The legislation will ‘cause serious harm’ and will be ‘devastating’ to participants and their families, said two dissenting voices on the Labor-led committee.
Despite the vast majority of almost 5000 submissions clearly against the reforms, the Senate inquiry into the controversial National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 has recommended the bill be passed.
Dissenting opinions by Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John and independent Senator David Pocock were scathing in their opinions of the reforms and begged the government to continue to be accountable to the disability community.
The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs’ final report on the legislation was published at 4.30pm this afternoon and is available in full on the inquiry’s website.
Just one recommendation was made:
“The committee recommends that the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 be passed.”
Senator Steele-John did not mince his words.
“The ongoing media campaign, including campaigning driven by political parties, has subjected disabled people to months of sustained and harmful public debate about the value of disabled people’s lives,” he wrote in his dissenting opinion.
“The Australian Greens are alongside a chorus of disabled people, disability representative organisations, human rights commissioners, allied health professionals, lawyers, advocates, disability service providers, academics and researchers who collectively hold a firm view: the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 goes too far, too fast, and should not pass the Parliament,” he wrote.
“These reforms will cause serious harm to NDIS participants, their families and loved ones, their carers and the wider community.
“They will also result in significant job losses for allied health professionals and support workers, further reducing the capacity of the disability support workforce at a time when it is already under significant pressure.”
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Senator Steele-John said the government’s stated ambition to return to the NDIS to its “original intent” could not be achieved by the legislation it proposed.
“What the government fails to acknowledge is that the original intent of the Scheme was to provide disabled people with the supports they need to be independent, to be able to exist in the community, and to be able to participate in the workforce,” he wrote.
“We have heard very clearly over the course of this inquiry that these reforms will take the NDIS further from its original intent, and will remove so many disabled people from being able to participate in our community, including from the workforce.
“If this Bill passes the parliament, it will be devastating to the lives of disabled people and their families.
“The Greens will be strongly opposing this Bill when it comes to the Senate, and we implore the crossbench and the opposition to also oppose this dangerous Bill.”
Senator Pocock was equally critical of the bill.
“Two matters remain particularly serious in my view: the power to impose blunt, indiscriminate reductions to Social, Civic and Community Participation (SCCP) supports, and the breadth of automated decision-making authorised by this Bill ahead of safeguards recommended by the Robodebt Royal Commission,” he wrote in his dissenting opinion.
“I urge the government to approach implementation with openness.
“Where reforms cause harm, where safeguards fail or where people fall through gaps between systems, the government should be prepared to acknowledge it and change course.
“The true measure of these changes will be found in the experiences of people with disability. They must remain at the centre of what comes next.”
What comes next is the Bill’s likely passage through a third reading in Senate, followed by a final tick of the box by the House of Representatives next week, and then Royal Assent.
Read the full report here.