The Reference Group connected with the community to find out about issues that affect them.

The Reference Group members shared these issues with the NDIA.

Reference Group members shared that the community worry about some things that the Australian Government is doing.

The community worry about what the government had to say about the Disability Royal Commission (DRC).

The DRC looked into problems people with disability have experienced.

It helped the Australian Government find out:

• what went wrong
• what we need to improve.

Members also shared that the community worry about what the government will say about the NDIS Review.

The Australian Government checked the NDIS to find out what:

• worked well
• could be better.

They call it the NDIS Review.

Members explained that this has made some people with disability feel like they have no control over what the government does.

Members shared that the community are unsure about how some laws will change.

The community think that meetings about these changes should have been more accessible.

When something is accessible, it is easy to:

• find and use
• understand.

Members also shared that information about how supports will change was not clear enough.

This meant people in the community:

• were stressed

• did not understand which supports would change.

Reference Group members shared that they were not happy about news reports about the 2026 census.

The census is a survey that asks people about themselves to help Australia plan for the future.

The news reports explained that the Australian Government might not ask some questions in the 2026 census.

The census won’t ask questions about people’s gender.

Your gender is what you feel and understand about who you are as a person.

You might think of yourself as a man or woman or something different.

You can choose the words that are right for you.

The census won’t ask questions about sexual orientation.

Your sexual orientation is who you:

• love
• are attracted to.

Members explained that this will make it harder to speak up about services for LGBTIQASB+ people.

The letters LGBTIQASB stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer or questioning, asexual, sistergirl and brotherboy.

The ‘+’ is for people who are part of the LGBTIQASB+ community but don’t talk about themselves using a word from this list.

Members explained that it is still hard to find support coordinators with the right skills.

A support coordinator is someone who helps people with disability plan and use their supports.

Members worry about how the NDIA checks to make sure these services work well.

Members shared that some organisations offer people things to get them to use their service.

For example, they might give people a gift card for using their support workers.

Members explained that support coordinators with different skills might mean participants don’t get the supports they need.

Your NDIS plan is a document that has information about:

• you and your goals
• what supports you need.

Members shared that some participants have had good experiences with their plan reassessments.

When the NDIA do a plan reassessment, they check to see if the supports in a participant’s plan still work well for them.

At these meetings, participants shared that they felt:

• understood
• supported.

Members explained that these experiences show it’s important to have NDIS planners who:

• have a disability

or

• have experienced what life can be like for people with disability.

An NDIS planner is someone who:

• makes new plans
• changes plans.

Members explained that information about fraud needs to be explained carefully.

Fraud is something a person plans to do that is not honest.

Fraud is a crime.

Members explained that this information should not make it look like people with disability use the NDIS to steal money.

This can affect how the community feels about people with disability.