The Australian Government has introduced the NDIS (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2025, an important piece of legislation that proposes changes to how the NDIS is regulated and how some key decisions are made. Because these changes could affect people with disability, families, and providers, it’s really important to understand what the Bill does, and what it could mean for you and other disabled people. 

Every Australian Counts has been closely following the Bill, including reviewing helpful legal analysis on its provisions. This blog draws on that analysis to explain the Bill in clear, everyday language, and to highlight some key areas to pay attention to.

The main sections of Bill focus on integrity and safeguarding, by making sure the NDIS protects participants from harm, fraud, and poor practice, while remaining sustainable into the future. Many people agree these goals are important. However, how these safeguards are designed and applied matters, because poorly designed rules can sometimes create new barriers, delays, or unintended consequences for people with disability.

What does the Bill actually do?

The Bill is divided into two main parts, called Schedules, which deal with different issues.

Schedule 1: Provider regulation and safeguards

Schedule 1 focuses mainly on providers — the organisations and individuals who deliver NDIS supports. It gives the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission stronger powers to:

• investigate and respond to misconduct
• issue penalties for non-compliance
• prevent misleading or harmful practices
• ban unsuitable people from operating in the NDIS

Provided these powers are used proportionately, with clear guidance and without creating more paperwork and administrative burdens for participants, Every Australian Counts broadly supports safeguarding measures. Effective regulation can improve safety and quality across the Scheme, as long as it does not reduce provider diversity or limit participant choice and control.

Schedule 2: Changes that affect participants directly

Schedule 2 makes some specific changes to how the NDIS operates, which participants and families may want to look at closely. Based on our understanding of the Bill, several changes raise important questions.

• Withdrawing from the NDIS (new section 29A)

The Bill introduces a 90-day cooling-off period when a participant asks to leave the NDIS. This is intended as a safeguard to ensure withdrawals are voluntary and informed. The NDIA can extend the cooling-off period and this could be an added safeguard in some circumstances, a change supported by Every Australian Counts to help ensure participants have sufficient time to make an informed choice.

• Payment claims and information requests (section 45A)

Under the proposed changes, the NDIA would only be able to pay claims if all information it requests is provided within set timeframes. Even valid claims may go unpaid if information is missing or difficult to obtain. This could lead to service disruption, particularly for participants who self-manage. It is important to think about whether there needs to be clearer limits set on NDIS information requests e.g. for highly personal information such as support or therapy file-notes.

• Plan variations and funding changes (section 47A)

The Bill clarifies that the NDIA can increase or decrease funding through plan variations, without a full reassessment. While the Government says this does not create new powers, there is concern that funding could be reduced without participant agreement or without strong appeal safeguards, particularly if decisions rely heavily on internal systems or automation.

Importantly, this is also a chance to ask for better protections!

As this Bill involves Parliament considering changes to the way the NDIS works for participants, it provides us with a chance to ask for improvements to the primary NDIS legislation, not just in Rules and Guidelines. In public debates over the future of the NDIS, disability advocates and legal experts have suggested changes that relate to integrity and safeguarding, such as:

• stronger review and appeal rights written into the Act
• more integrity and safeguarding around new Support Needs Assessments 
• more transparency on budget-setting and plan variation decisions
• Whole-of-person support versus impairment-based funding. 

Your voice can help shape these changes!

How you can have your say

Understanding the Bill is important — but so is having a voice.

Here are three ways you can get involved:

1. Share your views with Every Australian Counts

You can let us know what you think about the Bill — what you support, what worries you, and what you think should change. EAC will incorporate community feedback into our submission to the Parliamentary Committee reviewing the Bill.

2. Make your own submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry

Anyone can make a submission, and it doesn’t need to be formal or technical. You can submit:

• a short letter
• a dot-point summary of concerns
• a video or audio submission
• or a personal story about how the changes might affect you

3. Contact your local MP or Senator

You can write, call, or meet with your local representatives and tell them how you want them to vote on the Bill, and why it matters to you.

Final thoughts

The NDIS (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill 2025 has the potential to strengthen protections in the NDIS… but it also raises important questions about fairness, transparency, and participant rights.

This is a critical moment. Listening to lived experience and community voices now will shape how the NDIS works in the future.

👉 Stay informed. Speak up. Have your say.