Determining NDIS Supports: A Principles Based Approach

Abstract:

This essay is a response to the Department of Social Services' 2025 consultation on the NDIS Support Rules, challenging the current use of prescriptive support lists to determine what constitutes a funded NDIS support under Section 10 of the NDIS Act. It argues that the list-based approach is overly rigid, lacks transparency, and undermines participant autonomy, particularly for individuals with complex needs. Instead, the paper proposes a principles-based approach grounded in the original intent of the NDIS:  Flexibility, individualisation, equity, and self-determination. It outlines how such an approach aligns with the legislative criteria of reasonableness, necessity, equity, consistency, and transparency, and better reflects the diversity of participants’ lived experiences. Drawing on Tribunal precedents, UNCRPD obligations, and ethical considerations, the paper presents a detailed framework for replacing the current lists with a transparent, adaptable, and participant-led decision-making process. This approach, it argues, would restore the NDIS’s foundational goals of inclusion and empowerment and resist the creeping institutionalisation embedded in recent reforms.

Determining NDIS Supports_A Principles Based Approach (Ver 1.0_25.07.2025).docx

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