The big picture:
In the wake of 2024 reforms, thousands of now-former NDIS participants have lost access to the Scheme. Anecdotally, the NDIA’s revocation decisions continue apace in early 2025. But the NDIA has not gone unchallenged.
Why it matters:
With so many people affected, it’s easy to get lost in abstractions quoted in government press releases, like “aggregate savings”. Too easily, we forget that each decision by the NDIA to revoke an individual’s access affects a real person with disability and/or medical conditions – and also has knock-on effects for mainstream and other systems and services (and thus taxpayers).
Zoom in:
If the NDIA decides to revoke an individual’s access to the Scheme, the individual loses all NDIS Act benefits entirely. This is serious, and the individual has legal rights of review. They can seek an internal (NDIA) review of the decision, and they can seek a review by the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) under section 103 of the NDIS Act. Not everyone is in a financial or health position to take on the NDIA. But some do, including some participants with the help of community legal services, like the Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service.
Case in point:
In Stephan-Miller and NDIA [2025] ARTA 43, General Member Bubutievski granted a conditional stay on the NDIA’s decision to revoke a participant’s access, stating:
“The NDIS Act is beneficial legislation which is intended to confer a benefit on the [participant] if she is qualified to receive such a benefit. Removal of such benefits in their entirety is a matter to be approached with good procedure and solid evidence. The manner in which the [NDIA] has approached revocation in this case is troubling. The impact of the loss of services on a vulnerable person with a disability or medical conditions is serious and has a much greater impact on their health and quality of life than the continued provision of those services on an interim basis to a single individual would have on the [NDIA].” (Our emphasis.)
Context:
In this case, the applicant has been a participant in the scheme since 2019 and has a number of disabilities, medical conditions and functional impairments. General Member Bubutievski found that the participant was “at risk from the sudden and complete cessation of supports”, and granted a six-month stay on the NDIA’s decision to revoke access pending an independent functional assessment and resolution of the review. In the meantime, this order allows the applicant to continue to be a participant and to expend plan funds in accordance with the NDIS Act.
What we’re watching:
Although the participant succeeded in obtaining a conditional stay on the NDIA’s decision about her access, there’s no guarantee she will succeed with her main application. The NDIA contended that the applicant was not qualified to be a participant but, as General Member Bubutievski observed, “that is far from clear”, and “the matter does have a prospect of success”. If the applicant does win, her access to the Scheme will be restored.
Read more:
Leave a Reply