NDIS Reform Bill 2026

What every participant needs to know before January 2028

Disclaimer: This article draws on publicly available information about the NDIS reform bill introduced on 14 May 2026 and subsequent reporting as at May 2026. The bill is before a Senate inquiry and has not yet been passed into law. Participants should monitor updates at ndis.gov.au and consult their Support Coordinator or a disability advocate for advice specific to their situation.

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On 14 May 2026, Health Minister Mark Butler introduced a bill to the Australian Parliament that many in the disability community are describing as the most consequential change to the NDIS since it was established in 2013.

Its official title is the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.

Its practical effect, if passed as written, is this: every current and future NDIS participant will be subject to a standardised functional capacity assessment under stricter eligibility rules, and the government has a target of reducing the number of participants from 760,000 to 600,000 by 2030 — a reduction of more than one in five.

If you are a participant, a carer, or a family member supporting someone on the NDIS, this is not background noise. It is the most important thing happening in disability policy in Australia right now, and understanding it clearly is the first step to protecting yourself.

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What the Bill Actually Contains

1. Mandatory functional capacity assessments for everyone

The bill introduces a requirement for all participants — current and new — to undergo a standardised functional capacity assessment. This assessment measures your ability to perform daily activities across key life domains: things like self-care, communication, mobility, and community participation.

A government technical advisory group is being established to select the specific assessment tool. The government has said it will use I-CAN v6 — a structured assessment framework developed for this purpose — as part of that process.

This is significant because the current system allows for flexible, diagnosis-based evidence. Under the new rules, a single standardised tool will carry substantial weight in determining whether you qualify for the scheme and what level of support you receive.

2. A stricter definition of permanent disability

To be assessed as permanently and significantly disabled under the new bill, a person must have pursued all "appropriate" treatments for their condition — regardless of whether those treatments are affordable or geographically accessible to them.

For people in regional and rural areas, for people with complex or rare conditions, and for people whose conditions respond differently to standard treatments, this is a significant and controversial shift.

Disability advocates have raised concerns that this definition fails to account for the reality that "appropriate" treatment is not equally available to every Australian.

3. Ministerial powers to reduce funding categories by declaration

The bill grants the Health Minister the power to reduce funding allocations across entire categories of the scheme by ministerial declaration — without requiring individual reassessments.

Minister Butler has indicated he will initially use this power to:

• Reduce social and community participation budgets to 2023 levels
• Reduce annual therapy hours from 72 to 68 per year

These reductions would apply broadly, not case by case.

Legal and disability advocates have warned that this power — once written into law — could be applied far more broadly by future ministers. Solicitor Mitchell Skipsey of the Justice and Equity Centre put it plainly: "A minister could say: 'we're cutting by 100 per cent everyone's supported independent living'... The minister has said that's not what they intend. But once you put those powers in the act, that's a power that's there."

4. Automated decision-making within the NDIA

The bill also enables the NDIA to use automated decision-making in processing applications and plan reviews. What safeguards will apply to automated decisions, and how participants can challenge them, has been identified as one of the most under-scrutinised aspects of the bill, given the compressed consultation timeline.

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The Numbers Behind the Reform

The government has baked more than $38 billion in NDIS savings into the federal budget across the next four years. Passing this bill is how those savings are delivered.

The scheme currently costs more than $54 billion per year. Without structural change, independent projections suggest costs would exceed $100 billion annually within a decade.

The NDIA has already been accelerating its activity ahead of legislative change. In the first quarter of 2025–26, the NDIA nearly doubled the number of eligibility reassessments it conducted compared to the same period the year before.

In other words, the machinery is already moving — even before the new laws have passed.

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The Controversy: Process, Not Just Outcomes

Across the political spectrum and across the disability sector, the loudest criticism of this reform is not only about what is being changed — it is about how.

The 100-page bill was referred to a Senate inquiry, but stakeholders were given just two weeks to make submissions before two days of hearings. For people whose daily functioning makes sustained reading and writing difficult, that timeline is not meaningful consultation.

The government's own advisory committee on disability reform — in a closed-door briefing to state and federal ministers in May 2026 — cautioned that if the process did not slow down, the bill would harm thousands of disabled Australians.

State and territory disability ministers, who must implement foundational supports to replace the services being cut, have asked for more information about the impact on state services before they can commit to the government's timeline.

The Coalition has said it will not help Labor pass the NDIS bill by the government's end-of-June deadline unless the government agrees to a parliamentary inquiry on an unrelated tax reform measure — a political complication that has added further uncertainty.

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The Gap at the Centre: Foundational Supports

The government's answer to removing people from the NDIS is foundational supports — a network of state-delivered services for Australians with disability who don't qualify for the scheme.

Prime Minister Albanese has said: "No one will be removed without somewhere for them to go."

The concern is whether that promise can be kept.

