfare programs, the legislation further allows evaluative decisions to be automated without guaranteeing human review before an adverse decision takes effect and strengthens statutory presumptions favouring parental, family and informal support over funded support.

These are not minor technical amendments. The legislation gives government and the NDIA stronger powers to constrain access and funding, while participants face narrower reassessment pathways, weaker planning protections and greater reliance on systems and informal supports that may not be available.

Taken together, these changes risk creating gaps, barriers and unmet need and shift costs from the NDIS onto people with disability, families, carers and already stretched health and community systems.

Reducing expenditure does not eliminate the need for support. It changes who bears the cost.

Despite thousands of submissions made by people around the country and repeated warnings throughout the parliamentary inquiry for significant provisions to be amended, deferred or withdrawn, the Bill has passed.  

Less support, fewer safeguards and greater reliance on families and stretched services, will not mean sustainable reform; the legislations risks serious consequences for people with disability, with the costs shifted elsewhere.

The APA stands with participants and will remain committed to working with Government, the NDIA, and the broader sector to support the original intent of the Scheme and the value it can have for all Australians.