Amending legislation
The National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Act 2026 (Cth) (Amendment Act) received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026, amending the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) (NDIS Act).
The Amendment Act represents the second tranche of NDIS reforms, responding to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability and the Independent Review of the NDIS. The Amendment Act aims to strengthen the powers of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Commission) and the integrity of the NDIS more broadly.
The provisions relevant to the Commission's powers (Schedule 1) and the whistleblower protections (Schedule 3) commenced on 9 April 2026. The NDIA operational changes provisions (Schedule 2) will commence on 6 May 2026.
Stronger compliance and enforcement
The Amendment Act introduces new civil penalties and criminal offences, and increased maximum penalties. Notably:
- a new concept of 'serious contravention' has been introduced, where a contravention is serious if it involves a 'significant failure' or forms part of a 'systematic pattern of conduct', attracting civil penalties of up to 10,000 penalty units (currently, $3,300,000). This amendment is closely modelled on and substantially aligns with the Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) (Aged Care Act);
- new tiered consequences for providing (or holding out as able to provide) NDIS supports without registration, including a criminal offence (maximum 2 years' imprisonment or 120 penalty units, currently $39,600, or both), a strict liability offence (60 penalty units, currently $19,800), and civil penalties of up to 10,000 penalty units for serious contraventions (currently $3,300,000);
- new civil penalty provisions for a failure to comply with information-gathering requests (60 penalty units, currently $19,800) and for knowingly providing false or misleading information or documents to the Commission (120 penalty units, currently $39,600);
- penalties for breaching a banning order have been increased to up to 5 years' imprisonment or 300 penalty units, currently $99,000, or both; and
- the scope of banning orders has been broadened to cover a wider range of persons involved in the NDIS market, including quality auditors and persons facilitating the provision of supports.
New anti-promotion orders
The Amendment Act empowers the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner (Commissioner) to make orders prohibiting or restricting a person from engaging in certain promotional conduct in connection with the NDIS. Breach of an anti-promotion order carries a civil penalty of 250 penalty units (currently, $82,500). This change intends to restrict unscrupulous providers from providing misleading claims or promoting products that undermine the integrity of the NDIS.
Information gathering and claiming
The Commissioner may now require compliance with information-gathering notices in a shorter timeframe where they reasonably believe that not doing so would significantly increase the risk of serious harm to a participant.
Participation withdrawal from Scheme
Participants who no longer wish to remain in the Scheme must submit a formal written request to the CEO. The CEO must then provide written acknowledgement setting out the consequences of withdrawal. A cooling-off period of not less than 90 days applies, during which the participant may cancel their withdrawal at any time.
Whistleblower protections
Schedule 3 introduces whistleblower amendments, including a new civil penalty of 30 penalty units (currently, $9,900) for the unauthorised disclosure of the identity of a person who has made a qualifying protected disclosure. Authorised exceptions include disclosures to the Commissioner, law enforcement, legal practitioners, with consent, or where necessary to prevent a serious threat to safety. The whistleblower amendments under the amendment Act are substantially aligned with the Aged Care Act whistleblower framework, however, differ from the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act).
These reforms represent a significant shift toward more active regulation of the NDIS. Providers should carefully review their compliance frameworks in light of the increased penalties and expanded enforcement powers, particularly their whistleblower regimes.
Our team has prepared a template whistleblower policy which aligns with the obligations under the Aged Care Act and Corporations Act, which we are currently updating to incorporate the Amendment Act. If you are interested in any of our template policies, or you otherwise have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.
