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By Sarah Langston
In July 2025, sweeping changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) quietly came into force. These changes are reshaping the scheme’s reach and effectiveness, especially for those in regional and rural communities like ours here in the Macquarie electorate, which includes the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains.
From 1 July, the NDIS implemented significant cuts and freezes to pricing for allied health services, support coordination, and, critically, travel funding. These adjustments were wrapped in the rhetoric of “pricing alignment,” benchmarking against Medicare and private insurers. But for many disabled Australians, especially those living outside metropolitan areas, they are an abandonment of the duty to support and care.
Travel allowances have been slashed by up to 50% in some regions, compromising providers’ ability to reach those who need them most—often in areas where no other support exists. Imagine the support worker or therapist who travels hours before dawn to assist a client. Now imagine that travel is no longer covered, and will have to come out of their own pocket.
For a small business, that’s just not sustainable, so for many Disabled people, these services have stopped and will continue to do so. In the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains—where distances are long, public transport options are limited, and local specialists are already thin on the ground—this is more than an inconvenience. It’s a barrier to essential care.
The results are being reported to Disability advocates in the Nobody Worse Off Coalition via our newly established NDIS Cuts Harm Tracker. Some of the reports are frightening—with Disabled people left starving, confined to bed, unable to meet even basic needs, and regressing in mobility, communication and community access.
These cuts are forcing small providers—the “mum and dad” businesses in our community who know their clients by name and often go the extra mile—to leave the scheme in droves. What’s left are the big corporates, some of whom have a track record of cutting corners or engaging in questionable practices that can put Disabled people at risk. Quality is leaving the sector, replaced by profit-driven operations that may not value participant safety and autonomy in the same way.
Providers across the country have warned these cuts risk letting the most vulnerable “fall through the cracks.” In our electorate, that means people going without therapy, children missing developmental supports, and carers burning out as they try to fill the gaps themselves.
Allied health peak bodies, including the Australian Physiotherapy Association, have urged the NDIA and government to halt the changes, citing the lack of meaningful consultation and the threat to participants’ independence, dignity, and fundamental wellbeing. Their warnings aren’t abstract—they’re grounded in the reality of trying to deliver quality care under a shrinking budget.
Over 60,000 Australians have signed a petition, which was championed by Disabled Senator Jordon Steele-John, to “Stand Up for Disability Support: Stop the NDIS Cuts.” The campaign’s message is clear: no one can be left behind. In one of the wealthiest democracies in the world, nobody should be.
Dietitians Australia has warned that even modest rate reductions could mean fewer sessions, less access, and more hospital admissions. These are preventable costs—both human and financial—that will hit regional areas like ours harder, where alternatives are scarce and waiting lists are already long.
The federal budget gives a clue to the government’s motives: projected NDIS growth is now capped at around 8% annually, down from previous years. That number might please Treasury, but the human cost is already showing in our homes, schools, and hospitals.
At the same time, plan reviews and appeals are surging as participants fight reductions made by NDIA staff who often lack understanding of our lived experience. The stress of constant reassessment is taking its toll on families who already navigate complex support systems and are just trying to survive each day.
This is not just a policy issue. It’s a matter of equity and justice. When pricing reductions and travel caps disproportionately affect regional communities, Disabled people lose not only services but agency over their own lives.
International Law and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008) is clear—we should lead in decisions that impact us, and we should have enough support to self-determine.
Instead of cutting vital supports, we need genuine co-design now—where Disabled people have a real say in decisions. As People With Disability Australia (PWDA) has stressed, the NDIS must remain a lifeline, not a political football. This is too important to stuff up.
On October 26, Disabled people, small to medium allied health providers, our loved ones and allies will gather at Parliament House to protest these decisions and demand an NDIS that is safe, fair and forever.
It is shaping up to be a great day, with fundraising efforts kicking into gear to ensure as many people as possible can attend. Raffles, trivia afternoons—old-fashioned community organising is now underway to make sure Disabled people have their say, together in October.
Because no postcode—whether in the heart of the Hawkesbury or on a ridge in the Blue Mountains—should determine the quality of someone’s support. Disabled people in our region deserve the best, and not to be discarded for political games.
