One closes 31 August. One closes 13 September. Both affect your NDIS business. Here’s what they’re asking and why you should respond.
Two government consultations are open right now. One closes on the 31st of August. The other closes on the 13th of September. Both of them affect how you run your NDIS business, and if the sector doesn’t respond, the government will shape these decisions without your input.
The SIL Commissioning Consultation
The first consultation is about a proposed commissioning approach for part of the Supported Independent Living market. It opened on the 11th of August 2026 and closes on the 13th of September.
Right now, SIL operates as an open market. Any registered provider can deliver SIL supports. The government is exploring whether a commissioning approach would produce better outcomes for part of that market.
Commissioning means the government takes a more active role. Instead of an unlimited number of providers operating freely, the government would select a smaller group of providers to deliver SIL in specific areas. It would set service goals, establish provider requirements, link funding to outcomes, monitor performance, and step in when the market isn’t meeting participant needs in certain regions.
This is not a confirmed change. This is a real question the government is putting to the sector. The consultation is asking: would this approach improve quality, safety, innovation and sustainability? Would it work? What would it need to include?
What This Means If You’re a SIL Provider
If you’re a SIL provider, this consultation matters more to you than most things on your compliance calendar right now.
Under a commissioned model, the open market ends for that portion of SIL. Not every current provider would continue to operate. The government would select who delivers, where, and under what quality and outcome standards.
That doesn’t mean you’d be automatically excluded. It means the government will be looking at who’s currently operating, what outcomes participants are receiving, whether services are available in the places participants need them, and whether the current model is sustainable.
Your submission is evidence. It’s your opportunity to tell the government what the current model makes possible and where it falls short. What it actually costs to deliver quality 24/7 supports. Why some regions are harder to staff than others. What outcomes you’re achieving and how you’re measuring them. What a commissioned model would need to include to work in practice.
A submission that says providers are under pressure is easy to set aside. A submission that says our direct support staff turnover in regional areas is running at X percent, and here’s what that costs per participant per year, is harder to ignore. Be specific. Specific carries weight.
The Inclusive Communities Fund
The second consultation has a tighter deadline. It opened on the 3rd of August and closes on the 31st of August.
The government has committed $200 million over three years. The purpose is to help community organisations, sports clubs, arts groups, theatre groups, multicultural organisations, community gardens, and volunteering groups become more capable of including people with disability in everyday activities.
The funding goes to community organisations, not to NDIS providers directly.
So why does it matter for you? Because your clients want to be part of their communities. Not just supported in a home or attending a day program. Actually part of a sports team, a choir, a volunteer group. Community connection is one of the things participants consistently tell us matters to them, and it’s one of the hardest things to access in the current system.
If this fund is designed well, it creates real pathways for the people you support to access mainstream community life. For providers delivering community access or social and community participation supports, it opens up referral relationships with community organisations who now have funding to include your clients.
The consultation is asking how the fund should be designed. Who should be able to apply. What activities it should cover. How to measure real inclusion. How to reach organisations in rural and regional areas. These are design questions, and your perspective on what community inclusion actually looks like for the people you support is directly relevant.
Why Your Submission Matters
A lot of providers see a government consultation and think: what’s the point? They’ve already decided.
Sometimes that’s true. And when it isn’t, the way to tell the difference is to look at whether the questions being asked are open and design level, or whether they’re seeking confirmation of something already settled.
Both of these consultations are asking open, design level questions. The SIL one is asking whether commissioning is even the right approach. The Inclusive Communities Fund one is asking how the fund should work before it’s built.
The department reads these submissions. They’re used to inform the advice that goes to government. Voices that show up in these processes shape what gets built. The ones that don’t show up get built around.
What to Do Now
The Inclusive Communities Fund consultation closes on the 31st of August. That’s the tighter deadline. If you support participants who want more community connection, this one is worth your time this week.
The SIL commissioning consultation closes on the 13th of September. If you’re a SIL provider, set aside time in the next two weeks to read the consultation paper and prepare a submission. Use your own data. Be specific about what you’re experiencing on the ground.
Both submissions can be made through the relevant government websites. Check the NDIS Commission and the Department of Social Services sites for the current links and submission portals.
You don’t need to be a policy expert to submit. You need to be a provider with real experience. That’s exactly what these consultations are asking for.
Fifteen days for one of them. Don’t let that window close without your voice in it.
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