Know Your NDIS Rights

The NDIS is built around a simple idea: you are the expert in your own life. The NDIA's Participant Service Charter commits to engaging with you in ways that are transparent, responsive, respectful, empowering and connected.

• Choice and control — you decide who supports you, how, and when, within your plan.
• To be treated with dignity and respect, including your culture, identity, beliefs and relationships.
• To receive quality, safe supports from providers and workers, and to be free from abuse, neglect and exploitation.
• To reasonable timeframes — the NDIA has legislated timeframes (the Participant Service Guarantee) for decisions about access, plan approvals, implementation, reviews and nominee changes.
• To ask questions and get information in a way you understand, including easy-read and translated formats.
• To take decisions that carry some risk — providers can't remove your choices in the name of safety without genuine justification.

When you buy, lease or hire anything with your NDIS funds under a service agreement, Australian Consumer Law applies — the same as any other purchase.

• You can ask questions, ask for a better price, and take your time before agreeing to anything.
• You don't have to sign a contract or agree to buy anything you're not comfortable with.
• You can ask for something faulty to be fixed, replaced, or refunded — even after the warranty period has technically ended.
• You're entitled to a receipt for anything you buy or pay for. Keep your paperwork (receipts, service agreements, anything you sign) somewhere safe.

It's okay to speak up. You have the right to raise a concern without it affecting your funding or your relationship with the NDIA.

• Not happy with a provider's service or safety? Contact the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission — 1800 035 544 or via ndiscommission.gov.au.
• Made a mistake with your own claims or spending? Mistakes aren't fraud — contact the NDIA on 1800 800 110 and they'll help you fix it.
• Think someone is deliberately misusing NDIS funds? Report it via the NDIS fraud reporting form, or call the dedicated helpline on 1800 650 717 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm AEST).
• You can have a trusted person — a family member, friend, nominee, or your Support Coordinator — make a report on your behalf.

If the NDIA makes a decision you don't agree with — about your access, your plan, or your funding — you have a formal right to have it looked at again.

• Step 1 — Ask for an explanation. You can ask the NDIA to explain the reasoning behind any decision.
• Step 2 — Internal review. You have 3 months from the day you receive a decision in writing to ask for an internal review. A different staff member (not involved in the original decision) will look at it again. The NDIA aims to complete this within 60 days.
• Step 3 — External review. If you still disagree after the internal review, you can apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) — an independent body, separate from the NDIA — within 28 days of receiving the internal review decision.

Note: the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was replaced by the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) in October 2024 — if you see older material referring to the AAT, it now means the ART.

A restrictive practice is anything that limits your rights or freedom of movement — chemical, environmental, mechanical or physical restraint, or seclusion. These are tightly regulated.

• They can only be used as a last resort, to prevent serious harm — never for convenience or as a "quick fix."
• They must be authorised under your state or territory's law, documented in a Behaviour Support Plan, and reported to the NDIS Commission.
• You have the right to refuse a restrictive practice. Not resisting or protesting doesn't count as consent.
• Providers must actively work to reduce and eliminate restrictive practices over time, not just manage them.
• A Behaviour Support Plan must be reviewed at least yearly, or sooner if your circumstances change or a practice is used outside what's authorised.

Some rights become especially important if you're navigating disability alongside the justice system, or if someone else is involved in your decision-making.

• You still have all the same NDIS rights if you're in contact with the justice system, in custody, or transitioning out of it. A Justice Liaison Officer (JLO) can help coordinate your NDIS supports around justice processes.
• Supported decision-making comes before substitute decision-making. The starting assumption is that you make your own decisions, with support to understand information and communicate your choices — not that someone decides for you.
• Nominees are a last resort, not a default. If a plan or correspondence nominee is appointed to help manage your plan, this shouldn't remove your voice from decisions that affect you.
• Guardianship and restrictive practice authorisation are separate from your NDIS plan — they sit under state and territory law, but they interact closely with what your providers can and can't do.
• Your Support Coordinator or Recovery Coach can help you understand how these systems fit together, and connect you with independent advocacy if you need someone in your corner.