What the Act does
The NDIS Act is the law the whole scheme rests on. It creates the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which runs the scheme, and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which regulates providers and workers.
The Act sets the big rules. Much of the detail sits in NDIS rules, which are legal instruments made under the Act, and in the NDIA's guidelines, which explain how the agency applies the law. When the Act, the rules and a guideline disagree, the Act wins.
How the Act is organised
The Act is split into chapters. The ones participants and providers deal with most are:
- Chapter 1: objects, principles and definitions, including what counts as an NDIS support (section 10) and an NDIS provider (section 10C)
- Chapter 3: participants and their plans, from access through to plan management, variations and reassessments
- Chapter 4: administration, including provider registration, the Code of Conduct, children, nominees and review of decisions
- Chapter 5: compensation, for people who receive compensation for an injury
- Chapters 6 and 6A: the NDIA and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
The sections people quote most
You will often see section numbers in NDIA letters, review decisions and advocacy guides. These are the main ones:
- Section 3 and 4: the objects of the Act and its general principles, including choice and control and the right to take reasonable risks
- Section 17A: people with disability are presumed to have capacity to make decisions about their own lives
- Sections 21 to 25: the access criteria, covering age (22), residence (23), disability requirements (24) and early intervention requirements (25)
- Sections 28 to 30A: when you become a participant, how you can withdraw, and when participant status can be revoked
- Section 33: what must be in a current (old framework) plan, and sections 32A to 32L for new framework plans
- Section 34: the reasonable and necessary criteria every funded support must meet
- Section 34A: support determinations, which can reduce funding for groups of supports across many plans
- Sections 42 to 44: how funding can be managed, by you, a plan manager or the NDIA
- Section 45C: maximum amounts payable, which is where NDIS price limits now come from
- Sections 47A and 48: plan variations and reassessments
- Sections 99 and 100: which decisions are reviewable and how to ask for an internal review
How it has been amended
The Act has been amended many times since 2013. Two recent laws changed it the most. The Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1 Act 2024 added a legal list of NDIS supports, total funding amounts and funding periods, and created new framework plans.
The Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026 added support determinations (used for the October 2026 funding reset), made the Minister responsible for pricing, tightened the rules for unscheduled reassessments, set record keeping and 90 day claiming rules, banned provider kickbacks and inducements from 27 November 2026, and set up the path to new eligibility rules from 1 January 2028.
Some amendments start later than others, so the official compiled version on the Federal Register of Legislation is the safest place to check what is in force on a given date. The compilation in force at the time of writing is dated 1 October 2026.
Using the Act in your own case
You do not need to read the whole Act. But quoting the right section can make a request or review clearer. For example, if a support was refused, explain how it meets each part of section 34. If you are asking for a review, note that section 100 gives you 3 months from the written notice to ask.
Free disability advocates and community legal centres know the Act well and can help you use it. The NDIA must also explain its notices to you in the language and format you are most likely to understand, under section 7.
For providers
Part 3A of Chapter 4 is the core of provider regulation. It covers when registration is required (section 73B), registration and its conditions, the NDIS Practice Standards (73T), the NDIS Code of Conduct (73V), complaints, incident management and reportable incidents. The Code of Conduct applies to registered and unregistered providers alike.