The federal government's proposed overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has met near-unanimous opposition at a Senate inquiry this week, with disability advocates warning the changes could push families into crisis — and some participants telling senators the cuts could cost lives.
The inquiry into the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 is holding three days of public hearings in Melbourne. Almost every witness so far has called for the bill to be amended or delayed, arguing the reforms have not been subject to adequate consultation.
The legislation is designed to slow the growth of the $56 billion scheme. Its most contested elements would move about 160,000 participants off the NDIS and onto 'foundational supports' to be run by states and territories — supports that largely do not yet exist — while cutting participants' social and community participation budgets by 50% and capacity-building budgets by 10%.
Witnesses told the inquiry the combination amounts to withdrawing services before replacements are built. Children and Young People with Disability Australia said the overhaul would push families into crisis, while other submissions warned the bill would cause particular harm to women and gender-diverse participants and deepen reliance on unpaid family care.
Health and NDIS Minister Mark Butler has dismissed calls to extend the hearings, saying the changes remain on track to pass parliament by the beginning of July. The government argues the scheme's cost trajectory — among the fastest-growing items in the federal budget — threatens its long-term sustainability without intervention.
The standoff sets up a tight parliamentary timetable: a committee report, Senate negotiations with a crossbench that has signaled sympathy for the sector's concerns, and passage, all within roughly three sitting weeks.
The NDIS, established in 2013, supports more than 600,000 Australians with disability. Successive governments have wrestled with its growth, but the current bill is the most far-reaching attempt yet to redraw the scheme's boundaries — and the hearings this week suggest the political cost of doing so remains formidable.