What Minister Butler’s announcement could mean for self-direction and what you can do about it | Flexibility | Choice and control | NDIS
| NDIS Fund Management | Policy and Advocacy | News | Know your rights
| Text only
| Flexibility | Choice and control | NDIS
| NDIS Fund Management | Policy and Advocacy | News | Know your rights
| Text only
Minister Mark Butler has announced that the Australian Government intends to expand mandatory registration across the NDIS. For people with disability and our families who self-manage or self-direct our supports, this is a significant development.
Many people who self-manage and self-direct use a mix of supports. This can include independent workers, direct employees, and services-for- one.
People with disability and their families have built highly individualised arrangements. They are built around the participant’s needs, preferences, circumstances, and safety requirements. As well as being high quality, self-directed supports are typically cheaper than registered providers.
For many people, these supports are not just convenient. They are essential. People with disability have created these individualised arrangements because registered service providers have been unable or unwilling to meet our needs.
The majority of towns in regional and remote Australia have no registered providers and never will have. In a national housing crisis, people cannot simply relocate to the capital city to access supports.
Retaining access to non-registered providers and self-directed supports is critical to ensuring the safety of people with disability.
Why this matters
Mandatory registration could have major consequences if it is not designed carefully.
This will reduce the choices available to participants, especially people who rely on flexible, individualised, or self-directed supports.
This is particularly concerning for people who need support with personal care.
These are deeply personal supports. Participants need to be able to choose workers they trust.
As Stevie Lang Howson said in my recent interview about the announcement:
“We pick who comes into our homes.”
“We pick who touches our body.”
That is what choice and control means in real life.
There are many examples of service providers not even allowing a participant to choose the gender of a support worker, even following sexual abuse.
Individualised supports keep people safe
Self-managers and people who self-direct our supports are not arguing against safeguards.
We all want people with disability and our families to be safe from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and poor-quality support.
The issue is what kind of safeguards are appropriate.
A large registered provider is very different from an independent support worker, a family-governed/ or self-governed service-for-one, or a person directly employed by a participant.
A one-size-fits-all registration model will create unnecessary red tape, increase costs, reduce flexibility, and push trusted workers out of the system.
That would make people less safe by disrupting support arrangements that are already working well.
The Taskforce recommended a self-directed registration category
On 2 August 2024, the Government’s own NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce recommended the introduction of a self-directed registration category.
They recognised that self-directed support arrangements are different from traditional provider-led services.
A self-directed registration category would enable proportionate safeguards while protecting the ability of people with disability and our families to choose trusted workers and maintain flexible, individualised arrangements.
In practical terms, this could mean a registration approach that is simpler, more appropriate and better matched to the risks and realities of self-directed support.
What is at risk without this category
If mandatory registration is expanded without a self-directed registration category, there is a real risk that people will lose access to workers and providers they already know and trust.
This could affect people who:
- directly employ their own support workers
- use sole traders or independent workers
- operate services-for-one
- rely on small, flexible support arrangements
- need workers with specific skills, knowledge, or cultural identity
- have had poor experiences with larger providers
- need support delivered in ways that standard services cannot provide
- live in regional or remote areas with no access to registered providers.
For some participants, losing these arrangements would not be a minor inconvenience. It could affect their safety, independence, health, and ability to live in the community.
Choice and control must remain central
The NDIS was built on the promise of choice and control.
Choice and control does not mean being told to choose from a limited panel of providers.
It does not mean being forced into large service systems that do not meet individual needs.
It means having real authority over who provides support, how support is delivered, and what works in a person’s life.
As Stevie Lang Howson put it, Minister Butler’s announcement represents:
“a huge reduction in choice and control.”
That concern needs to be taken seriously.
Have a listen to his powerful message in the video below:
What the Government needs to do
If the Government proceeds with expanded mandatory registration, it must:
- include a self-directed registration category in any future mandatory registration model
- protect direct employment, services-for-one and our right to directly engage sole traders
- make sure any registration requirements for self-direction are proportionate and practical
- avoid forcing people into large provider-led models
- consult directly with self-managers and people who self-direct their supports
- protect the right of participants to choose who comes into their homes and supports them with personal care
- ensure safeguards do not destroy effective support arrangements
- ensure people in regional and remote communities have meaningful choice and control of providers and workers.
What you can do to have your say and take action
Self-managers, people who self-direct our supports, families, and allies should write to key decision-makers and their local federal Member of Parliament.
The message is simple: any future mandatory registration model must include a self-directed registration category.
This is essential because many people with disability and our families rely on trusted workers, sole traders, direct employees, services-for-one and other individualised arrangements to receive safe, effective, and flexible support.
Without a self-directed registration category, mandatory registration will force people away from the workers and arrangements they know and trust. It will reduce choice and control, increase costs, create unnecessary red tape, and make some people less safe.
When you write, you may want to include:
- who you are and how the NDIS supports you or someone in your family
- the types of self-managed or self-directed supports you use
- why trusted workers and individualised arrangements are essential to your safety, independence, and daily life
- what could happen if those workers or arrangements were no longer available
- why a one-size-fits-all registration model would not work
- a clear request that the Government include a self-directed registration category in any future mandatory registration model.
You can contact:
- Minister Mark Butler, Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme: minister.butler@health.gov.au
- Minister Jenny McAllister, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme: Minister.McAllister@health.gov.au
- Melissa McIntosh MP, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme: melissa.mcintosh.mp@aph.gov.au
- Angus Taylor MP, Leader of the Opposition: angus.taylor.mp@aph.gov.au
- your local federal Member of Parliament. You can find your electorate using the Australian Electoral Commission website, then use the Australian Parliament House website to find your local member’s contact details.
You do not need to write a long letter. A short personal message explaining why this matters in your life can be powerful.
The most important thing is that Ministers and local MPs hear directly from people who self-manage, self-direct, directly employ workers, use sole traders, or rely on services-for-one.
Decision-makers need to understand that self-directed supports are how many people with disability stay safe, live independently, and remain connected to our communities.
We’d also like to hear your thoughts about the proposed requirement for more NDIS participants to use registered providers.
The bottom line
There is a need to improve safety, quality, and accountability in the NDIS.
But this is only possible by maintaining access to individualised supports, self-management and self-direction, that are proven to improve the quality of our supports and that deliver better value for money.
The Government must not destroy arrangements that are working.
A self-directed registration category is essential if mandatory registration is going to protect people without taking away the choice and control that the NDIS promised.
People with disability and our families must continue to have the right to decide who comes into our homes, who supports us, and who assists us with the most personal parts of our lives.