This week has been extremely difficult for our community. Despite months of advocacy and thousands of submissions to the Inquiry calling for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 to be abandoned, the Bill passed the Senate on the 18th of August.
We hold grave concerns that the passage of the bill means many women, girls, and gender diverse people with disabilities and their family members will lose supports that they need to live independent and meaningful lives. Women, girls, and gender diverse people with disabilities are already deeply underrepresented among NDIS participants. They are also more likely to experience violence, and more likely to face systemic barriers to financial and social independence.
People with disabilities advocated for additional safeguards in the bill, and amendments were passed that increased protections such as:
- Exclusions of high-intensity supports, complex behaviour supports, and some customised technology from support determinations
- Improved rights to request an unscheduled plan reassessment
- A clearer definition of parental responsibility, and recognising the risk of harm to informal supports and families if supports are not funded
- Whistleblower protections for people who report fraud
- Stronger protections around debts raised against participants by the NDIA
Regardless, cutting NDIS supports will not only directly harm women with disabilities, but it will also serve to shift the responsibility for support from the government to families. This will predominantly affect women, many of whom have disabilities and are not receiving adequate support themselves. We are concerned that this will decrease their safety and further increase the risk of burnout and isolation.
We are also concerned that the bill will be implemented before any suitable Foundational Supports are in place. Thriving Kids is expected to begin by 1 October, but we do not yet have information as to what this will look like in the ACT. We know that community-based supports in the ACT do not have the capacity to substitute for supports previously funded by the NDIS.
Women with Disabilities ACT will continue to advocate for women and gender diverse people with disabilities by holding the ACT and Federal Governments to account. We are currently working with ACT Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability (DSID) to assess community-based disability supports in the ACT and find out what does and doesn’t work and what’s missing. You can attend an in-person workshop in Gungahlin on 28 August or fill out the survey here.
We will continue to advocate for the rights of women and gender diverse people with disabilities in the ACT. We are pushing for fully funded foundational supports in the ACT that can meet the needs of those who may lose access to the NDIS, and the many women and gender diverse people who have never had access to the supports they need.
We stand with the disability community and will continue to advocate alongside you.
For more information on the bill you can read this statement made by Women with Disabilities Australia, and this document summarising the amendments passed on the 18th August.
This is a distressing time for our community. If you are affected by this news, there is support available. Please reach out for help by contacting the below services:
- Lifeline (24/7 crisis support):
- Phone: 13 11 14
- Text: 0477 13 11 14
- Online Support: https://www.lifeline.org.au/chat
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
- NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission: 1800 035 544
- 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732
- 3YARN – 13 92 76 (24/7, to talk with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis supporter)
- SANE Australia – mental health support and counselling resources
- National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline – 1800 880 052. Free, independent and confidential support.
- Disability Gateway – 1800 643 787 for information, support and referral services for people with disability, families and carers.
A more comprehensive list of support, crisis and counselling services is available on the WWDACT website here.