The NDIS was built to empower people with disability, but its funding, assessment and provider incentives risk reinforcing the very dependency the scheme was designed to overcome.

The NDIS is one of the most significant social reforms in Australia’s history. It was built on a promise – that people with disability would have the chance to live more independent, more connected, and more meaningful lives. It was designed to replace fragmented systems with a single, coherent framework grounded in choice, control, and dignity. But as the scheme has matured, a difficult truth has emerged. The NDIS, in its current form, contains structural features that unintentionally foster dependency. Not because anyone intended it, and not because participants lack capability or aspiration, but because the architecture of the system rewards the wrong things.

The first issue is this: the NDIS treats money as the default solution.

For almost every disability-related challenge, the response is a package of funding. We have built a system where the central question becomes, “What will the NDIS pay for?” rather than “What will help this person grow, participate, and flourish?” When money becomes the primary lever, two things happen.

Mainstream systems –........

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