FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 23 April 2026
“NO LIFEBOAT, NO EXIT”: BEING Demands Urgent Safety Net Before NDIS Throws Thousands into Limbo.
SYDNEY – BEING – Mental Health Consumers, the NSW peak body for people living with mental health challenges, has warned that the Federal Government’s proposed NDIS reforms risk abandoning thousands of people with psychosocial disability unless psychosocial foundational supports are co-designed by mental health consumers, are fully funded and operationalised before changes to the Scheme occur.
Reacting to the Minister for Disability’s address at the National Press Club yesterday, BEING joins a national chorus of representative organisations demanding those affected lead the design of reforms. The peak body is calling for the urgent release of an exposure draft of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill.
The Minister earmarked the introduction of the Bill for shortly after the release of 2026-27 Federal Budget. “The devil will be in the detail. We need to see the letter of the proposed law to see exactly how people with psychosocial disability will be affected” said BEING CEO, Mx Giancarlo de Vera. “We need to know whether there is a genuine safety net for those that may be transitioned off the Scheme, and for those who will now find it harder to access support following yesterday’s announcements”.
With all people currently on the NDIS slated for eligibility reassessment by January 2028, and new criteria for unscheduled plan reassessments to be defined in the new Bill, mental health consumers face significant uncertainty.
“Right now, we don’t know what supports look like outside of the NDIS. At least 95,000 people are not getting any psychosocial support they need in New South Wales,” said Mx de Vera. “With psychosocial disability being episodic, relational and fluctuating in nature, will there even be a lifeboat for people whose needs change before the boundary between the NDIS and mainstream systems is defined by January 2028?”
BEING notes further changes announced will delay the introduction of the new NDIS planning framework to 1 April 2027, instead of October 2026 as recommended by the NDIS Reform Advisory Committee. Under those conditions, people whose needs change in intervening months risk being caught between a tightening NDIS and underfunded or non-existent supports elsewhere.
“Failing to fund adequate psychosocial foundational supports will drive people into expensive, involuntary acute care. It will essentially be a crisis tax in the state budget” Mx de Vera said. “We are ready to work with the Government, but we cannot sign off on a roadmap that leaves our community on a hamster wheel of silos and rights without remedy.”
BEING calls for immediate transparency regarding the co-design of psychosocial supports, the public exposure of proposed Federal Government laws, and a guarantee that no one will be transitioned until adequate psychosocial foundational supports are in place.
ENDS