All jurisdictions have signed a $10 billion, five-year national agreement — which amounts to $2 billion per year for the entire country. For context, the NDIS alone costs $54 billion annually.

As of May 2026, only one foundational support has been announced: Thriving Kids — an early intervention program for children aged eight and under with mild-to-moderate developmental delays and autism. It has been allocated $4 billion of the $10 billion total. No plans have been announced for the remaining $6 billion, and no foundational supports have been proposed for any age group above eight.

Queensland has still not signed the bilateral agreements required to roll out Thriving Kids, despite the program being due to begin in October.

The bill's eligibility changes are set to take effect from January 2028. Whether meaningful alternatives will exist by then for the hundreds of thousands of people who may leave the scheme is, as of today, genuinely uncertain.

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What This Means for People With Complex and Fluctuating Conditions

A national survey of 939 people living with multiple sclerosis, published by MS Australia in May 2026, offers a clear-eyed view of what more rigorous assessments can mean in practice for people whose conditions are progressive and less visible.

The findings were stark:

• 61% of respondents said the NDIS does not properly understand multiple sclerosis
• More than 40% reported that their support arrangements changed following an NDIS plan review
• Physiotherapy, exercise physiology, and occupational therapy were the supports most commonly reduced

Among those sharing their experience publicly was Janine Watson — a Paralympic Taekwondo athlete and four-time world champion living with MS. Her most recent NDIS plan reduced her physiotherapy support from two hours per week to 12 hours per year.

"My new NDIS plan feels generic, as if it was copied from someone else rather than made for me," she said. "I'm frustrated because I put a lot of time and effort into preparing thorough evidence and reports for my plan review, yet it seems like none of it was considered."

This is what inadequate preparation looks like in practice. Not through any fault of the participant — but because the system requires evidence that is specific, functional, and framed in terms the NDIA can act on.

Multiple sclerosis is one condition. Autism, cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, rare genetic conditions, and dozens of other disabilities raise the same challenge: invisible complexity, fluctuating presentation, and an assessment system that is not always equipped to understand either.

Under the new bill, with standardised assessments carrying more weight, this gap becomes more consequential.

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The Timeline You Need to Know

The January 2028 date is the most significant for existing participants. But the preparation window between now and then is not as long as it may appear. Reassessments take months to prepare properly. Supporting evidence — allied health reports, specialist letters, occupational therapy assessments — takes time to commission and compile.

The participants who fare best under any assessment system are those who understand what is being measured and prepare accordingly.

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What You Can Do Right Now

Understand what functional capacity assessments measure

The shift to standardised functional capacity assessments means that how your disability affects your everyday functioning — not simply what diagnosis you have — is what matters. The I-CAN v6 framework measures 12 life domains: self-care, daily activities, communication, mobility, interpersonal interactions, learning, employment, health and wellbeing, social participation, home and living, behaviour support, and support coordination.

Knowing these domains in advance, and being able to describe clearly how your disability affects your functioning in each of them, is foundational preparation.

Document everything — specifically and consistently

"I have difficulty with daily tasks" is not sufficient evidence. What is sufficient: specific, consistent, day-by-day documentation of what you cannot do, how long things take, what assistance you require, and what happens when that assistance is not available.

The MS Australia survey found that one participant saw their physiotherapy funding cut despite submitting extensive evidence. Preparation is not a guarantee. But it is your most effective tool.

Talk to a Support Coordinator or disability advocate now

If you have a Support Coordinator, ask them to walk through how the proposed changes might affect your current plan. If you don't have a Support Coordinator, contact a disability advocacy organisation in your state or territory — most provide free guidance.

You have time. Use it.

Consider preparing your I-CAN v6 documentation early

The I-CAN v6 assessment is the functional framework the NDIA is moving towards. Preparing your documentation in the I-CAN v6 format — before your next scheduled review — means you are not starting from scratch when it matters most.

ICANReady was built specifically for this purpose. You describe your daily experience across the 12 functional domains, and our system — trained on the I-CAN v6 framework — generates a structured preparation document that is ready for your assessor.

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A Note on What This Moment Requires

The NDIS was built on a recognition that disability support should not depend on where you live, who your family is, or how well you can advocate for yourself. That foundational principle is worth defending — and it is best defended not just through advocacy and policy, but through the practical, meticulous work of documenting your needs clearly.

Some people will navigate these changes well. Some will not — and the difference will often come down to preparation, documentation, and the quality of the evidence presented at assessment.

If you are uncertain about how the changes affect you, start by reading the official information at ndis.gov.au. If you want help structuring your I-CAN documentation, ICANReady is here.

You deserve to be seen clearly in this assessment. Preparation is how you make that happen.

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For the most current information about the NDIS reform bill, visit ndis.gov.au or contact your Support Coordinator. Disability advocacy support is available through the Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) and your state or territory disability advocacy services.