The CEO seems to be on leave, the Board’s Chair isn’t speaking, urgently needed decisions lie stagnant, and the responsible Ministers are silent.

No one seems to be steering the ship.

In the middle of some of the biggest changes to the NDIS, the chief executive of the Agency, Rebecca Falkingham, appears to be on unexplained leave. Emails to her are left unanswered yet no acting CEO has been publicly named.

The board, led by Paralympian Kurt Fearnley, has refused to comment on either Falkingham’s absence or last week’s damning Australian National Audit Office audit into the scheme’s operations.

It’s a troubling vacuum in leadership.

This is also occurring just as the NDIA rolls out a new wave of complex reforms, imposes significant provider pay freezes and what are effectively cuts to regional services. It has also been hard hit with a fraud audit that, despite softly worded criticism, has found the organisation’s governance to be non-compliant with federal integrity rules.

The silence is drawing fire from all corners of the sector. Providers are fuming. Advocates are bewildered. And NDIS participants are growing anxious.

Perhaps most critically, as the Agency has been enveloped in continuing confusion as to its future direction, there have been mixed signals coming from government.

Decisions appear to have been piling up in Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek’s office. Health Minister Mark Butler has signed agreements with other Health Ministers to hand over foundational supports to the states, yet there are still no indications of exactly how this will might work (and NSW and Queensland appear to be backing out of this agreement).

Although capable and effective, Disability Minister Jenny McAllister has also not spoken publicly for a month. Amidst this silence, opposition to the cuts is coalessing into serious opposition.

Physiotherapist David Dinca is leading a petition against the freeze that’s already attracted over 55,000 signatures. He’s been quoted in News Limited papers saying, “no one consulted us. No one warned us. And now people with disability are the ones who’ll pay [for the reforms to the NDIS].”

A spokesperson for the NDIA has been quoted as saying “acting CEO arrangements” are in place for the organisation. The agency has not, however, indicated who might be filling the role.

Meanwhile, peak bodies have told abilityNEWS that even deputy CEOs have gone quiet, with urgent requests for meetings left unanswered during the lead-up to the annual pricing update.

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The NDIA is undergoing some of the biggest changes in its short history.

New funding rules introduced in May mean that participants are no longer receiving their annual budgets upfront. Instead, funds arrive in monthly or quarterly instalments. From October, the structure of plans will also change: itemised line-by-line supports will disappear, replaced with flexible lump sum budgets that must be managed over time.

This effectively gives the government a one-time saving of three months of the cost of the NDIS, by shifting the financing burden to providers.

A tighter definition of what constitutes an “NDIS support” is now in effect. This means eligibility reassessments, especially for young children, are becoming far more stringent. Meanwhile, providers need to prepare for major technology shifts as myID and Relationship Authorisation Manager replace PRODA by the end of the year.

These reforms are not tweaks. They are deep, systemic restructures. And yet, they are unfolding during what is increasingly looking like governance paralysis.

Last week the Australian National Audit Office released two reports on the NDIA. One found that the NDIA’s fraud detection measures were only “partly effective” and that the board had failed to endorse a mandatory Fraud and Corruption Control Plan.

More troubling for disability peak bodies have been unconfirmed reports that the CEO personally intervened to revoke one particular NDIS participant’s access to the scheme in apparent retaliation for criticism.

Calls for an independent inquiry are growing. If substantiated the fallout from this incident will be seismic. It would almost certainly mean the CEO’s position is unsustainable.

Unfortunately the incoming NDIS Minister, Jenny McAllister, has not yet been able to provide clarity on this issue. She has inherited a revolving-door portfolio: Bill Shorten, Amanda Rishworth, and now McAllister, all in under 12 months.

So far, she’s said little about her plans but that may have as much to do with rival visions of the future at Cabinet level as anything else.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apparently made it quite clear that he wants the growth in the scheme to be brought under control. What remains opaque is how this might happen.

Opposition NDIS spokesperson Phillip Thompson summed up the sector’s concern bluntly: “There’s a culture of silence right now—and that’s the opposite of what Australians living with a disability need.”

Trust is fading. Services are straining. And without visible leadership, the scheme’s future feels less like reform—and more like drift.