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Sometimes advocacy works.

On Monday, psychologists questioned whether the adapted I-CAN assessment was reliable enough to help set individual budgets. By Tuesday, government opened a one-month consultation on a diagnosis-neutral access process. Consistency may improve but won't create supports a rejected applicant needs.

In a significant enforcement law case, the NDIS Commission won a $180,000 Federal Court penalty against Lynnette Peters for continuing to provide supports after she was banned. It’s the first court action after the breach of a banning order. The deterrent matters.

Now the focus is on hospital care. Health ministers are taking the wider bed-block dispute to a national meeting today. The immediate demand concerns aged-care places and Support at Home packages, but Queensland's total also includes people waiting for disability support. Different program. Same habit: governments define their boundary while people wait between them.

Data Watch:

Four of 23 Commonwealth agencies authorised to use automated decision-making disclosed that use to the privacy regulator.

About 300 younger Queensland hospital patients were medically ready to leave but waiting for disability support this week, while more than 3,600 patients nationally were waiting in public hospitals for aged-care placements by mid-2026, up from more than 2,700 a year earlier.

Agency yardstick: The NDIA says its revised Corporate Plan 2026–27 sets the Agency's strategic direction, key work and performance measures for the next four years, including implementation of government reforms. It adds an operating-efficiency measure and revises measures or targets for staff with disability, claim-integrity interventions and NDIS pricing guidance.

Source: National Disability Insurance Agency | official corporate plan

Psychotropic safeguards: Three federal commissions have published a progress report on work to reduce inappropriate use of psychotropic medicines with people with disability and older people. It records new guidance, education, data work and stronger approaches to behaviour support and restrictive practices, although the release itself largely details aged-care provider work.

Source: Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission | with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care

Assessment voice: The Australian Association of Psychologists says it was asked to lead today's ministerial roundtable discussion on functional-capacity assessments and the role of psychologists and allied-health professionals. It says the ACT's proposed Thriving Kids model includes qualified clinicians but national definitions, pathways and continuity arrangements remain unsettled.

Source: Australian Association of Psychologists | professional association

Practitioner confidence: A national survey of 123 informal supporters found wide variation in confidence in NDIS behaviour-support practitioners. Researchers say clearer information about qualifications and expertise, stronger participant choice and better workforce supervision are needed.

Source: Flinders University via Phys.org | research report

Fund warning: Occupational Therapy Australia says the Inclusive Communities Fund cannot replace individual NDIS supports without an occupational-therapy price increase. It calls for occupational therapists to be recognised and paid as project partners, with flexible models for regional and remote communities.

Source: Occupational Therapy Australia | professional association

AT assessment: Rebound Health explains how occupational therapists match assistive technology to a participant’s functional needs. The provider says higher-cost or higher-risk equipment usually requires trials, clinical justification and a plan for setup, training and review.

Source: Rebound Health | provider explainer

Missing protections: Social demographer Brian Cooper says government has not explained the rules that will turn assessments into budgets. He argues participants cannot assess whether the system is fair or challenge errors without published calculation methods and the right to correct assessments before budgets are set.

Source: Brian Cooper via LinkedIn | commentary

Long-awaited report leaves out key detail

NSW’s long-awaited psychosocial-support gap analysis shows the state has the country’s second-highest unmet demand but de-identifies local health districts, obscuring where shortages are worst. Mental health advocates warn NDIS changes could affect people without a state-based alternative.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald | Paywall: Yes

Vital talks to free patients stranded in public hospitals

Australian Associated Press reports health ministers will press the Commonwealth for more home-care packages as people wait in hospitals for aged-care placements. Queensland says its 1,400 medically cleared patients awaiting discharge include people waiting for disability support; one person has remained almost three years.

Source: Michael West Media | Paywall: No

Disability support worker accused of sexually assaulting women in his care

ABC Mid North Coast reports Scott Bone faces three aggravated sexual-touching charges involving two women with cognitive impairment at a supported independent living home. WEmpower says he is no longer employed.

Source: ABC News | Paywall: No
Related: Daily Telegraph — Scott Bone in Kempsey court for sexual touching charges | Paywall: Yes